diff --git a/0001-appliance-Use-cpu-max.patch b/0001-appliance-Use-cpu-max.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..70b482a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/0001-appliance-Use-cpu-max.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+From 282e2f74cf1209ecf6bb18655018b2000a5b36a1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: "Richard W.M. Jones" <rjones@redhat.com>
+Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 12:20:49 +0000
+Subject: [PATCH] appliance: Use -cpu max.
+
+QEMU has a newish feature (from about 2017 / qemu 2.9) called -cpu max
+which is supposed to select the best CPU, ideal for libguestfs.
+
+After this change, on x86-64:
+
+               KVM                          TCG
+
+Direct         -cpu max                     -cpu max
+(non-libvirt)
+
+Libvirt   <cpu mode="host-passthrough">     <cpu mode="host-model">
+            <model fallback="allow"/>         <model fallback="allow"/>
+          </cpu>                            </cpu>
+---
+ lib/appliance-cpu.c  | 16 ++++++++--------
+ lib/launch-libvirt.c |  9 +++++++++
+ 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/lib/appliance-cpu.c b/lib/appliance-cpu.c
+index 5ef9f5c72..54ac6e2e3 100644
+--- a/lib/appliance-cpu.c
++++ b/lib/appliance-cpu.c
+@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
+  *
+  * The literal string C<"host"> means use C<-cpu host>.
+  *
++ * =item C<"max">
++ *
++ * The literal string C<"max"> means use C<-cpu max> (the best
++ * possible).  This requires awkward translation for libvirt.
++ *
+  * =item some string
+  *
+  * Some string such as C<"cortex-a57"> means use C<-cpu cortex-a57>.
+@@ -80,14 +85,9 @@ guestfs_int_get_cpu_model (int kvm)
+   /* See discussion in https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1605071 */
+   return NULL;
+ #else
+-  /* On most architectures, it is faster to pass the CPU host model to
+-   * the appliance, allowing maximum speed for things like checksums
+-   * and encryption.  Only do this with KVM.  It is broken in subtle
+-   * ways on TCG, and fairly pointless when you're emulating anyway.
++  /* On most architectures we can use "max" to get the best possible CPU.
++   * For recent qemu this should work even on TCG.
+    */
+-  if (kvm)
+-    return "host";
+-  else
+-    return NULL;
++  return "max";
+ #endif
+ }
+diff --git a/lib/launch-libvirt.c b/lib/launch-libvirt.c
+index 026dc6b26..eff1c8f7e 100644
+--- a/lib/launch-libvirt.c
++++ b/lib/launch-libvirt.c
+@@ -1169,6 +1169,15 @@ construct_libvirt_xml_cpu (guestfs_h *g,
+           attribute ("fallback", "allow");
+         } end_element ();
+       }
++      else if (STREQ (cpu_model, "max")) {
++        if (params->data->is_kvm)
++          attribute ("mode", "host-passthrough");
++        else
++          attribute ("mode", "host-model");
++        start_element ("model") {
++          attribute ("fallback", "allow");
++        } end_element ();
++      }
+       else
+         single_element ("model", cpu_model);
+     } end_element ();
+-- 
+2.29.0.rc2
+
diff --git a/libguestfs.spec b/libguestfs.spec
index b623156..9fc8f60 100644
--- a/libguestfs.spec
+++ b/libguestfs.spec
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 %else
 # RHEL 9 only:
 # x86-64:  "/lib64/libc.so.6: CPU ISA level is lower than required"
+#          (RHBZ#1919389)
 %global test_arches NONE
 %endif
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ Summary:       Access and modify virtual machine disk images
 Name:          libguestfs
 Epoch:         1
 Version:       1.44.0
-Release:       4%{?dist}
+Release:       5%{?dist}
 License:       LGPLv2+
 
 # Build only for architectures that have a kernel
@@ -85,6 +86,9 @@ Source7:       libguestfs.keyring
 # Maintainer script which helps with handling patches.
 Source8:       copy-patches.sh
 
+# Upstream patch to use -cpu max.
+Patch1:        0001-appliance-Use-cpu-max.patch
+
 %if 0%{patches_touch_autotools}
 BuildRequires: autoconf, automake, libtool, gettext-devel
 %endif
@@ -222,7 +226,9 @@ BuildRequires: findutils
 BuildRequires: gawk
 BuildRequires: gdisk
 BuildRequires: genisoimage
+%if !0%{?rhel}
 BuildRequires: gfs2-utils
+%endif
 BuildRequires: grep
 BuildRequires: gzip
 %if !0%{?rhel}
@@ -385,9 +391,7 @@ For enhanced features, install:
 
 %if !0%{?rhel}
      libguestfs-forensics  adds filesystem forensics support
-%endif
           libguestfs-gfs2  adds Global Filesystem (GFS2) support
-%if !0%{?rhel}
        libguestfs-hfsplus  adds HFS+ (Mac filesystem) support
 %endif
  libguestfs-inspect-icons  adds support for inspecting guest icons
@@ -456,6 +460,7 @@ want to forensically analyze disk images using The Sleuth Kit.
 %endif
 
 
+%if !0%{?rhel}
 %package gfs2
 Summary:       GFS2 support for %{name}
 License:       LGPLv2+
@@ -464,6 +469,7 @@ Requires:      %{name}%{?_isa} = %{epoch}:%{version}-%{release}
 %description gfs2
 This adds GFS2 support to %{name}.  Install it if you want to process
 disk images containing GFS2.
+%endif
 
 
 %if !0%{?rhel}
@@ -1039,9 +1045,7 @@ move_to qemu-img        zz-packages-dib
 move_to which           zz-packages-dib
 %if !0%{?rhel}
 move_to sleuthkit       zz-packages-forensics
-%endif
 move_to gfs2-utils      zz-packages-gfs2
-%if !0%{?rhel}
 move_to hfsplus-tools   zz-packages-hfsplus
 move_to jfsutils        zz-packages-jfs
 move_to nilfs-utils     zz-packages-nilfs
@@ -1129,8 +1133,10 @@ rm ocaml/html/.gitignore
 %{_libdir}/guestfs/supermin.d/zz-packages-forensics
 %endif
 
+%if !0%{?rhel}
 %files gfs2
 %{_libdir}/guestfs/supermin.d/zz-packages-gfs2
+%endif
 
 %if !0%{?rhel}
 %ifnarch ppc
@@ -1371,6 +1377,9 @@ rm ocaml/html/.gitignore
 
 
 %changelog
+* Tue Feb 09 2021 Richard W.M. Jones <rjones@redhat.com> - 1:1.44.0-5
+- Remove gfs2-utils dependency in RHEL 9.
+
 * Thu Jan 28 2021 Richard W.M. Jones <rjones@redhat.com> - 1:1.44.0-4
 - ELN has full-fat qemu (not qemu-kvm).