diff --git a/hw/virtio/virtio.c b/hw/virtio/virtio.c
index f419e7cb57..08275a9848 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/virtio.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/virtio.c
@@ -1162,7 +1162,7 @@ void virtio_irq(VirtQueue *vq)
     virtio_notify_vector(vq->vdev, vq->vector);
 }
 
-static bool vring_notify(VirtIODevice *vdev, VirtQueue *vq)
+bool virtio_should_notify(VirtIODevice *vdev, VirtQueue *vq)
 {
     uint16_t old, new;
     bool v;
@@ -1187,7 +1187,7 @@ static bool vring_notify(VirtIODevice *vdev, VirtQueue *vq)
 
 void virtio_notify(VirtIODevice *vdev, VirtQueue *vq)
 {
-    if (!vring_notify(vdev, vq)) {
+    if (!virtio_should_notify(vdev, vq)) {
         return;
     }
 
diff --git a/include/hw/virtio/virtio.h b/include/hw/virtio/virtio.h
index 3ecdb20729..2b5b248b0c 100644
--- a/include/hw/virtio/virtio.h
+++ b/include/hw/virtio/virtio.h
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ void virtqueue_get_avail_bytes(VirtQueue *vq, unsigned int *in_bytes,
                                unsigned int *out_bytes,
                                unsigned max_in_bytes, unsigned max_out_bytes);
 
+bool virtio_should_notify(VirtIODevice *vdev, VirtQueue *vq);
 void virtio_notify(VirtIODevice *vdev, VirtQueue *vq);
 
 void virtio_save(VirtIODevice *vdev, QEMUFile *f);