diff --git a/fs/ext4/ext4.h b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
index e1683829b2b56be3ec8e5b2a5e439c577a8679b9..180111de2302377ab202bfd7508dd2ef544cf639 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/ext4.h
+++ b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
@@ -2199,6 +2199,7 @@ extern int ext4_generic_delete_entry(handle_t *handle,
 				     void *entry_buf,
 				     int buf_size,
 				     int csum_size);
+extern int ext4_empty_dir(struct inode *inode);
 
 /* resize.c */
 extern int ext4_group_add(struct super_block *sb,
diff --git a/fs/ext4/namei.c b/fs/ext4/namei.c
index 23a0b9bf822d5a66529774cfbcc654a6d6a751a3..0dbd2d2937f76b7de364526797f00fce26c48050 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/namei.c
@@ -2457,7 +2457,7 @@ static int ext4_mkdir(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode)
 /*
  * routine to check that the specified directory is empty (for rmdir)
  */
-static int empty_dir(struct inode *inode)
+int ext4_empty_dir(struct inode *inode)
 {
 	unsigned int offset;
 	struct buffer_head *bh;
@@ -2725,7 +2725,7 @@ static int ext4_rmdir(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry)
 		goto end_rmdir;
 
 	retval = -ENOTEMPTY;
-	if (!empty_dir(inode))
+	if (!ext4_empty_dir(inode))
 		goto end_rmdir;
 
 	handle = ext4_journal_start(dir, EXT4_HT_DIR,
@@ -3285,7 +3285,7 @@ static int ext4_rename(struct inode *old_dir, struct dentry *old_dentry,
 	if (S_ISDIR(old.inode->i_mode)) {
 		if (new.inode) {
 			retval = -ENOTEMPTY;
-			if (!empty_dir(new.inode))
+			if (!ext4_empty_dir(new.inode))
 				goto end_rename;
 		} else {
 			retval = -EMLINK;
@@ -3359,8 +3359,9 @@ static int ext4_rename(struct inode *old_dir, struct dentry *old_dentry,
 
 		ext4_dec_count(handle, old.dir);
 		if (new.inode) {
-			/* checked empty_dir above, can't have another parent,
-			 * ext4_dec_count() won't work for many-linked dirs */
+			/* checked ext4_empty_dir above, can't have another
+			 * parent, ext4_dec_count() won't work for many-linked
+			 * dirs */
 			clear_nlink(new.inode);
 		} else {
 			ext4_inc_count(handle, new.dir);