diff --git a/mercurial/cmdutil.py b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
--- a/mercurial/cmdutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/cmdutil.py
@@ -3518,7 +3518,7 @@ class dirstateguard(object):
     def __init__(self, repo, name):
         self._repo = repo
         self._suffix = '.backup.%s.%d' % (name, id(self))
-        repo.dirstate._savebackup(repo.currenttransaction(), self._suffix)
+        repo.dirstate.savebackup(repo.currenttransaction(), self._suffix)
         self._active = True
         self._closed = False
 
@@ -3536,13 +3536,13 @@ class dirstateguard(object):
                    % self._suffix)
             raise error.Abort(msg)
 
-        self._repo.dirstate._clearbackup(self._repo.currenttransaction(),
+        self._repo.dirstate.clearbackup(self._repo.currenttransaction(),
                                          self._suffix)
         self._active = False
         self._closed = True
 
     def _abort(self):
-        self._repo.dirstate._restorebackup(self._repo.currenttransaction(),
+        self._repo.dirstate.restorebackup(self._repo.currenttransaction(),
                                            self._suffix)
         self._active = False
 
diff --git a/mercurial/dirstate.py b/mercurial/dirstate.py
--- a/mercurial/dirstate.py
+++ b/mercurial/dirstate.py
@@ -1205,7 +1205,7 @@ class dirstate(object):
         else:
             return self._filename
 
-    def _savebackup(self, tr, suffix):
+    def savebackup(self, tr, suffix):
         '''Save current dirstate into backup file with suffix'''
         filename = self._actualfilename(tr)
 
@@ -1228,7 +1228,7 @@ class dirstate(object):
 
         self._opener.write(filename + suffix, self._opener.tryread(filename))
 
-    def _restorebackup(self, tr, suffix):
+    def restorebackup(self, tr, suffix):
         '''Restore dirstate by backup file with suffix'''
         # this "invalidate()" prevents "wlock.release()" from writing
         # changes of dirstate out after restoring from backup file
@@ -1236,7 +1236,7 @@ class dirstate(object):
         filename = self._actualfilename(tr)
         self._opener.rename(filename + suffix, filename)
 
-    def _clearbackup(self, tr, suffix):
+    def clearbackup(self, tr, suffix):
         '''Clear backup file with suffix'''
         filename = self._actualfilename(tr)
         self._opener.unlink(filename + suffix)