diff --git a/jdk/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/StringCoding.java b/jdk/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/StringCoding.java
index fe875372218..ccbe6f24b43 100644
--- a/jdk/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/StringCoding.java
+++ b/jdk/src/java.base/share/classes/java/lang/StringCoding.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2000, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2000, 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ class StringCoding {
     }
 
     @HotSpotIntrinsicCandidate
-    private static boolean hasNegatives(byte[] ba, int off, int len) {
+    public static boolean hasNegatives(byte[] ba, int off, int len) {
         for (int i = off; i < off + len; i++) {
             if (ba[i] < 0) {
                 return true;