diff --git a/libguile/ChangeLog b/libguile/ChangeLog
index 85a2ade8d..a93ce6715 100644
--- a/libguile/ChangeLog
+++ b/libguile/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 2001-09-20  Mikael Djurfeldt  <mdj@linnaeus>
 
+	* error.c, error.h: Made error keys globally accessible.
+	Applications might want to test for these or use them in a direct
+	call to scm_error.
+
 	* num2integral.i.c (NUM2INTEGRAL): Report an error when these
 	routines are passed an inexact.  This change in behavior is
 	motivated by concordance with R5RS: It is more common that a
diff --git a/libguile/error.c b/libguile/error.c
index 052d07e06..fd1e7d5f8 100644
--- a/libguile/error.c
+++ b/libguile/error.c
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_strerror, "strerror", 1, 0, 0,
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME
 
-SCM_SYMBOL (scm_system_error_key, "system-error");
+SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (scm_system_error_key, "system-error");
 void
 scm_syserror (const char *subr)
 {
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ scm_syserror_msg (const char *subr, const char *message, SCM args, int eno)
 	     scm_cons (SCM_MAKINUM (eno), SCM_EOL));
 }
 
-SCM_SYMBOL (scm_num_overflow_key, "numerical-overflow");
+SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (scm_num_overflow_key, "numerical-overflow");
 void
 scm_num_overflow (const char *subr)
 {
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ scm_num_overflow (const char *subr)
 	     SCM_BOOL_F);
 }
 
-SCM_SYMBOL (scm_out_of_range_key, "out-of-range");
+SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (scm_out_of_range_key, "out-of-range");
 void
 scm_out_of_range (const char *subr, SCM bad_value)
 {
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ scm_out_of_range_pos (const char *subr, SCM bad_value, SCM pos)
 }
 
 
-SCM_SYMBOL (scm_args_number_key, "wrong-number-of-args");
+SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (scm_args_number_key, "wrong-number-of-args");
 void
 scm_wrong_num_args (SCM proc)
 {
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ scm_error_num_args_subr (const char *subr)
 }
 
 
-SCM_SYMBOL (scm_arg_type_key, "wrong-type-arg");
+SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (scm_arg_type_key, "wrong-type-arg");
 void
 scm_wrong_type_arg (const char *subr, int pos, SCM bad_value)
 {
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ scm_wrong_type_arg_msg (const char *subr, int pos, SCM bad_value, const char *sz
 }
 
 
-SCM_SYMBOL (scm_memory_alloc_key, "memory-allocation-error");
+SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (scm_memory_alloc_key, "memory-allocation-error");
 void
 scm_memory_error (const char *subr)
 {
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ scm_memory_error (const char *subr)
 	     SCM_BOOL_F);
 }
 
-SCM_SYMBOL (scm_misc_error_key, "misc-error");
+SCM_GLOBAL_SYMBOL (scm_misc_error_key, "misc-error");
 void
 scm_misc_error (const char *subr, const char *message, SCM args)
 {
diff --git a/libguile/error.h b/libguile/error.h
index 37b8ee342..a1a0337fd 100644
--- a/libguile/error.h
+++ b/libguile/error.h
@@ -48,6 +48,14 @@
 
 extern int scm_ints_disabled;
 
+extern SCM scm_system_error_key;
+extern SCM scm_num_overflow_key;
+extern SCM scm_out_of_range_key;
+extern SCM scm_args_number_key;
+extern SCM scm_arg_type_key;
+extern SCM scm_memory_alloc_key;
+extern SCM scm_misc_error_key;
+
 
 
 extern void scm_error (SCM key, const char *subr, const char *message,