diff --git a/rados/conn.go b/rados/conn.go
index 78c3b26..617fb68 100644
--- a/rados/conn.go
+++ b/rados/conn.go
@@ -7,15 +7,9 @@ import "C"
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"errors"
 	"unsafe"
 )
 
-var (
-	// ErrNotConnected is returned when functions are called without a RADOS connection
-	ErrNotConnected = errors.New("RADOS not connected")
-)
-
 // ClusterStat represents Ceph cluster statistics.
 type ClusterStat struct {
 	Kb          uint64
diff --git a/rados/errors.go b/rados/errors.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0deb60b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rados/errors.go
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+package rados
+
+/*
+#include <errno.h>
+*/
+import "C"
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/ceph/go-ceph/internal/errutil"
+)
+
+// revive:disable:exported Temporarily live with stuttering
+
+// RadosError represents an error condition returned from the Ceph RADOS APIs.
+type RadosError int
+
+// revive:enable:exported
+
+// Error returns the error string for the RadosError type.
+func (e RadosError) Error() string {
+	errno, s := errutil.FormatErrno(int(e))
+	if s == "" {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("rados: ret=%d", errno)
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("rados: ret=%d, %s", errno, s)
+}
+
+func getRadosError(err int) error {
+	if err == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return RadosError(err)
+}
+
+// Public go errors:
+
+var (
+	// ErrNotConnected is returned when functions are called without a RADOS connection
+	ErrNotConnected = errors.New("RADOS not connected")
+)
+
+// Public RadosErrors:
+
+const (
+	// ErrNotFound indicates a missing resource.
+	ErrNotFound = RadosError(-C.ENOENT)
+	// ErrPermissionDenied indicates a permissions issue.
+	ErrPermissionDenied = RadosError(-C.EPERM)
+	// ErrObjectExists indicates that an exclusive object creation failed.
+	ErrObjectExists = RadosError(-C.EEXIST)
+
+	// RadosErrorNotFound indicates a missing resource.
+	//
+	// Deprecated: use ErrNotFound instead
+	RadosErrorNotFound = ErrNotFound
+	// RadosErrorPermissionDenied indicates a permissions issue.
+	//
+	// Deprecated: use ErrPermissionDenied instead
+	RadosErrorPermissionDenied = ErrPermissionDenied
+)
diff --git a/rados/errors_test.go b/rados/errors_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b2d802
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rados/errors_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package rados
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestRadosError(t *testing.T) {
+	err := getRadosError(0)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+	err = getRadosError(-5) // IO error
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, err.Error(), "rados: ret=5, Input/output error")
+
+	err = getRadosError(345) // no such errno
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, err.Error(), "rados: ret=345")
+}
diff --git a/rados/rados.go b/rados/rados.go
index 008db3c..ea1cae2 100644
--- a/rados/rados.go
+++ b/rados/rados.go
@@ -7,41 +7,15 @@ package rados
 import "C"
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
 	"runtime"
 	"unsafe"
-
-	"github.com/ceph/go-ceph/internal/errutil"
 )
 
-// revive:disable:exported Temporarily live with stuttering
-
-// RadosError represents an error condition returned from the Ceph RADOS APIs.
-type RadosError int
-
-// revive:enable:exported
-
-// Error returns the error string for the RadosError type.
-func (e RadosError) Error() string {
-	errno, s := errutil.FormatErrno(int(e))
-	if s == "" {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("rados: ret=%d", errno)
-	}
-	return fmt.Sprintf("rados: ret=%d, %s", errno, s)
-}
-
 const (
 	// AllNamespaces is used to reset a selected namespace to all
 	// namespaces. See the IOContext SetNamespace function.
 	AllNamespaces = C.LIBRADOS_ALL_NSPACES
 
-	// ErrNotFound indicates a missing resource.
-	ErrNotFound = RadosError(-C.ENOENT)
-	// ErrPermissionDenied indicates a permissions issue.
-	ErrPermissionDenied = RadosError(-C.EPERM)
-	// ErrObjectExists indicates that an exclusive object creation failed.
-	ErrObjectExists = RadosError(-C.EEXIST)
-
 	// FIXME: for backwards compatibility
 
 	// RadosAllNamespaces is used to reset a selected namespace to all
@@ -49,23 +23,8 @@ const (
 	//
 	// Deprecated: use AllNamespaces instead
 	RadosAllNamespaces = AllNamespaces
-	// RadosErrorNotFound indicates a missing resource.
-	//
-	// Deprecated: use ErrNotFound instead
-	RadosErrorNotFound = ErrNotFound
-	// RadosErrorPermissionDenied indicates a permissions issue.
-	//
-	// Deprecated: use ErrPermissionDenied instead
-	RadosErrorPermissionDenied = ErrPermissionDenied
 )
 
-func getRadosError(err int) error {
-	if err == 0 {
-		return nil
-	}
-	return RadosError(err)
-}
-
 // Version returns the major, minor, and patch components of the version of
 // the RADOS library linked against.
 func Version() (int, int, int) {
diff --git a/rados/rados_test.go b/rados/rados_test.go
index e7be822..85c8ef0 100644
--- a/rados/rados_test.go
+++ b/rados/rados_test.go
@@ -1200,16 +1200,3 @@ func (suite *RadosTestSuite) TestOpenIOContextInvalidPool() {
 func TestRadosTestSuite(t *testing.T) {
 	suite.Run(t, new(RadosTestSuite))
 }
-
-func TestRadosError(t *testing.T) {
-	err := getRadosError(0)
-	assert.NoError(t, err)
-
-	err = getRadosError(-5) // IO error
-	assert.Error(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, err.Error(), "rados: ret=5, Input/output error")
-
-	err = getRadosError(345) // no such errno
-	assert.Error(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, err.Error(), "rados: ret=345")
-}