diff --git a/libguile/strings.c b/libguile/strings.c
index 6d2b7c079..52dfb530a 100644
--- a/libguile/strings.c
+++ b/libguile/strings.c
@@ -1410,7 +1410,7 @@ scm_is_string (SCM obj)
 /* Conversion to/from other encodings.  */
 
 SCM_SYMBOL (scm_encoding_error_key, "encoding-error");
-static void
+void
 scm_encoding_error (const char *subr, int err, const char *message,
 		    const char *from, const char *to, SCM string_or_bv)
 {
diff --git a/libguile/strings.h b/libguile/strings.h
index ad9518c16..734ac62e0 100644
--- a/libguile/strings.h
+++ b/libguile/strings.h
@@ -195,6 +195,10 @@ SCM_INTERNAL int scm_i_is_narrow_symbol (SCM str);
 SCM_INTERNAL int scm_i_try_narrow_string (SCM str);
 SCM_INTERNAL SCM scm_i_symbol_substring (SCM sym, size_t start, size_t end);
 SCM_INTERNAL scm_t_wchar scm_i_symbol_ref (SCM sym, size_t x);
+SCM_INTERNAL void scm_encoding_error (const char *subr, int err,
+				      const char *message,
+				      const char *from, const char *to,
+				      SCM string_or_bv);
 
 /* internal utility functions. */