diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileValidator.h b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileValidator.h
index 88bec4b87eae1a467d1231658f15ca82cb5ecbce..069da36906cb1314f7ac411ba3a147e77de18178 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileValidator.h
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileValidator.h
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ namespace Mantid
 {
 namespace Kernel
 {
+
+bool has_ending(const std::string &value, const std::string & ending);
+
 /** FileValidator is a validator that checks that a filepath is valid.
 
     @author Matt Clarke, ISIS.
@@ -44,7 +47,7 @@ public:
   virtual ~FileValidator();
   std::set<std::string> allowedValues() const;
   IValidator<std::string>* clone();
-  
+
 private:
   /// The list of permitted extensions
   const std::set<std::string> m_extensions;
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileValidator.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileValidator.cpp
index c0093c1278618e23d359a254625a3bdd226fd9cd..436db8b541ef525e3faf060a01e49082fdf6621f 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileValidator.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileValidator.cpp
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ std::string FileValidator::checkValidity(const std::string &value) const
  * @param value The string to check the ending for.
  * @param ending The ending the string should have.
  */
-static bool has_ending(const std::string &value, const std::string & ending)
+bool has_ending(const std::string &value, const std::string & ending)
 {
   if (ending.empty()) // always match against an empty extension
     return true;