diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/CellUtil.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/CellUtil.java
index 361f284317e..e123798c126 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/CellUtil.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/CellUtil.java
@@ -380,14 +380,14 @@ public final class CellUtil {
   
   /********************* tags *************************************/
   /**
-   * Util method to iterate through the tags. Used in testcase
+   * Util method to iterate through the tags
    * 
    * @param tags
    * @param offset
    * @param length
    * @return iterator for the tags
    */
-  public static Iterator<Tag> tagsIterator(final byte[] tags, final int offset, final short length) {
+  public static Iterator<Tag> tagsIterator(final byte[] tags, final int offset, final int length) {
     return new Iterator<Tag>() {
       private int pos = offset;
       private int endOffset = offset + length - 1;
diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/Tag.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/Tag.java
index c5acbd24d42..ad0c595a8d1 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/Tag.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/Tag.java
@@ -119,14 +119,14 @@ public class Tag {
   /**
    * @return Length of actual tag bytes within the backed buffer
    */
-  int getTagLength() {
+  public int getTagLength() {
     return this.length - INFRASTRUCTURE_SIZE;
   }
 
   /**
    * @return Offset of actual tag bytes within the backed buffer
    */
-  int getTagOffset() {
+  public int getTagOffset() {
     return this.offset + INFRASTRUCTURE_SIZE;
   }
 
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ public class Tag {
    * @param length
    * @return List of tags
    */
-  public static List<Tag> asList(byte[] b, int offset, short length) {
+  public static List<Tag> asList(byte[] b, int offset, int length) {
     List<Tag> tags = new ArrayList<Tag>();
     int pos = offset;
     while (pos < offset + length) {