diff --git a/source3/smbd/proto.h b/source3/smbd/proto.h
index ac021ad93fe..2ea90405b47 100644
--- a/source3/smbd/proto.h
+++ b/source3/smbd/proto.h
@@ -1281,6 +1281,8 @@ NTSTATUS vfs_streaminfo(connection_struct *conn,
 			unsigned int *num_streams,
 			struct stream_struct **streams);
 void init_smb_file_time(struct smb_file_time *ft);
+int vfs_fake_fd(void);
+int vfs_fake_fd_close(int fd);
 
 /* The following definitions come from smbd/avahi_register.c */
 
diff --git a/source3/smbd/vfs.c b/source3/smbd/vfs.c
index 411999c3856..740088628c5 100644
--- a/source3/smbd/vfs.c
+++ b/source3/smbd/vfs.c
@@ -1579,6 +1579,15 @@ NTSTATUS vfs_streaminfo(connection_struct *conn,
 			streams);
 }
 
+/*
+ * This is just a helper to make
+ * users of vfs_fake_fd() more symetric
+ */
+int vfs_fake_fd_close(int fd)
+{
+	return close(fd);
+}
+
 /*
   generate a file_id from a stat structure
  */