diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c b/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
index 3a944a487e7e9232e5a2eac5b7f40f9d51aa711f..27091759aa818786481e01297d18f747e628e74c 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ const struct btf *btf__base_btf(const struct btf *btf)
 }
 
 /* internal helper returning non-const pointer to a type */
-static struct btf_type *btf_type_by_id(struct btf *btf, __u32 type_id)
+struct btf_type *btf_type_by_id(struct btf *btf, __u32 type_id)
 {
 	if (type_id == 0)
 		return &btf_void;
diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h
index 343f6eb05637cc3246767710d15ede57f7f55977..d09860e435c861f67f2af8d0a63c3a1e672899de 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h
@@ -107,6 +107,11 @@ static inline void *libbpf_reallocarray(void *ptr, size_t nmemb, size_t size)
 	return realloc(ptr, total);
 }
 
+struct btf;
+struct btf_type;
+
+struct btf_type *btf_type_by_id(struct btf *btf, __u32 type_id);
+
 void *btf_add_mem(void **data, size_t *cap_cnt, size_t elem_sz,
 		  size_t cur_cnt, size_t max_cnt, size_t add_cnt);
 int btf_ensure_mem(void **data, size_t *cap_cnt, size_t elem_sz, size_t need_cnt);