diff --git a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.c b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.c
index dd31800f1026c5749aaf0ec3c4d2d0ca556f1a9e..71111fadd7f02ef18fbd27e3c2ee861dd7fe5916 100644
--- a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.c
+++ b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.c
@@ -1639,3 +1639,50 @@ extern char *give_geo(uint16_t *int_geo, int dims, bool with_sep)
 	return geo;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Convert a BG API error code to a string
+ * IN inx - error code from any of the BG Bridge APIs
+ * RET - string describing the error condition
+ */
+extern const char *bg_err_str(int inx)
+{
+	static char tmp_char[10];
+
+	switch (inx) {
+	case SLURM_SUCCESS:
+		return "Slurm Success";
+	case SLURM_ERROR:
+		return "Slurm Error";
+	case BG_ERROR_BLOCK_NOT_FOUND:
+		return "Block not found";
+	case BG_ERROR_BOOT_ERROR:
+		return "Block boot error";
+	case BG_ERROR_JOB_NOT_FOUND:
+		return "Job not found";
+	case BG_ERROR_MP_NOT_FOUND:
+		return "Midplane not found";
+	case BG_ERROR_SWITCH_NOT_FOUND:
+		return "Switch not found";
+	case BG_ERROR_BLOCK_ALREADY_DEFINED:
+		return "Block already defined";
+	case BG_ERROR_JOB_ALREADY_DEFINED:
+		return "Job already defined";
+	case BG_ERROR_CONNECTION_ERROR:
+		return "Connection error";
+	case BG_ERROR_INTERNAL_ERROR:
+		return "Internal error";
+	case BG_ERROR_INVALID_INPUT:
+		return "Invalid input";
+	case BG_ERROR_INCONSISTENT_DATA:
+		return "Inconsistent data";
+	case BG_ERROR_NO_IOBLOCK_CONNECTED:
+		return "No IO Block Connected";
+	}
+	/* I know this isn't the best way to handle this, but it only
+	   happens very rarely and usually in debugging, so it
+	   hopefully isn't really all that bad.
+	*/
+	snprintf(tmp_char, sizeof(tmp_char), "%u ?", inx);
+	return tmp_char;
+}
+
diff --git a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.h b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.h
index e6e7e1a1ce11bc3a142ac9f1933f09795098c1d2..c243928f3ad3f6c4e5da2f0c3873df1613f9049b 100644
--- a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.h
+++ b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/ba_common.h
@@ -552,4 +552,6 @@ extern char *ba_passthroughs_string(uint16_t passthrough);
 
 extern char *give_geo(uint16_t *int_geo, int dims, bool with_sep);
 
+extern const char *bg_err_str(int inx);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.c b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.c
index 74e1743a5caac36012bd9582c6b31ff738c492cb..01fb3b6e5303ea2d61681237d0fc1ee4b25b1985 100644
--- a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.c
+++ b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.c
@@ -554,51 +554,3 @@ extern int node_already_down(char *node_name)
 
 	return 0;
 }
-
-/*
- * Convert a BG API error code to a string
- * IN inx - error code from any of the BG Bridge APIs
- * RET - string describing the error condition
- */
-extern const char *bg_err_str(int inx)
-{
-	static char tmp_char[10];
-
-	switch (inx) {
-	case SLURM_SUCCESS:
-		return "Slurm Success";
-	case SLURM_ERROR:
-		return "Slurm Error";
-	case BG_ERROR_BLOCK_NOT_FOUND:
-		return "Block not found";
-	case BG_ERROR_BOOT_ERROR:
-		return "Block boot error";
-	case BG_ERROR_JOB_NOT_FOUND:
-		return "Job not found";
-	case BG_ERROR_MP_NOT_FOUND:
-		return "Midplane not found";
-	case BG_ERROR_SWITCH_NOT_FOUND:
-		return "Switch not found";
-	case BG_ERROR_BLOCK_ALREADY_DEFINED:
-		return "Block already defined";
-	case BG_ERROR_JOB_ALREADY_DEFINED:
-		return "Job already defined";
-	case BG_ERROR_CONNECTION_ERROR:
-		return "Connection error";
-	case BG_ERROR_INTERNAL_ERROR:
-		return "Internal error";
-	case BG_ERROR_INVALID_INPUT:
-		return "Invalid input";
-	case BG_ERROR_INCONSISTENT_DATA:
-		return "Inconsistent data";
-	case BG_ERROR_NO_IOBLOCK_CONNECTED:
-		return "No IO Block Connected";
-	}
-	/* I know this isn't the best way to handle this, but it only
-	   happens very rarely and usually in debugging, so it
-	   hopefully isn't really all that bad.
-	*/
-	snprintf(tmp_char, sizeof(tmp_char), "%u ?", inx);
-	return tmp_char;
-}
-
diff --git a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.h b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.h
index 7277a7824d7526012ddd0b192472c2d361c5ca42..788a97f0e6d458623b0455f8b8e71ab374061c12 100644
--- a/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.h
+++ b/src/plugins/select/bluegene/bg_core.h
@@ -81,7 +81,6 @@ extern int free_block_list(uint32_t job_id, List track_list,
 			   bool destroy, bool wait);
 extern int read_bg_conf();
 extern int node_already_down(char *node_name);
-extern const char *bg_err_str(int inx);
 
 #endif /* _BG_CORE_H_ */