diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index 4185025..cf1c18c 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -738,152 +738,6 @@ static struct ref_iterator *cache_ref_iterator_begin(struct ref_dir *dir)
 	return ref_iterator;
 }
 
-struct nonmatching_ref_data {
-	const struct string_list *skip;
-	const char *conflicting_refname;
-};
-
-static int nonmatching_ref_fn(struct ref_entry *entry, void *vdata)
-{
-	struct nonmatching_ref_data *data = vdata;
-
-	if (data->skip && string_list_has_string(data->skip, entry->name))
-		return 0;
-
-	data->conflicting_refname = entry->name;
-	return 1;
-}
-
-/*
- * Return 0 if a reference named refname could be created without
- * conflicting with the name of an existing reference in dir.
- * See verify_refname_available for more information.
- */
-static int verify_refname_available_dir(const char *refname,
-					const struct string_list *extras,
-					const struct string_list *skip,
-					struct ref_dir *dir,
-					struct strbuf *err)
-{
-	const char *slash;
-	const char *extra_refname;
-	int pos;
-	struct strbuf dirname = STRBUF_INIT;
-	int ret = -1;
-
-	/*
-	 * For the sake of comments in this function, suppose that
-	 * refname is "refs/foo/bar".
-	 */
-
-	assert(err);
-
-	strbuf_grow(&dirname, strlen(refname) + 1);
-	for (slash = strchr(refname, '/'); slash; slash = strchr(slash + 1, '/')) {
-		/* Expand dirname to the new prefix, not including the trailing slash: */
-		strbuf_add(&dirname, refname + dirname.len, slash - refname - dirname.len);
-
-		/*
-		 * We are still at a leading dir of the refname (e.g.,
-		 * "refs/foo"; if there is a reference with that name,
-		 * it is a conflict, *unless* it is in skip.
-		 */
-		if (dir) {
-			pos = search_ref_dir(dir, dirname.buf, dirname.len);
-			if (pos >= 0 &&
-			    (!skip || !string_list_has_string(skip, dirname.buf))) {
-				/*
-				 * We found a reference whose name is
-				 * a proper prefix of refname; e.g.,
-				 * "refs/foo", and is not in skip.
-				 */
-				strbuf_addf(err, "'%s' exists; cannot create '%s'",
-					    dirname.buf, refname);
-				goto cleanup;
-			}
-		}
-
-		if (extras && string_list_has_string(extras, dirname.buf) &&
-		    (!skip || !string_list_has_string(skip, dirname.buf))) {
-			strbuf_addf(err, "cannot process '%s' and '%s' at the same time",
-				    refname, dirname.buf);
-			goto cleanup;
-		}
-
-		/*
-		 * Otherwise, we can try to continue our search with
-		 * the next component. So try to look up the
-		 * directory, e.g., "refs/foo/". If we come up empty,
-		 * we know there is nothing under this whole prefix,
-		 * but even in that case we still have to continue the
-		 * search for conflicts with extras.
-		 */
-		strbuf_addch(&dirname, '/');
-		if (dir) {
-			pos = search_ref_dir(dir, dirname.buf, dirname.len);
-			if (pos < 0) {
-				/*
-				 * There was no directory "refs/foo/",
-				 * so there is nothing under this
-				 * whole prefix. So there is no need
-				 * to continue looking for conflicting
-				 * references. But we need to continue
-				 * looking for conflicting extras.
-				 */
-				dir = NULL;
-			} else {
-				dir = get_ref_dir(dir->entries[pos]);
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	/*
-	 * We are at the leaf of our refname (e.g., "refs/foo/bar").
-	 * There is no point in searching for a reference with that
-	 * name, because a refname isn't considered to conflict with
-	 * itself. But we still need to check for references whose
-	 * names are in the "refs/foo/bar/" namespace, because they
-	 * *do* conflict.
-	 */
-	strbuf_addstr(&dirname, refname + dirname.len);
-	strbuf_addch(&dirname, '/');
-
-	if (dir) {
-		pos = search_ref_dir(dir, dirname.buf, dirname.len);
-
-		if (pos >= 0) {
-			/*
-			 * We found a directory named "$refname/"
-			 * (e.g., "refs/foo/bar/"). It is a problem
-			 * iff it contains any ref that is not in
-			 * "skip".
-			 */
-			struct nonmatching_ref_data data;
-
-			data.skip = skip;
-			data.conflicting_refname = NULL;
-			dir = get_ref_dir(dir->entries[pos]);
-			sort_ref_dir(dir);
-			if (do_for_each_entry_in_dir(dir, 0, nonmatching_ref_fn, &data)) {
-				strbuf_addf(err, "'%s' exists; cannot create '%s'",
-					    data.conflicting_refname, refname);
-				goto cleanup;
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	extra_refname = find_descendant_ref(dirname.buf, extras, skip);
-	if (extra_refname)
-		strbuf_addf(err, "cannot process '%s' and '%s' at the same time",
-			    refname, extra_refname);
-	else
-		ret = 0;
-
-cleanup:
-	strbuf_release(&dirname);
-	return ret;
-}
-
 struct packed_ref_cache {
 	struct ref_entry *root;
 
@@ -1562,7 +1416,7 @@ static void unlock_ref(struct ref_lock *lock)
  *
  * If the reference doesn't already exist, verify that refname doesn't
  * have a D/F conflict with any existing references. extras and skip
- * are passed to verify_refname_available_dir() for this check.
+ * are passed to refs_verify_refname_available() for this check.
  *
  * If mustexist is not set and the reference is not found or is
  * broken, lock the reference anyway but clear sha1.
@@ -1577,7 +1431,7 @@ static void unlock_ref(struct ref_lock *lock)
  *
  * but it includes a lot more code to
  * - Deal with possible races with other processes
- * - Avoid calling verify_refname_available_dir() when it can be
+ * - Avoid calling refs_verify_refname_available() when it can be
  *   avoided, namely if we were successfully able to read the ref
  * - Generate informative error messages in the case of failure
  */
@@ -1634,7 +1488,8 @@ static int lock_raw_ref(struct files_ref_store *refs,
 			} else {
 				/*
 				 * The error message set by
-				 * verify_refname_available_dir() is OK.
+				 * refs_verify_refname_available() is
+				 * OK.
 				 */
 				ret = TRANSACTION_NAME_CONFLICT;
 			}
@@ -1758,16 +1613,13 @@ static int lock_raw_ref(struct files_ref_store *refs,
 
 		/*
 		 * If the ref did not exist and we are creating it,
-		 * make sure there is no existing packed ref whose
-		 * name begins with our refname, nor a packed ref
-		 * whose name is a proper prefix of our refname.
+		 * make sure there is no existing ref that conflicts
+		 * with refname:
 		 */
-		if (verify_refname_available_dir(
-				    refname, extras, skip,
-				    get_packed_refs(refs),
-				    err)) {
+		if (refs_verify_refname_available(
+				    &refs->base, refname,
+				    extras, skip, err))
 			goto error_return;
-		}
 	}
 
 	ret = 0;
@@ -2122,9 +1974,8 @@ static struct ref_lock *lock_ref_sha1_basic(struct files_ref_store *refs,
 	 * our refname.
 	 */
 	if (is_null_oid(&lock->old_oid) &&
-	    verify_refname_available_dir(refname, extras, skip,
-					 get_packed_refs(refs),
-					 err)) {
+	    refs_verify_refname_available(&refs->base, refname,
+					  extras, skip, err)) {
 		last_errno = ENOTDIR;
 		goto error_return;
 	}