diff --git a/builtin/remote.c b/builtin/remote.c
index c74ee88690..79b0326446 100644
--- a/builtin/remote.c
+++ b/builtin/remote.c
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include "refspec.h"
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "argv-array.h"
+#include "commit-reach.h"
 
 static const char * const builtin_remote_usage[] = {
 	N_("git remote [-v | --verbose]"),
diff --git a/commit-reach.c b/commit-reach.c
index 8ab6044414..a6bc4781a6 100644
--- a/commit-reach.c
+++ b/commit-reach.c
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 #include "cache.h"
-#include "prio-queue.h"
 #include "commit.h"
+#include "decorate.h"
+#include "prio-queue.h"
+#include "tree.h"
+#include "revision.h"
+#include "tag.h"
 #include "commit-reach.h"
 
 /* Remember to update object flag allocation in object.h */
@@ -358,3 +362,52 @@ void reduce_heads_replace(struct commit_list **heads)
 	free_commit_list(*heads);
 	*heads = result;
 }
+
+static void unmark_and_free(struct commit_list *list, unsigned int mark)
+{
+	while (list) {
+		struct commit *commit = pop_commit(&list);
+		commit->object.flags &= ~mark;
+	}
+}
+
+int ref_newer(const struct object_id *new_oid, const struct object_id *old_oid)
+{
+	struct object *o;
+	struct commit *old_commit, *new_commit;
+	struct commit_list *list, *used;
+	int found = 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * Both new_commit and old_commit must be commit-ish and new_commit is descendant of
+	 * old_commit.  Otherwise we require --force.
+	 */
+	o = deref_tag(the_repository, parse_object(the_repository, old_oid),
+		      NULL, 0);
+	if (!o || o->type != OBJ_COMMIT)
+		return 0;
+	old_commit = (struct commit *) o;
+
+	o = deref_tag(the_repository, parse_object(the_repository, new_oid),
+		      NULL, 0);
+	if (!o || o->type != OBJ_COMMIT)
+		return 0;
+	new_commit = (struct commit *) o;
+
+	if (parse_commit(new_commit) < 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	used = list = NULL;
+	commit_list_insert(new_commit, &list);
+	while (list) {
+		new_commit = pop_most_recent_commit(&list, TMP_MARK);
+		commit_list_insert(new_commit, &used);
+		if (new_commit == old_commit) {
+			found = 1;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	unmark_and_free(list, TMP_MARK);
+	unmark_and_free(used, TMP_MARK);
+	return found;
+}
diff --git a/commit-reach.h b/commit-reach.h
index 1ea2696e40..f1cf9bfcd8 100644
--- a/commit-reach.h
+++ b/commit-reach.h
@@ -39,4 +39,6 @@ struct commit_list *reduce_heads(struct commit_list *heads);
  */
 void reduce_heads_replace(struct commit_list **heads);
 
+int ref_newer(const struct object_id *new_oid, const struct object_id *old_oid);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/remote.c b/remote.c
index 8e99b9888a..f0c23bae48 100644
--- a/remote.c
+++ b/remote.c
@@ -1784,55 +1784,6 @@ int resolve_remote_symref(struct ref *ref, struct ref *list)
 	return 1;
 }
 
-static void unmark_and_free(struct commit_list *list, unsigned int mark)
-{
-	while (list) {
-		struct commit *commit = pop_commit(&list);
-		commit->object.flags &= ~mark;
-	}
-}
-
-int ref_newer(const struct object_id *new_oid, const struct object_id *old_oid)
-{
-	struct object *o;
-	struct commit *old_commit, *new_commit;
-	struct commit_list *list, *used;
-	int found = 0;
-
-	/*
-	 * Both new_commit and old_commit must be commit-ish and new_commit is descendant of
-	 * old_commit.  Otherwise we require --force.
-	 */
-	o = deref_tag(the_repository, parse_object(the_repository, old_oid),
-		      NULL, 0);
-	if (!o || o->type != OBJ_COMMIT)
-		return 0;
-	old_commit = (struct commit *) o;
-
-	o = deref_tag(the_repository, parse_object(the_repository, new_oid),
-		      NULL, 0);
-	if (!o || o->type != OBJ_COMMIT)
-		return 0;
-	new_commit = (struct commit *) o;
-
-	if (parse_commit(new_commit) < 0)
-		return 0;
-
-	used = list = NULL;
-	commit_list_insert(new_commit, &list);
-	while (list) {
-		new_commit = pop_most_recent_commit(&list, TMP_MARK);
-		commit_list_insert(new_commit, &used);
-		if (new_commit == old_commit) {
-			found = 1;
-			break;
-		}
-	}
-	unmark_and_free(list, TMP_MARK);
-	unmark_and_free(used, TMP_MARK);
-	return found;
-}
-
 /*
  * Lookup the upstream branch for the given branch and if present, optionally
  * compute the commit ahead/behind values for the pair.
diff --git a/remote.h b/remote.h
index 45ecc6cefa..56fb9cbb27 100644
--- a/remote.h
+++ b/remote.h
@@ -149,7 +149,6 @@ extern struct ref **get_remote_refs(int fd_out, struct packet_reader *reader,
 				    const struct string_list *server_options);
 
 int resolve_remote_symref(struct ref *ref, struct ref *list);
-int ref_newer(const struct object_id *new_oid, const struct object_id *old_oid);
 
 /*
  * Remove and free all but the first of any entries in the input list