diff --git a/util/Makefile.objs b/util/Makefile.objs
index fe339c2636..cc5e37177a 100644
--- a/util/Makefile.objs
+++ b/util/Makefile.objs
@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
 util-obj-y = osdep.o cutils.o unicode.o qemu-timer-common.o
-util-obj-y += bufferiszero.o
-util-obj-y += lockcnt.o
-util-obj-y += aiocb.o async.o aio-wait.o thread-pool.o qemu-timer.o
-util-obj-y += main-loop.o
 util-obj-$(call lnot,$(CONFIG_ATOMIC64)) += atomic64.o
 util-obj-$(CONFIG_POSIX) += aio-posix.o
 util-obj-$(CONFIG_POSIX) += fdmon-poll.o
@@ -21,31 +17,20 @@ util-obj-$(CONFIG_WIN32) += oslib-win32.o
 util-obj-$(CONFIG_WIN32) += qemu-thread-win32.o
 util-obj-y += envlist.o path.o module.o
 util-obj-y += host-utils.o
-util-obj-y += bitmap.o bitops.o hbitmap.o
+util-obj-y += bitmap.o bitops.o
 util-obj-y += fifo8.o
-util-obj-y += nvdimm-utils.o
 util-obj-y += cacheinfo.o
 util-obj-y += error.o qemu-error.o
 util-obj-y += qemu-print.o
 util-obj-y += id.o
-util-obj-y += iov.o qemu-config.o qemu-sockets.o uri.o notify.o
+util-obj-y += qemu-config.o notify.o
 util-obj-y += qemu-option.o qemu-progress.o
 util-obj-y += keyval.o
-util-obj-y += hexdump.o
 util-obj-y += crc32c.o
 util-obj-y += uuid.o
-util-obj-y += throttle.o
 util-obj-y += getauxval.o
-util-obj-y += readline.o
 util-obj-y += rcu.o
 util-obj-$(CONFIG_MEMBARRIER) += sys_membarrier.o
-util-obj-y += qemu-coroutine.o qemu-coroutine-lock.o qemu-coroutine-io.o
-util-obj-y += qemu-coroutine-sleep.o
-util-obj-y += qemu-co-shared-resource.o
-util-obj-y += coroutine-$(CONFIG_COROUTINE_BACKEND).o
-util-obj-y += buffer.o
-util-obj-y += timed-average.o
-util-obj-y += base64.o
 util-obj-y += log.o
 util-obj-y += pagesize.o
 util-obj-y += qdist.o
@@ -54,13 +39,45 @@ util-obj-y += qsp.o
 util-obj-y += range.o
 util-obj-y += stats64.o
 util-obj-y += systemd.o
-util-obj-y += iova-tree.o
-util-obj-$(CONFIG_INOTIFY1) += filemonitor-inotify.o
-util-obj-$(call lnot,$(CONFIG_INOTIFY1)) += filemonitor-stub.o
-util-obj-$(CONFIG_LINUX) += vfio-helpers.o
 util-obj-$(CONFIG_POSIX) += drm.o
 util-obj-y += guest-random.o
 util-obj-$(CONFIG_GIO) += dbus.o
 dbus.o-cflags = $(GIO_CFLAGS)
 dbus.o-libs = $(GIO_LIBS)
 util-obj-$(CONFIG_USER_ONLY) += selfmap.o
+
+#######################################################################
+# code used by both qemu system emulation and qemu-img
+
+ifeq ($(call lor,$(CONFIG_SOFTMMU),$(CONFIG_TOOLS)),y)
+
+util-obj-y += aio-wait.o
+util-obj-y += aiocb.o
+util-obj-y += async.o
+util-obj-y += base64.o
+util-obj-y += buffer.o
+util-obj-y += bufferiszero.o
+util-obj-y += coroutine-$(CONFIG_COROUTINE_BACKEND).o
+util-obj-y += hexdump.o
+util-obj-y += lockcnt.o
+util-obj-y += iov.o
+util-obj-y += iova-tree.o
+util-obj-y += hbitmap.o
+util-obj-y += main-loop.o
+util-obj-y += nvdimm-utils.o
+util-obj-y += qemu-coroutine.o qemu-coroutine-lock.o qemu-coroutine-io.o
+util-obj-y += qemu-coroutine-sleep.o
+util-obj-y += qemu-co-shared-resource.o
+util-obj-y += qemu-sockets.o
+util-obj-y += qemu-timer.o
+util-obj-y += thread-pool.o
+util-obj-y += throttle.o
+util-obj-y += timed-average.o
+util-obj-y += uri.o
+
+util-obj-$(CONFIG_LINUX) += vfio-helpers.o
+util-obj-$(CONFIG_INOTIFY1) += filemonitor-inotify.o
+util-obj-$(call lnot,$(CONFIG_INOTIFY1)) += filemonitor-stub.o
+util-obj-$(CONFIG_BLOCK) += readline.o
+
+endif # CONFIG_SOFTMMU || CONFIG_TOOLS