diff --git a/libs/pbd/filesystem.cc b/libs/pbd/filesystem.cc
index 7943e40b74..f527c9a473 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/filesystem.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/filesystem.cc
@@ -136,6 +136,19 @@ remove(const path & p)
 	return true;
 }
 
+void
+rename (const path & from_path, const path & to_path)
+{
+	// g_rename is a macro that evaluates to ::rename on
+	// POSIX systems, without the global namespace qualifier
+	// it would evaluate to a recursive call(if it compiled)
+	if ( ::g_rename( from_path.to_string().c_str(),
+				to_path.to_string().c_str() ) == -1 )
+	{
+		throw filesystem_error(g_strerror(errno), errno);
+	}
+}
+
 void
 copy_file(const path & from_path, const path & to_path)
 {
diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/filesystem.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/filesystem.h
index 7ccc451eac..2d21a3fafc 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/filesystem.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/filesystem.h
@@ -162,6 +162,11 @@ bool create_directories(const path & p);
  */
 bool remove(const path & p);
 
+/**
+ * Renames from_path to to_path as if by the glib function g_rename.
+ */
+void rename (const path& from_path, const path& to_path);
+
 /**
  * Attempt to copy the contents of the file from_path to a new file 
  * at path to_path.