diff --git a/builtin/cat-file.c b/builtin/cat-file.c
index 5b8be7cb63b..fe1b5bab05b 100644
--- a/builtin/cat-file.c
+++ b/builtin/cat-file.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "config.h"
 #include "builtin.h"
 #include "diff.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "parse-options.h"
 #include "userdiff.h"
 #include "streaming.h"
diff --git a/builtin/check-mailmap.c b/builtin/check-mailmap.c
index 7dc47e47932..96db3ddb4bb 100644
--- a/builtin/check-mailmap.c
+++ b/builtin/check-mailmap.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "builtin.h"
 #include "config.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "mailmap.h"
 #include "parse-options.h"
 #include "string-list.h"
diff --git a/builtin/config.c b/builtin/config.c
index ca006e9cc15..49d832d4093 100644
--- a/builtin/config.c
+++ b/builtin/config.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "alloc.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "color.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "parse-options.h"
 #include "urlmatch.h"
 #include "quote.h"
diff --git a/builtin/var.c b/builtin/var.c
index a80c1df86fd..d9943be9afd 100644
--- a/builtin/var.c
+++ b/builtin/var.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
  */
 #include "builtin.h"
 #include "config.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "refs.h"
 
 static const char var_usage[] = "git var (-l | <variable>)";
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index d0619ce2e63..63ffd197a2a 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1446,65 +1446,10 @@ struct object *repo_peel_to_type(struct repository *r,
 #define peel_to_type(name, namelen, obj, type) \
 	repo_peel_to_type(the_repository, name, namelen, obj, type)
 
-#define IDENT_STRICT	       1
-#define IDENT_NO_DATE	       2
-#define IDENT_NO_NAME	       4
-
-enum want_ident {
-	WANT_BLANK_IDENT,
-	WANT_AUTHOR_IDENT,
-	WANT_COMMITTER_IDENT
-};
-
-const char *git_author_info(int);
-const char *git_committer_info(int);
-const char *fmt_ident(const char *name, const char *email,
-		      enum want_ident whose_ident,
-		      const char *date_str, int);
-const char *fmt_name(enum want_ident);
-const char *ident_default_name(void);
-const char *ident_default_email(void);
 const char *git_editor(void);
 const char *git_sequence_editor(void);
 const char *git_pager(int stdout_is_tty);
 int is_terminal_dumb(void);
-int git_ident_config(const char *, const char *, void *);
-/*
- * Prepare an ident to fall back on if the user didn't configure it.
- */
-void prepare_fallback_ident(const char *name, const char *email);
-void reset_ident_date(void);
-
-struct ident_split {
-	const char *name_begin;
-	const char *name_end;
-	const char *mail_begin;
-	const char *mail_end;
-	const char *date_begin;
-	const char *date_end;
-	const char *tz_begin;
-	const char *tz_end;
-};
-/*
- * Signals an success with 0, but time part of the result may be NULL
- * if the input lacks timestamp and zone
- */
-int split_ident_line(struct ident_split *, const char *, int);
-
-/*
- * Given a commit or tag object buffer and the commit or tag headers, replaces
- * the idents in the headers with their canonical versions using the mailmap mechanism.
- */
-void apply_mailmap_to_header(struct strbuf *, const char **, struct string_list *);
-
-/*
- * Compare split idents for equality or strict ordering. Note that we
- * compare only the ident part of the line, ignoring any timestamp.
- *
- * Because there are two fields, we must choose one as the primary key; we
- * currently arbitrarily pick the email.
- */
-int ident_cmp(const struct ident_split *, const struct ident_split *);
 
 struct cache_def {
 	struct strbuf path;
@@ -1571,9 +1516,6 @@ int update_server_info(int);
 const char *get_log_output_encoding(void);
 const char *get_commit_output_encoding(void);
 
