diff --git a/src/basic/process-util.c b/src/basic/process-util.c
index a78e8141b4..e325820584 100644
--- a/src/basic/process-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/process-util.c
@@ -1514,82 +1514,6 @@ int namespace_fork(
         return 1;
 }
 
-int fork_agent(const char *name, int except[], size_t n_except, pid_t *ret_pid, const char *path, ...) {
-        bool stdout_is_tty, stderr_is_tty;
-        size_t n, i;
-        va_list ap;
-        char **l;
-        int r;
-
-        assert(path);
-
-        /* Spawns a temporary TTY agent, making sure it goes away when we go away */
-
-        r = safe_fork_full(name,
-                           except,
-                           n_except,
-                           FORK_RESET_SIGNALS|FORK_DEATHSIG|FORK_CLOSE_ALL_FDS|FORK_REOPEN_LOG,
-                           ret_pid);
-        if (r < 0)
-                return r;
-        if (r > 0)
-                return 0;
-
-        /* In the child: */
-
-        stdout_is_tty = isatty(STDOUT_FILENO);
-        stderr_is_tty = isatty(STDERR_FILENO);
-
-        if (!stdout_is_tty || !stderr_is_tty) {
-                int fd;
-
-                /* Detach from stdout/stderr. and reopen
-                 * /dev/tty for them. This is important to
-                 * ensure that when systemctl is started via
-                 * popen() or a similar call that expects to
-                 * read EOF we actually do generate EOF and
-                 * not delay this indefinitely by because we
-                 * keep an unused copy of stdin around. */
-                fd = open("/dev/tty", O_WRONLY);
-                if (fd < 0) {
-                        log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to open /dev/tty: %m");
-                        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-                }
-
-                if (!stdout_is_tty && dup2(fd, STDOUT_FILENO) < 0) {
-                        log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to dup2 /dev/tty: %m");
-                        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-                }
-
-                if (!stderr_is_tty && dup2(fd, STDERR_FILENO) < 0) {
-                        log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to dup2 /dev/tty: %m");
-                        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-                }
-
-                safe_close_above_stdio(fd);
-        }
-
-        (void) rlimit_nofile_safe();
-
-        /* Count arguments */
-        va_start(ap, path);
-        for (n = 0; va_arg(ap, char*); n++)
-                ;
-        va_end(ap);
-
-        /* Allocate strv */
-        l = newa(char*, n + 1);
-
-        /* Fill in arguments */
-        va_start(ap, path);
-        for (i = 0; i <= n; i++)
-                l[i] = va_arg(ap, char*);
-        va_end(ap);
-
-        execv(path, l);
-        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
-}
-
 int set_oom_score_adjust(int value) {
         char t[DECIMAL_STR_MAX(int)];
 
diff --git a/src/basic/process-util.h b/src/basic/process-util.h
index 58a3ebd577..b130c5ae02 100644
--- a/src/basic/process-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/process-util.h
@@ -174,8 +174,6 @@ static inline int safe_fork(const char *name, ForkFlags flags, pid_t *ret_pid) {
 
 int namespace_fork(const char *outer_name, const char *inner_name, int except_fds[], size_t n_except_fds, ForkFlags flags, int pidns_fd, int mntns_fd, int netns_fd, int userns_fd, int root_fd, pid_t *ret_pid);
 
-int fork_agent(const char *name, int except[], size_t n_except, pid_t *pid, const char *path, ...) _sentinel_;
-
 int set_oom_score_adjust(int value);
 
 /* The highest possibly (theoretic) pid_t value on this architecture. */
diff --git a/src/shared/exec-util.c b/src/shared/exec-util.c
index 031ca4cb4c..68e896a8fa 100644
--- a/src/shared/exec-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/exec-util.c
@@ -470,3 +470,76 @@ int fexecve_or_execve(int executable_fd, const char *executable, char *const arg
                 execve(executable, argv, envp);
         return -errno;
 }
+
+int fork_agent(const char *name, int except[], size_t n_except, pid_t *ret_pid, const char *path, ...) {
+        bool stdout_is_tty, stderr_is_tty;
+        size_t n, i;
+        va_list ap;
+        char **l;
+        int r;
+
+        assert(path);
+
+        /* Spawns a temporary TTY agent, making sure it goes away when we go away */
+
+        r = safe_fork_full(name,
+                           except,
+                           n_except,
+                           FORK_RESET_SIGNALS|FORK_DEATHSIG|FORK_CLOSE_ALL_FDS|FORK_REOPEN_LOG,
+                           ret_pid);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+        if (r > 0)
+                return 0;
+
+        /* In the child: */
+
+        stdout_is_tty = isatty(STDOUT_FILENO);
+        stderr_is_tty = isatty(STDERR_FILENO);
+
+        if (!stdout_is_tty || !stderr_is_tty) {
+                int fd;
+
+                /* Detach from stdout/stderr and reopen /dev/tty for them. This is important to ensure that
+                 * when systemctl is started via popen() or a similar call that expects to read EOF we
+                 * actually do generate EOF and not delay this indefinitely by keeping an unused copy of
+                 * stdin around. */
+                fd = open("/dev/tty", O_WRONLY);
+                if (fd < 0) {
+                        log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to open /dev/tty: %m");
+                        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+                }
+
+                if (!stdout_is_tty && dup2(fd, STDOUT_FILENO) < 0) {
+                        log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to dup2 /dev/tty: %m");
+                        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+                }
+
+                if (!stderr_is_tty && dup2(fd, STDERR_FILENO) < 0) {
+                        log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to dup2 /dev/tty: %m");
+                        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+                }
+
+                safe_close_above_stdio(fd);
+        }
+
+        (void) rlimit_nofile_safe();
+
+        /* Count arguments */
+        va_start(ap, path);
+        for (n = 0; va_arg(ap, char*); n++)
+                ;
+        va_end(ap);
+
+        /* Allocate strv */
+        l = newa(char*, n + 1);
+
+        /* Fill in arguments */
+        va_start(ap, path);
+        for (i = 0; i <= n; i++)
+                l[i] = va_arg(ap, char*);
+        va_end(ap);
+
+        execv(path, l);
+        _exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+}
diff --git a/src/shared/exec-util.h b/src/shared/exec-util.h
index 9ce5324de9..21d28608f9 100644
--- a/src/shared/exec-util.h
+++ b/src/shared/exec-util.h
@@ -48,3 +48,5 @@ const char* exec_command_flags_to_string(ExecCommandFlags i);
 ExecCommandFlags exec_command_flags_from_string(const char *s);
 
 int fexecve_or_execve(int executable_fd, const char *executable, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);
+
+int fork_agent(const char *name, int except[], size_t n_except, pid_t *ret_pid, const char *path, ...) _sentinel_;
diff --git a/src/shared/spawn-ask-password-agent.c b/src/shared/spawn-ask-password-agent.c
index 1f07b198fa..38fab21203 100644
--- a/src/shared/spawn-ask-password-agent.c
+++ b/src/shared/spawn-ask-password-agent.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
+#include "exec-util.h"
 #include "log.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
 #include "spawn-ask-password-agent.h"
diff --git a/src/shared/spawn-polkit-agent.c b/src/shared/spawn-polkit-agent.c
index a0024eb2ea..cd0b4601da 100644
--- a/src/shared/spawn-polkit-agent.c
+++ b/src/shared/spawn-polkit-agent.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 
+#include "exec-util.h"
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "io-util.h"
 #include "log.h"