diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
index 3b24f3db087..b9cafd9a5f8 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HRegion.java
@@ -3928,7 +3928,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize, PropagatingConfigurationObserver, Regi
    * We throw RegionTooBusyException if above memstore limit
    * and expect client to retry using some kind of backoff
   */
-  private void checkResources() throws RegionTooBusyException {
+  void checkResources() throws RegionTooBusyException {
     // If catalog region, do not impose resource constraints or block updates.
     if (this.getRegionInfo().isMetaRegion()) return;
 
@@ -3974,7 +3974,7 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize, PropagatingConfigurationObserver, Regi
    * @param edits Cell updates by column
    * @throws IOException
    */
-  private void put(final byte [] row, byte [] family, List<Cell> edits)
+  void put(final byte [] row, byte [] family, List<Cell> edits)
   throws IOException {
     NavigableMap<byte[], List<Cell>> familyMap;
     familyMap = new TreeMap<>(Bytes.BYTES_COMPARATOR);
@@ -6877,33 +6877,6 @@ public class HRegion implements HeapSize, PropagatingConfigurationObserver, Regi
     return r;
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Inserts a new region's meta information into the passed
-   * <code>meta</code> region. Used by the HMaster bootstrap code adding
-   * new table to hbase:meta table.
-   *
-   * @param meta hbase:meta HRegion to be updated
-   * @param r HRegion to add to <code>meta</code>
-   *
-   * @throws IOException
-   */
-  // TODO remove since only test and merge use this
-  public static void addRegionToMETA(final HRegion meta, final HRegion r) throws IOException {
-    meta.checkResources();
-    // The row key is the region name
-    byte[] row = r.getRegionInfo().getRegionName();
-    final long now = EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime();
-    final List<Cell> cells = new ArrayList<>(2);
-    cells.add(new KeyValue(row, HConstants.CATALOG_FAMILY,
-      HConstants.REGIONINFO_QUALIFIER, now,
-      r.getRegionInfo().toByteArray()));
-    // Set into the root table the version of the meta table.
-    cells.add(new KeyValue(row, HConstants.CATALOG_FAMILY,
-      HConstants.META_VERSION_QUALIFIER, now,
-      Bytes.toBytes(HConstants.META_VERSION)));
-    meta.put(row, HConstants.CATALOG_FAMILY, cells);
-  }
-
   /**
    * Computes the Path of the HRegion
    *
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestDefaultMemStore.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestDefaultMemStore.java
index 0b1638b4d40..7b108467184 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestDefaultMemStore.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/TestDefaultMemStore.java
@@ -975,7 +975,7 @@ public class TestDefaultMemStore {
     HRegion r =
         HRegion.createHRegion(hri, testDir, conf, desc,
             wFactory.getWAL(hri.getEncodedNameAsBytes(), hri.getTable().getNamespace()));
-    HRegion.addRegionToMETA(meta, r);
+    addRegionToMETA(meta, r);
     edge.setCurrentTimeMillis(1234 + 100);
     StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
     assertTrue(meta.shouldFlush(sb) == false);
@@ -983,6 +983,32 @@ public class TestDefaultMemStore {
     assertTrue(meta.shouldFlush(sb) == true);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Inserts a new region's meta information into the passed
+   * <code>meta</code> region. Used by the HMaster bootstrap code adding
+   * new table to hbase:meta table.
+   *
+   * @param meta hbase:meta HRegion to be updated
+   * @param r HRegion to add to <code>meta</code>
+   *
+   * @throws IOException
+   */
+  public static void addRegionToMETA(final HRegion meta, final HRegion r) throws IOException {
+    meta.checkResources();
+    // The row key is the region name
+    byte[] row = r.getRegionInfo().getRegionName();
+    final long now = EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime();
+    final List<Cell> cells = new ArrayList<>(2);
+    cells.add(new KeyValue(row, HConstants.CATALOG_FAMILY,
+      HConstants.REGIONINFO_QUALIFIER, now,
+      r.getRegionInfo().toByteArray()));
+    // Set into the root table the version of the meta table.
+    cells.add(new KeyValue(row, HConstants.CATALOG_FAMILY,
+      HConstants.META_VERSION_QUALIFIER, now,
+      Bytes.toBytes(HConstants.META_VERSION)));
+    meta.put(row, HConstants.CATALOG_FAMILY, cells);
+  }
+
   private class EnvironmentEdgeForMemstoreTest implements EnvironmentEdge {
     long t = 1234;
     @Override