diff --git a/wire/bench_test.go b/wire/bench_test.go
index ffae564c..f6b29c2c 100644
--- a/wire/bench_test.go
+++ b/wire/bench_test.go
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func BenchmarkReadVarInt9(b *testing.B) {
 func BenchmarkReadVarStr4(b *testing.B) {
 	buf := []byte{0x04, 't', 'e', 's', 't'}
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		readVarString(bytes.NewReader(buf), 0)
+		ReadVarString(bytes.NewReader(buf), 0)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ func BenchmarkReadVarStr4(b *testing.B) {
 func BenchmarkReadVarStr10(b *testing.B) {
 	buf := []byte{0x0a, 't', 'e', 's', 't', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5'}
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		readVarString(bytes.NewReader(buf), 0)
+		ReadVarString(bytes.NewReader(buf), 0)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ func BenchmarkReadVarStr10(b *testing.B) {
 // four byte variable length string.
 func BenchmarkWriteVarStr4(b *testing.B) {
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		writeVarString(ioutil.Discard, 0, "test")
+		WriteVarString(ioutil.Discard, 0, "test")
 	}
 }
 
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ func BenchmarkWriteVarStr4(b *testing.B) {
 // ten byte variable length string.
 func BenchmarkWriteVarStr10(b *testing.B) {
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		writeVarString(ioutil.Discard, 0, "test012345")
+		WriteVarString(ioutil.Discard, 0, "test012345")
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/wire/common.go b/wire/common.go
index 673daa89..f70659c5 100644
--- a/wire/common.go
+++ b/wire/common.go
@@ -440,14 +440,13 @@ func VarIntSerializeSize(val uint64) int {
 	return 9
 }
 
-// readVarString reads a variable length string from r and returns it as a Go
-// string.  A varString is encoded as a varInt containing the length of the
-// string, and the bytes that represent the string itself.  An error is returned
-// if the length is greater than the maximum block payload size, since it would
-// not be possible to put a varString of that size into a block anyways and it
-// also helps protect against memory exhaustion attacks and forced panics
-// through malformed messages.
-func readVarString(r io.Reader, pver uint32) (string, error) {
+// ReadVarString reads a variable length string from r and returns it as a Go
+// string.  A variable length string is encoded as a variable length integer
+// containing the length of the string followed by the bytes that represent the
+// string itself.  An error is returned if the length is greater than the
+// maximum block payload size since it helps protect against memory exhaustion
+// attacks and forced panics through malformed messages.
+func ReadVarString(r io.Reader, pver uint32) (string, error) {
 	count, err := readVarInt(r, pver)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
@@ -459,7 +458,7 @@ func readVarString(r io.Reader, pver uint32) (string, error) {
 	if count > MaxMessagePayload {
 		str := fmt.Sprintf("variable length string is too long "+
 			"[count %d, max %d]", count, MaxMessagePayload)
-		return "", messageError("readVarString", str)
+		return "", messageError("ReadVarString", str)
 	}
 
 	buf := make([]byte, count)
@@ -470,9 +469,10 @@ func readVarString(r io.Reader, pver uint32) (string, error) {
 	return string(buf), nil
 }
 
-// writeVarString serializes str to w as a varInt containing the length of the
-// string followed by the bytes that represent the string itself.
-func writeVarString(w io.Writer, pver uint32, str string) error {
+// WriteVarString serializes str to w as a variable length integer containing
+// the length of the string followed by the bytes that represent the string
+// itself.
+func WriteVarString(w io.Writer, pver uint32, str string) error {
 	err := writeVarInt(w, pver, uint64(len(str)))
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/wire/common_test.go b/wire/common_test.go
index 09df1c0c..9dc4ebb1 100644
--- a/wire/common_test.go
+++ b/wire/common_test.go
@@ -471,26 +471,26 @@ func TestVarStringWire(t *testing.T) {
 	for i, test := range tests {
 		// Encode to wire format.
 		var buf bytes.Buffer
-		err := wire.TstWriteVarString(&buf, test.pver, test.in)
+		err := wire.WriteVarString(&buf, test.pver, test.in)
 		if err != nil {
-			t.Errorf("writeVarString #%d error %v", i, err)
+			t.Errorf("WriteVarString #%d error %v", i, err)
 			continue
 		}
 		if !bytes.Equal(buf.Bytes(), test.buf) {
-			t.Errorf("writeVarString #%d\n got: %s want: %s", i,
+			t.Errorf("WriteVarString #%d\n got: %s want: %s", i,
 				spew.Sdump(buf.Bytes()), spew.Sdump(test.buf))
 			continue
 		}
 
 		// Decode from wire format.
 		rbuf := bytes.NewReader(test.buf)
-		val, err := wire.TstReadVarString(rbuf, test.pver)
+		val, err := wire.ReadVarString(rbuf, test.pver)
 		if err != nil {
-			t.Errorf("readVarString #%d error %v", i, err)
+			t.Errorf("ReadVarString #%d error %v", i, err)
 			continue
 		}
 		if val != test.out {
-			t.Errorf("readVarString #%d\n got: %s want: %s", i,
+			t.Errorf("ReadVarString #%d\n got: %s want: %s", i,
 				val, test.out)
 			continue
 		}
@@ -526,18 +526,18 @@ func TestVarStringWireErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	for i, test := range tests {
 		// Encode to wire format.
 		w := newFixedWriter(test.max)
-		err := wire.TstWriteVarString(w, test.pver, test.in)
+		err := wire.WriteVarString(w, test.pver, test.in)
 		if err != test.writeErr {
-			t.Errorf("writeVarString #%d wrong error got: %v, want: %v",
+			t.Errorf("WriteVarString #%d wrong error got: %v, want: %v",
 				i, err, test.writeErr)
 			continue
 		}
 
