diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 0b48e29..94e642e 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@
  *	Network device names need to be valid file names to
  *	to allow sysfs to work
  */
-static int dev_valid_name(const char *name)
+int dev_valid_name(const char *name)
 {
 	return !(*name == '\0' 
 		 || !strcmp(name, ".")
@@ -3269,6 +3269,7 @@
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(__dev_get_by_name);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(__dev_remove_pack);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(__skb_linearize);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(dev_valid_name);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(dev_add_pack);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(dev_alloc_name);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(dev_close);