diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index ffaa38ccab..92b5e0fa2b 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1760,6 +1760,7 @@ virFileAccessibleAs;
 virFileActivateDirOverride;
 virFileBindMountDevice;
 virFileBuildPath;
+virFileCanonicalizePath;
 virFileClose;
 virFileComparePaths;
 virFileCopyACLs;
diff --git a/src/util/virfile.c b/src/util/virfile.c
index e12a584ca1..2a16b01ae5 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.c
+++ b/src/util/virfile.c
@@ -3299,6 +3299,19 @@ virFileSanitizePath(const char *path)
     return cleanpath;
 }
 
+/**
+ * virFileCanonicalizePath:
+ *
+ * Returns the canonical representation of @path.
+ *
+ * The returned string must be freed after use.
+ */
+char *
+virFileCanonicalizePath(const char *path)
+{
+    return canonicalize_file_name(path);
+}
+
 /**
  * virFileRemoveLastComponent:
  *
diff --git a/src/util/virfile.h b/src/util/virfile.h
index cd2a3867c2..341320b3d3 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.h
+++ b/src/util/virfile.h
@@ -218,6 +218,7 @@ int virFileGetMountReverseSubtree(const char *mtabpath,
                                   size_t *nmountsret) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
 char *virFileSanitizePath(const char *path);
+char *virFileCanonicalizePath(const char *path) ATTRIBUTE_NOINLINE;
 
 enum {
     VIR_FILE_OPEN_NONE        = 0,