diff --git a/include/common/string-helpers.h b/include/common/string-helpers.h
index dca70789..efa5bfd2 100644
--- a/include/common/string-helpers.h
+++ b/include/common/string-helpers.h
@@ -92,4 +92,13 @@ bool str_endswith_ignore_case(const char *const string, const char *const suffix
  */
 bool str_starts_with(const char *s, char needle, const char *ignore_chars);
 
+/**
+ * str_equal - indicate whether two strings are identical
+ * @a: first string to compare
+ * @b: second string to compare
+ *
+ * If both strings are NULL, returns true.
+ */
+bool str_equal(const char *a, const char *b);
+
 #endif /* LABWC_STRING_HELPERS_H */
diff --git a/src/common/scaled-font-buffer.c b/src/common/scaled-font-buffer.c
index 7bd0f1dc..e0d79a57 100644
--- a/src/common/scaled-font-buffer.c
+++ b/src/common/scaled-font-buffer.c
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include "common/mem.h"
 #include "common/scaled-scene-buffer.h"
 #include "common/scaled-font-buffer.h"
+#include "common/string-helpers.h"
 
 static struct lab_data_buffer *
 _create_buffer(struct scaled_scene_buffer *scaled_buffer, double scale)
@@ -39,11 +40,6 @@ _destroy(struct scaled_scene_buffer *scaled_buffer)
 	free(self);
 }
 
-static bool str_equal(const char *a, const char *b)
-{
-	return a == b || (a && b && !strcmp(a, b));
-}
-
 static bool
 _equal(struct scaled_scene_buffer *scaled_buffer_a,
 	struct scaled_scene_buffer *scaled_buffer_b)
diff --git a/src/common/string-helpers.c b/src/common/string-helpers.c
index e517751e..ef29c339 100644
--- a/src/common/string-helpers.c
+++ b/src/common/string-helpers.c
@@ -200,3 +200,8 @@ str_starts_with(const char *s, char needle, const char *ignore_chars)
 	return (s + strspn(s, ignore_chars))[0] == needle;
 }
 
+bool
+str_equal(const char *a, const char *b)
+{
+	return a == b || (a && b && !strcmp(a, b));
+}