diff --git a/src/include/switch_xml.h b/src/include/switch_xml.h
index d9672012b8..654f785572 100644
--- a/src/include/switch_xml.h
+++ b/src/include/switch_xml.h
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ SWITCH_DECLARE(char *) switch_xml_toxml(switch_xml_t xml);
 SWITCH_DECLARE(const char **) switch_xml_pi(switch_xml_t xml, const char *target);
 
 // frees the memory allocated for an switch_xml structure
-void switch_xml_free(switch_xml_t xml);
+SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_xml_free(switch_xml_t xml);
     
 // returns parser error message or empty string if none
 SWITCH_DECLARE(const char *) switch_xml_error(switch_xml_t xml);
diff --git a/src/switch_xml.c b/src/switch_xml.c
index e50668a9d2..b13864287d 100644
--- a/src/switch_xml.c
+++ b/src/switch_xml.c
@@ -1023,7 +1023,7 @@ SWITCH_DECLARE(char *) switch_xml_toxml(switch_xml_t xml)
 }
 
 // free the memory allocated for the switch_xml structure
-void switch_xml_free(switch_xml_t xml)
+SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_xml_free(switch_xml_t xml)
 {
     switch_xml_root_t root = (switch_xml_root_t)xml;
     int i, j;