 		// Decode from wire format.
 		r := newFixedReader(test.max, test.buf)
-		_, err = wire.TstReadVarString(r, test.pver)
+		_, err = wire.ReadVarString(r, test.pver)
 		if err != test.readErr {
-			t.Errorf("readVarString #%d wrong error got: %v, want: %v",
+			t.Errorf("ReadVarString #%d wrong error got: %v, want: %v",
 				i, err, test.readErr)
 			continue
 		}
@@ -566,9 +566,9 @@ func TestVarStringOverflowErrors(t *testing.T) {
 	for i, test := range tests {
 		// Decode from wire format.
 		rbuf := bytes.NewReader(test.buf)
-		_, err := wire.TstReadVarString(rbuf, test.pver)
+		_, err := wire.ReadVarString(rbuf, test.pver)
 		if reflect.TypeOf(err) != reflect.TypeOf(test.err) {
-			t.Errorf("readVarString #%d wrong error got: %v, "+
+			t.Errorf("ReadVarString #%d wrong error got: %v, "+
 				"want: %v", i, err, reflect.TypeOf(test.err))
 			continue
 		}
diff --git a/wire/internal_test.go b/wire/internal_test.go
index e3fec695..07539e2e 100644
--- a/wire/internal_test.go
+++ b/wire/internal_test.go
@@ -63,18 +63,6 @@ func TstWriteVarInt(w io.Writer, pver uint32, val uint64) error {
 	return writeVarInt(w, pver, val)
 }
 
-// TstReadVarString makes the internal readVarString function available to the
-// test package.
-func TstReadVarString(r io.Reader, pver uint32) (string, error) {
-	return readVarString(r, pver)
-}
-
-// TstWriteVarString makes the internal writeVarString function available to the
-// test package.
-func TstWriteVarString(w io.Writer, pver uint32, str string) error {
-	return writeVarString(w, pver, str)
-}
-
 // TstReadVarBytes makes the internal readVarBytes function available to the
 // test package.
 func TstReadVarBytes(r io.Reader, pver uint32, maxAllowed uint32, fieldName string) ([]byte, error) {
diff --git a/wire/msgalert.go b/wire/msgalert.go
index 2f9d2ed8..f07ad64c 100644
--- a/wire/msgalert.go
+++ b/wire/msgalert.go
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ func (alert *Alert) Serialize(w io.Writer, pver uint32) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	for i := 0; i < int(count); i++ {
-		err = writeVarString(w, pver, alert.SetSubVer[i])
+		err = WriteVarString(w, pver, alert.SetSubVer[i])
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -198,15 +198,15 @@ func (alert *Alert) Serialize(w io.Writer, pver uint32) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	err = writeVarString(w, pver, alert.Comment)
+	err = WriteVarString(w, pver, alert.Comment)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	err = writeVarString(w, pver, alert.StatusBar)
+	err = WriteVarString(w, pver, alert.StatusBar)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	err = writeVarString(w, pver, alert.Reserved)
+	err = WriteVarString(w, pver, alert.Reserved)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ func (alert *Alert) Deserialize(r io.Reader, pver uint32) error {
 	}
 	alert.SetSubVer = make([]string, count)
 	for i := 0; i < int(count); i++ {
-		alert.SetSubVer[i], err = readVarString(r, pver)
+		alert.SetSubVer[i], err = ReadVarString(r, pver)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -270,15 +270,15 @@ func (alert *Alert) Deserialize(r io.Reader, pver uint32) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	alert.Comment, err = readVarString(r, pver)
+	alert.Comment, err = ReadVarString(r, pver)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	alert.StatusBar, err = readVarString(r, pver)
+	alert.StatusBar, err = ReadVarString(r, pver)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	alert.Reserved, err = readVarString(r, pver)
+	alert.Reserved, err = ReadVarString(r, pver)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/wire/msgreject.go b/wire/msgreject.go
index f1ad73a8..bf8659a4 100644
--- a/wire/msgreject.go
+++ b/wire/msgreject.go
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ func (msg *MsgReject) BtcDecode(r io.Reader, pver uint32) error {
 	}
 
 	// Command that was rejected.
-	cmd, err := readVarString(r, pver)
+	cmd, err := ReadVarString(r, pver)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ func (msg *MsgReject) BtcDecode(r io.Reader, pver uint32) error {
 
 	// Human readable string with specific details (over and above the
 	// reject code above) about why the command was rejected.
-	reason, err := readVarString(r, pver)
+	reason, err := ReadVarString(r, pver)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ func (msg *MsgReject) BtcEncode(w io.Writer, pver uint32) error {
 	}
 
 	// Command that was rejected.
-	err := writeVarString(w, pver, msg.Cmd)
+	err := WriteVarString(w, pver, msg.Cmd)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ func (msg *MsgReject) BtcEncode(w io.Writer, pver uint32) error {
 
 	// Human readable string with specific details (over and above the
 	// reject code above) about why the command was rejected.
-	err = writeVarString(w, pver, msg.Reason)
+	err = WriteVarString(w, pver, msg.Reason)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/wire/msgversion.go b/wire/msgversion.go
index 9905b410..6c76e239 100644
--- a/wire/msgversion.go
+++ b/wire/msgversion.go
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ func (msg *MsgVersion) BtcDecode(r io.Reader, pver uint32) error {
 		}
 	}
 	if buf.Len() > 0 {
-		userAgent, err := readVarString(buf, pver)
+		userAgent, err := ReadVarString(buf, pver)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func (msg *MsgVersion) BtcEncode(w io.Writer, pver uint32) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	err = writeVarString(w, pver, msg.UserAgent)
+	err = WriteVarString(w, pver, msg.UserAgent)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}