diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index d89e2f106a62..109f3b269ac5 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -80,17 +80,6 @@ static const char		*cpu_list;
 
 static struct perf_mmap		mmap_array[MAX_NR_CPUS];
 
-static void mmap_write_tail(struct perf_mmap *md, unsigned long tail)
-{
-	struct perf_event_mmap_page *pc = md->base;
-
-	/*
-	 * ensure all reads are done before we write the tail out.
-	 */
-	/* mb(); */
-	pc->data_tail = tail;
-}
-
 static void advance_output(size_t size)
 {
 	bytes_written += size;
@@ -165,7 +154,7 @@ static void mmap_read(struct perf_mmap *md)
 	write_output(buf, size);
 
 	md->prev = old;
-	mmap_write_tail(md, old);
+	perf_mmap__write_tail(md, old);
 }
 
 static volatile int done = 0;
diff --git a/tools/perf/perf.h b/tools/perf/perf.h
index 5fb5e1f11d1c..a5fc660c1f12 100644
--- a/tools/perf/perf.h
+++ b/tools/perf/perf.h
@@ -108,6 +108,18 @@ static inline unsigned int perf_mmap__read_head(struct perf_mmap *mm)
 	return head;
 }
 
+static inline void perf_mmap__write_tail(struct perf_mmap *md,
+					 unsigned long tail)
+{
+	struct perf_event_mmap_page *pc = md->base;
+
+	/*
+	 * ensure all reads are done before we write the tail out.
+	 */
+	/* mb(); */
+	pc->data_tail = tail;
+}
+
 /*
  * prctl(PR_TASK_PERF_EVENTS_DISABLE) will (cheaply) disable all
  * counters in the current task.