-int committer_ident_sufficiently_given(void);
-int author_ident_sufficiently_given(void);
-
 extern const char *git_commit_encoding;
 extern const char *git_log_output_encoding;
 extern const char *git_mailmap_file;
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 1d22f232516..d3ab9417a45 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "branch.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "environment.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "repository.h"
 #include "lockfile.h"
 #include "exec-cmd.h"
diff --git a/gpg-interface.c b/gpg-interface.c
index 687236430bf..bd13fc92fef 100644
--- a/gpg-interface.c
+++ b/gpg-interface.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "run-command.h"
 #include "strbuf.h"
 #include "dir.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "gpg-interface.h"
 #include "sigchain.h"
 #include "tempfile.h"
diff --git a/ident.c b/ident.c
index 6de76f9421d..8fad92d7007 100644
--- a/ident.c
+++ b/ident.c
@@ -5,10 +5,13 @@
  *
  * Copyright (C) 2005 Linus Torvalds
  */
-#include "cache.h"
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "date.h"
+#include "gettext.h"
 #include "mailmap.h"
+#include "strbuf.h"
 
 static struct strbuf git_default_name = STRBUF_INIT;
 static struct strbuf git_default_email = STRBUF_INIT;
diff --git a/ident.h b/ident.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..96a64896a01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ident.h
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+#ifndef IDENT_H
+#define IDENT_H
+
+#include "string-list.h"
+
+struct ident_split {
+	const char *name_begin;
+	const char *name_end;
+	const char *mail_begin;
+	const char *mail_end;
+	const char *date_begin;
+	const char *date_end;
+	const char *tz_begin;
+	const char *tz_end;
+};
+
+#define IDENT_STRICT	       1
+#define IDENT_NO_DATE	       2
+#define IDENT_NO_NAME	       4
+
+enum want_ident {
+	WANT_BLANK_IDENT,
+	WANT_AUTHOR_IDENT,
+	WANT_COMMITTER_IDENT
+};
+
+const char *ident_default_name(void);
+const char *ident_default_email(void);
+/*
+ * Prepare an ident to fall back on if the user didn't configure it.
+ */
+void prepare_fallback_ident(const char *name, const char *email);
+void reset_ident_date(void);
+/*
+ * Signals an success with 0, but time part of the result may be NULL
+ * if the input lacks timestamp and zone
+ */
+int split_ident_line(struct ident_split *, const char *, int);
+
+/*
+ * Given a commit or tag object buffer and the commit or tag headers, replaces
+ * the idents in the headers with their canonical versions using the mailmap mechanism.
+ */
+void apply_mailmap_to_header(struct strbuf *, const char **, struct string_list *);
+
+/*
+ * Compare split idents for equality or strict ordering. Note that we
+ * compare only the ident part of the line, ignoring any timestamp.
+ *
+ * Because there are two fields, we must choose one as the primary key; we
+ * currently arbitrarily pick the email.
+ */
+int ident_cmp(const struct ident_split *, const struct ident_split *);
+
+const char *git_author_info(int);
+const char *git_committer_info(int);
+const char *fmt_ident(const char *name, const char *email,
+		      enum want_ident whose_ident,
+		      const char *date_str, int);
+const char *fmt_name(enum want_ident);
+
+int committer_ident_sufficiently_given(void);
+int author_ident_sufficiently_given(void);
+
+int git_ident_config(const char *, const char *, void *);
+
+#endif
diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index b89954355de..235fe1fdd12 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "refs-internal.h"
 #include "ref-cache.h"
 #include "packed-backend.h"
+#include "../ident.h"
 #include "../iterator.h"
 #include "../dir-iterator.h"
 #include "../lockfile.h"
diff --git a/revision.h b/revision.h
index 30febad09a1..ab71443696d 100644
--- a/revision.h
+++ b/revision.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "pretty.h"
 #include "diff.h"
 #include "commit-slab-decl.h"
+#include "ident.h"
 #include "list-objects-filter-options.h"
 
 /**
