diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 12e59b6b27..514ac74101 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -2826,7 +2826,7 @@ F: include/exec/gdbstub.h
 F: include/gdbstub/*
 F: gdb-xml/
 F: tests/tcg/multiarch/gdbstub/
-F: scripts/feature_to_c.sh
+F: scripts/feature_to_c.py
 F: scripts/probe-gdb-support.py
 
 Memory API
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 98e68ef0b1..5c633f7e01 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3683,7 +3683,7 @@ common_all = static_library('common',
                             dependencies: common_all.dependencies(),
                             name_suffix: 'fa')
 
-feature_to_c = find_program('scripts/feature_to_c.sh')
+feature_to_c = find_program('scripts/feature_to_c.py')
 
 if targetos == 'darwin'
   entitlement = find_program('scripts/entitlement.sh')
diff --git a/include/exec/gdbstub.h b/include/exec/gdbstub.h
index 7d743fe1e9..3f08093321 100644
--- a/include/exec/gdbstub.h
+++ b/include/exec/gdbstub.h
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@
 #define GDB_WATCHPOINT_READ      3
 #define GDB_WATCHPOINT_ACCESS    4
 
+typedef struct GDBFeature {
+    const char *xmlname;
+    const char *xml;
+} GDBFeature;
+
 
 /* Get or set a register.  Returns the size of the register.  */
 typedef int (*gdb_get_reg_cb)(CPUArchState *env, GByteArray *buf, int reg);
@@ -38,7 +43,7 @@ void gdb_set_stop_cpu(CPUState *cpu);
  */
 extern bool gdb_has_xml;
 
-/* in gdbstub-xml.c, generated by scripts/feature_to_c.sh */
-extern const char *const xml_builtin[][2];
+/* in gdbstub-xml.c, generated by scripts/feature_to_c.py */
+extern const GDBFeature gdb_static_features[];
 
 #endif
diff --git a/gdbstub/gdbstub.c b/gdbstub/gdbstub.c
index 6911b73c07..2772f07bbe 100644
--- a/gdbstub/gdbstub.c
+++ b/gdbstub/gdbstub.c
@@ -407,11 +407,11 @@ static const char *get_feature_xml(const char *p, const char **newp,
         }
     }
     for (i = 0; ; i++) {
-        name = xml_builtin[i][0];
+        name = gdb_static_features[i].xmlname;
         if (!name || (strncmp(name, p, len) == 0 && strlen(name) == len))
             break;
     }
-    return name ? xml_builtin[i][1] : NULL;
+    return name ? gdb_static_features[i].xml : NULL;
 }
 
 static int gdb_read_register(CPUState *cpu, GByteArray *buf, int reg)
diff --git a/stubs/gdbstub.c b/stubs/gdbstub.c
index 2b7aee50d3..580e20702b 100644
--- a/stubs/gdbstub.c
+++ b/stubs/gdbstub.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
-#include "exec/gdbstub.h"       /* xml_builtin */
+#include "exec/gdbstub.h"       /* gdb_static_features */
 
-const char *const xml_builtin[][2] = {
-  { NULL, NULL }
+const GDBFeature gdb_static_features[] = {
+  { NULL }
 };
diff --git a/scripts/feature_to_c.py b/scripts/feature_to_c.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..bcbcb83beb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/feature_to_c.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+
+import os, sys
+
+def writeliteral(indent, bytes):
+    sys.stdout.write(' ' * indent)
+    sys.stdout.write('"')
+    quoted = True
+
+    for c in bytes:
+        if not quoted:
+            sys.stdout.write('\n')
+            sys.stdout.write(' ' * indent)
+            sys.stdout.write('"')
+            quoted = True
+
+        if c == b'"'[0]:
+            sys.stdout.write('\\"')
+        elif c == b'\\'[0]:
+            sys.stdout.write('\\\\')
+        elif c == b'\n'[0]:
+            sys.stdout.write('\\n"')
+            quoted = False
+        elif c >= 32 and c < 127:
+            sys.stdout.write(c.to_bytes(1, 'big').decode())
+        else:
+            sys.stdout.write(f'\{c:03o}')
+
+    if quoted:
+        sys.stdout.write('"')
+
+sys.stdout.write('#include "qemu/osdep.h"\n' \
+                 '#include "exec/gdbstub.h"\n' \
+                 '\n'
+                 'const GDBFeature gdb_static_features[] = {\n')
+
+for input in sys.argv[1:]:
+    with open(input, 'rb') as file:
+        read = file.read()
+
+    sys.stdout.write('    {\n')
+    writeliteral(8, bytes(os.path.basename(input), 'utf-8'))
+    sys.stdout.write(',\n')
+    writeliteral(8, read)
+    sys.stdout.write('\n    },\n')
+
+sys.stdout.write('    { NULL }\n};\n')
diff --git a/scripts/feature_to_c.sh b/scripts/feature_to_c.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index c1f67c8f6a..0000000000
--- a/scripts/feature_to_c.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-# Convert text files to compilable C arrays.
-#
-# Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-#
-# This file is part of GDB.
-#
-# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
-# (at your option) any later version.
-#
-# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-# GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with this program; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-if test -z "$1"; then
-  echo "Usage: $0 INPUTFILE..."
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-for input; do
-  arrayname=xml_feature_$(echo $input | sed 's,.*/,,; s/[-.]/_/g')
-
-  ${AWK:-awk} 'BEGIN { n = 0
-      printf "#include \"qemu/osdep.h\"\n"
-      print "static const char '$arrayname'[] = {"
-      for (i = 0; i < 255; i++)
-        _ord_[sprintf("%c", i)] = i
-    } {
-      split($0, line, "");
-      printf "  "
-      for (i = 1; i <= length($0); i++) {
-        c = line[i]
-        if (c == "'\''") {
-          printf "'\''\\'\'''\'', "
-        } else if (c == "\\") {
-          printf "'\''\\\\'\'', "
-        } else if (_ord_[c] >= 32 && _ord_[c] < 127) {
-	  printf "'\''%s'\'', ", c
-        } else {
-          printf "'\''\\%03o'\'', ", _ord_[c]
-        }
-        if (i % 10 == 0)
-          printf "\n   "
-      }
-      printf "'\''\\n'\'', \n"
-    } END {
-      print "  0 };"
-    }' < $input
-done
-
-echo
-echo '#include "exec/gdbstub.h"'
-echo "const char *const xml_builtin[][2] = {"
-
-for input; do
-  basename=$(echo $input | sed 's,.*/,,')
-  arrayname=xml_feature_$(echo $input | sed 's,.*/,,; s/[-.]/_/g')
-  echo "  { \"$basename\", $arrayname },"
-done
-
-echo "  { (char *)0, (char *)0 }"
-echo "};"
