diff --git a/disk/core.c b/disk/core.c
index 6894b17..f3dd0bb 100644
--- a/disk/core.c
+++ b/disk/core.c
@@ -59,6 +59,14 @@ struct disk_image *disk_image__open(const char *filename, bool readonly)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+int disk_image__flush(struct disk_image *disk)
+{
+	if (disk->ops->flush)
+		return disk->ops->flush(disk);
+
+	return fsync(disk->fd);
+}
+
 int disk_image__close(struct disk_image *disk)
 {
 	/* If there was no disk image then there's nothing to do: */
diff --git a/include/kvm/disk-image.h b/include/kvm/disk-image.h
index 82884fb..ac394e8 100644
--- a/include/kvm/disk-image.h
+++ b/include/kvm/disk-image.h
@@ -53,17 +53,10 @@ struct disk_image {
 struct disk_image *disk_image__open(const char *filename, bool readonly);
 struct disk_image *disk_image__new(int fd, u64 size, struct disk_image_operations *ops, int mmap);
 int disk_image__close(struct disk_image *disk);
-
+int disk_image__flush(struct disk_image *disk);
 ssize_t disk_image__read(struct disk_image *disk, u64 sector, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcount);
 ssize_t disk_image__write(struct disk_image *disk, u64 sector, const struct iovec *iov, int iovcount);
 
-static inline int disk_image__flush(struct disk_image *disk)
-{
-	if (disk->ops->flush)
-		return disk->ops->flush(disk);
-	return fsync(disk->fd);
-}
-
 struct disk_image *raw_image__probe(int fd, struct stat *st, bool readonly);
 struct disk_image *blkdev__probe(const char *filename, struct stat *st);