diff --git a/src/basic/string-util.h b/src/basic/string-util.h
index 76767afcac..3981129db3 100644
--- a/src/basic/string-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/string-util.h
@@ -45,6 +45,22 @@ static inline const char *strna(const char *s) {
         return s ?: "n/a";
 }
 
+static inline const char* yes_no(bool b) {
+        return b ? "yes" : "no";
+}
+
+static inline const char* true_false(bool b) {
+        return b ? "true" : "false";
+}
+
+static inline const char* one_zero(bool b) {
+        return b ? "1" : "0";
+}
+
+static inline const char* enable_disable(bool b) {
+        return b ? "enable" : "disable";
+}
+
 static inline bool isempty(const char *p) {
         return !p || !p[0];
 }
diff --git a/src/basic/util.h b/src/basic/util.h
index 25e6ab8112..6fc7480fcb 100644
--- a/src/basic/util.h
+++ b/src/basic/util.h
@@ -5,22 +5,6 @@
 
 #include "macro.h"
 
-static inline const char* yes_no(bool b) {
-        return b ? "yes" : "no";
-}
-
-static inline const char* true_false(bool b) {
-        return b ? "true" : "false";
-}
-
-static inline const char* one_zero(bool b) {
-        return b ? "1" : "0";
-}
-
-static inline const char* enable_disable(bool b) {
-        return b ? "enable" : "disable";
-}
-
 extern int saved_argc;
 extern char **saved_argv;
 
diff --git a/src/nspawn/test-patch-uid.c b/src/nspawn/test-patch-uid.c
index b50f0990d8..a6829629b4 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/test-patch-uid.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/test-patch-uid.c
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 #include "log.h"
 #include "nspawn-patch-uid.h"
 #include "user-util.h"
+#include "string-util.h"
 #include "tests.h"
-#include "util.h"
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         uid_t shift, range;
diff --git a/src/shared/serialize.h b/src/shared/serialize.h
index 8f4efc7996..9e61c825aa 100644
--- a/src/shared/serialize.h
+++ b/src/shared/serialize.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 #include "fdset.h"
 #include "macro.h"
+#include "string-util.h"
 #include "time-util.h"
 
 int serialize_item(FILE *f, const char *key, const char *value);
diff --git a/src/test/test-capability.c b/src/test/test-capability.c
index f9fae84dde..84a6e92df1 100644
--- a/src/test/test-capability.c
+++ b/src/test/test-capability.c
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "missing_prctl.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
+#include "string-util.h"
 #include "tests.h"
-#include "util.h"
 
 static uid_t test_uid = -1;
 static gid_t test_gid = -1;