diff --git a/Include/fileobject.h b/Include/fileobject.h
index aefeffe..a3670c2 100644
--- a/Include/fileobject.h
+++ b/Include/fileobject.h
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@
 extern DL_IMPORT(int) PyFile_WriteString(char *, PyObject *);
 extern DL_IMPORT(int) PyObject_AsFileDescriptor(PyObject *);
 
+/* The default encoding used by the platform file system APIs
+   If non-NULL, this is different than the default encoding for strings 
+*/
+extern DL_IMPORT(const char *) Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding;
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
index 87d584e..430a44a 100644
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -233,16 +233,6 @@
 #endif /* MS_WIN32 */
 #endif /* _MSC_VER */
 
-/* The default encoding used by the platform file system APIs
-   If non-NULL, this is almost certainly different than the default 
-   encoding for strings (otherwise it can remain NULL!)
-*/
-#ifdef MS_WIN32
-const char *Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding = "mbcs";
-#else
-const char *Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding = NULL; /* use default */
-#endif
-
 #if defined(PYCC_VACPP) && defined(PYOS_OS2)
 #include <io.h>
 #endif /* OS2 */
diff --git a/Python/bltinmodule.c b/Python/bltinmodule.c
index 5ffecb3..b647f3b 100644
--- a/Python/bltinmodule.c
+++ b/Python/bltinmodule.c
@@ -13,7 +13,14 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #endif
 
-extern const char *Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding;
+/* The default encoding used by the platform file system APIs
+   Can remain NULL for all platforms that don't have such a concept
+*/
+#ifdef MS_WIN32
+const char *Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding = "mbcs";
+#else
+const char *Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding = NULL; /* use default */
+#endif
 
 /* Forward */
 static PyObject *filterstring(PyObject *, PyObject *);