diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/JGitTestUtil.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/JGitTestUtil.java
index 38a451fbf..d3da09ffb 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/JGitTestUtil.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/JGitTestUtil.java
@@ -46,10 +46,16 @@
 package org.eclipse.jgit.junit;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
+import java.io.Writer;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 
+import org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.FileRepository;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FileUtils;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.RawParseUtils;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -127,4 +133,43 @@ public abstract class JGitTestUtil {
 	private static ClassLoader cl() {
 		return JGitTestUtil.class.getClassLoader();
 	}
+
+	public static File writeTrashFile(final FileRepository db,
+			final String name, final String data) throws IOException {
+		File path = new File(db.getWorkTree(), name);
+		write(path, data);
+		return path;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Write a string as a UTF-8 file.
+	 *
+	 * @param f
+	 *            file to write the string to. Caller is responsible for making
+	 *            sure it is in the trash directory or will otherwise be cleaned
+	 *            up at the end of the test. If the parent directory does not
+	 *            exist, the missing parent directories are automatically
+	 *            created.
+	 * @param body
+	 *            content to write to the file.
+	 * @throws IOException
+	 *             the file could not be written.
+	 */
+	public static void write(final File f, final String body)
+			throws IOException {
+		FileUtils.mkdirs(f.getParentFile(), true);
+		Writer w = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(f), "UTF-8");
+		try {
+			w.write(body);
+		} finally {
+			w.close();
+		}
+	}
+
+	public static void deleteTrashFile(final FileRepository db,
+			final String name) throws IOException {
+		File path = new File(db.getWorkTree(), name);
+		FileUtils.delete(path);
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase.java
index 0c7ae7de7..d8ae705c4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.junit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/junit/LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase.java
@@ -49,10 +49,7 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
 import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
-import java.io.Writer;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -435,13 +432,7 @@ public abstract class LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase {
 	 *             the file could not be written.
 	 */
 	protected void write(final File f, final String body) throws IOException {
-		FileUtils.mkdirs(f.getParentFile(), true);
-		Writer w = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(f), "UTF-8");
-		try {
-			w.write(body);
-		} finally {
-			w.close();
-		}
+		JGitTestUtil.write(f, body);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/RepositoryTestCase.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/RepositoryTestCase.java
index 934c76cbb..0c573ebe7 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/RepositoryTestCase.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/RepositoryTestCase.java
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCache;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCacheBuilder;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCacheCheckout;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCacheEntry;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.junit.JGitTestUtil;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.junit.LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevCommit;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.revwalk.RevWalk;
@@ -98,14 +99,11 @@ public abstract class RepositoryTestCase extends LocalDiskRepositoryTestCase {
 
 	protected File writeTrashFile(final String name, final String data)
 			throws IOException {
-		File path = new File(db.getWorkTree(), name);
-		write(path, data);
-		return path;
+		return JGitTestUtil.writeTrashFile(db, name, data);
 	}
 
 	protected void deleteTrashFile(final String name) throws IOException {
-		File path = new File(db.getWorkTree(), name);
-		FileUtils.delete(path);
+		JGitTestUtil.deleteTrashFile(db, name);
 	}
 
 	protected static void checkFile(File f, final String checkData)