diff --git a/compat/Makefile.local b/compat/Makefile.local
index 2ee1b399..c58ca746 100644
--- a/compat/Makefile.local
+++ b/compat/Makefile.local
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@ extra_cflags += -I$(srcdir)/$(dir)
 
 notmuch_compat_srcs :=
 
-ifneq ($(HAVE_CANONICALIZE_FILE_NAME),1)
-notmuch_compat_srcs += $(dir)/canonicalize_file_name.c
-endif
-
 ifneq ($(HAVE_GETLINE),1)
 notmuch_compat_srcs += $(dir)/getline.c $(dir)/getdelim.c
 endif
diff --git a/compat/compat.h b/compat/compat.h
index 8f15e585..59e91618 100644
--- a/compat/compat.h
+++ b/compat/compat.h
@@ -37,14 +37,6 @@ extern "C" {
 #define _POSIX_PTHREAD_SEMANTICS 1
 #endif
 
-#if ! HAVE_CANONICALIZE_FILE_NAME
-/* we only call this function from C, and this makes testing easier */
-#ifndef __cplusplus
-char *
-canonicalize_file_name (const char *path);
-#endif
-#endif
-
 #if ! HAVE_GETLINE
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
diff --git a/lib/open.cc b/lib/open.cc
index 5d80a884..bdb695fe 100644
--- a/lib/open.cc
+++ b/lib/open.cc
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include "database-private.h"
 #include "parse-time-vrp.h"
+#include "path-util.h"
 
 #if HAVE_XAPIAN_DB_RETRY_LOCK
 #define DB_ACTION (Xapian::DB_CREATE_OR_OPEN | Xapian::DB_RETRY_LOCK)
@@ -612,9 +613,9 @@ notmuch_database_create_with_config (const char *database_path,
     _set_database_path (notmuch, database_path);
 
     if (key_file && ! split) {
-	char *mail_root = canonicalize_file_name (
+	char *mail_root = notmuch_canonicalize_file_name (
 	    g_key_file_get_value (key_file, "database", "mail_root", NULL));
-	char *db_path = canonicalize_file_name (database_path);
+	char *db_path = notmuch_canonicalize_file_name (database_path);
 
 	split = (mail_root && (0 != strcmp (mail_root, db_path)));
 
diff --git a/notmuch-config.c b/notmuch-config.c
index 16e86916..d9390c4d 100644
--- a/notmuch-config.c
+++ b/notmuch-config.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <netdb.h>
 #include <assert.h>
 
+#include "path-util.h"
 #include "unicode-util.h"
 
 static const char toplevel_config_comment[] =
@@ -327,7 +328,7 @@ notmuch_conffile_save (notmuch_conffile_t *config)
     }
 
     /* Try not to overwrite symlinks. */
-    filename = canonicalize_file_name (config->filename);
+    filename = notmuch_canonicalize_file_name (config->filename);
     if (! filename) {
 	if (errno == ENOENT) {
 	    filename = strdup (config->filename);
diff --git a/util/Makefile.local b/util/Makefile.local
index 7ef029a5..8a0b9bc3 100644
--- a/util/Makefile.local
+++ b/util/Makefile.local
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ extra_cflags += -I$(srcdir)/$(dir)
 libnotmuch_util_c_srcs := $(dir)/xutil.c $(dir)/error_util.c $(dir)/hex-escape.c \
 		  $(dir)/string-util.c $(dir)/talloc-extra.c $(dir)/zlib-extra.c \
 		$(dir)/util.c $(dir)/gmime-extra.c $(dir)/crypto.c \
-		$(dir)/repair.c \
+		$(dir)/repair.c $(dir)/path-util.c \
 		$(dir)/unicode-util.c
 
 libnotmuch_util_modules := $(libnotmuch_util_c_srcs:.c=.o)
diff --git a/compat/canonicalize_file_name.c b/util/path-util.c
similarity index 53%
rename from compat/canonicalize_file_name.c
rename to util/path-util.c
index 000f9e78..3267a967 100644
--- a/compat/canonicalize_file_name.c
+++ b/util/path-util.c
@@ -1,12 +1,21 @@
-#include "compat.h"
+/*
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+ */
+
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+
+#include "path-util.h"
+
 #include <limits.h>
-#undef _GNU_SOURCE
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
+
 char *
-canonicalize_file_name (const char *path)
+notmuch_canonicalize_file_name (const char *path)
 {
-#ifdef PATH_MAX
+#if HAVE_CANONICALIZE_FILE_NAME
+    return canonicalize_file_name (path);
+#elif defined(PATH_MAX)
     char *resolved_path =  malloc (PATH_MAX + 1);
     if (resolved_path == NULL)
 	return NULL;
diff --git a/util/path-util.h b/util/path-util.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ac85f696
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/path-util.h
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+ */
+
+#ifndef NOTMUCH_UTIL_PATH_UTIL_H_
+#define NOTMUCH_UTIL_PATH_UTIL_H_
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+char *
+notmuch_canonicalize_file_name (const char *path);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif /* NOTMUCH_UTIL_PATH_UTIL_H_ */