diff --git a/crypto/bn/bn_lcl.h b/crypto/bn/bn_lcl.h
index ccfe7bc40a..96f0087c59 100644
--- a/crypto/bn/bn_lcl.h
+++ b/crypto/bn/bn_lcl.h
@@ -402,6 +402,8 @@ void bn_sqr_normal(BN_ULONG *r, const BN_ULONG *a, int n, BN_ULONG *tmp);
 void bn_sqr_comba8(BN_ULONG *r,const BN_ULONG *a);
 void bn_sqr_comba4(BN_ULONG *r,const BN_ULONG *a);
 int bn_cmp_words(const BN_ULONG *a,const BN_ULONG *b,int n);
+int bn_cmp_part_words(const BN_ULONG *a, const BN_ULONG *b,
+	int cl, int dl);
 void bn_mul_recursive(BN_ULONG *r,BN_ULONG *a,BN_ULONG *b,int n2,BN_ULONG *t);
 void bn_mul_part_recursive(BN_ULONG *r,BN_ULONG *a,BN_ULONG *b,
 	int tn, int n,BN_ULONG *t);
diff --git a/crypto/bn/bn_lib.c b/crypto/bn/bn_lib.c
index a63c031216..87972ce7b0 100644
--- a/crypto/bn/bn_lib.c
+++ b/crypto/bn/bn_lib.c
@@ -777,3 +777,28 @@ int bn_cmp_words(const BN_ULONG *a, const BN_ULONG *b, int n)
 		}
 	return(0);
 	}
+
+int bn_cmp_part_words(const BN_ULONG *a, const BN_ULONG *b,
+	int cl, int dl)
+	{
+	int n,i;
+	n = cl-1;
+
+	if (dl < 0)
+		{
+		for (i=-dl; i>0; i++)
+			{
+			if (b[n+i] != 0)
+				return -1; /* a < b */
+			}
+		}
+	if (dl > 0)
+		{
+		for (i=dl; i>0; i--)
+			{
+			if (a[n+i] != 0)
+				return 1; /* a > b */
+			}
+		}
+	return bn_cmp_words(a,b,cl);
+	}
diff --git a/crypto/bn/bn_mul.c b/crypto/bn/bn_mul.c
index ff351af10f..52e5ef2f1e 100644
--- a/crypto/bn/bn_mul.c
+++ b/crypto/bn/bn_mul.c
@@ -61,8 +61,8 @@
 #include "cryptlib.h"
 #include "bn_lcl.h"
 
-/* Here follows specialised variants of bn_cmp_words(), bn_add_words() and
-   bn_sub_words().  They all have the property performing operations on
+/* Here follows specialised variants of bn_add_words() and
+   bn_sub_words().  They have the property performing operations on
    arrays of different sizes.  The sizes of those arrays is expressed through
    cl, which is the common length ( basicall, min(len(a),len(b)) ), and dl,
    which is the delta between the two lengths, calculated as len(a)-len(b).
@@ -71,17 +71,6 @@
    These functions should probably end up in bn_asm.c as soon as there are
    assembler counterparts for the systems that use assembler files.  */
 
-int bn_cmp_part_words(const BN_ULONG *a, const BN_ULONG *b,
-	int cl, int dl)
-	{
-	if (dl < 0)		/* a < b */
-		return -1;
-	if (dl > 0)		/* a > b */
-		return 1;
-
-	return bn_cmp_words(a,b,cl);
-	}
-
 BN_ULONG bn_sub_part_words(BN_ULONG *r,
 	const BN_ULONG *a, const BN_ULONG *b,
 	int cl, int dl)