diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index 31ea247e3f..32fe6060c3 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c
@@ -624,10 +624,13 @@ static void update_remote_refs(const struct ref *refs,
 	const struct ref *rm = mapped_refs;
 
 	if (check_connectivity) {
+		struct check_connected_options opt = CHECK_CONNECTED_INIT;
+
+		opt.transport = transport;
+
 		if (transport->progress)
 			fprintf(stderr, _("Checking connectivity... "));
-		if (check_everything_connected_with_transport(iterate_ref_map,
-							      0, &rm, transport))
+		if (check_connected(iterate_ref_map, &rm, &opt))
 			die(_("remote did not send all necessary objects"));
 		if (transport->progress)
 			fprintf(stderr, _("done.\n"));
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index d9ea6f392a..75ee480099 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ static int store_updated_refs(const char *raw_url, const char *remote_name,
 		url = xstrdup("foreign");
 
 	rm = ref_map;
-	if (check_everything_connected(iterate_ref_map, 0, &rm)) {
+	if (check_connected(iterate_ref_map, &rm, NULL)) {
 		rc = error(_("%s did not send all necessary objects\n"), url);
 		goto abort;
 	}
@@ -866,6 +866,7 @@ static int store_updated_refs(const char *raw_url, const char *remote_name,
 static int quickfetch(struct ref *ref_map)
 {
 	struct ref *rm = ref_map;
+	struct check_connected_options opt = CHECK_CONNECTED_INIT;
 
 	/*
 	 * If we are deepening a shallow clone we already have these
@@ -876,7 +877,8 @@ static int quickfetch(struct ref *ref_map)
 	 */
 	if (depth)
 		return -1;
-	return check_everything_connected(iterate_ref_map, 1, &rm);
+	opt.quiet = 1;
+	return check_connected(iterate_ref_map, &rm, &opt);
 }
 
 static int fetch_refs(struct transport *transport, struct ref *ref_map)
diff --git a/builtin/receive-pack.c b/builtin/receive-pack.c
index 15c323a7cd..ce819209a5 100644
--- a/builtin/receive-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/receive-pack.c
@@ -737,7 +737,7 @@ static int update_shallow_ref(struct command *cmd, struct shallow_info *si)
 {
 	static struct lock_file shallow_lock;
 	struct sha1_array extra = SHA1_ARRAY_INIT;
-	const char *alt_file;
+	struct check_connected_options opt = CHECK_CONNECTED_INIT;
 	uint32_t mask = 1 << (cmd->index % 32);
 	int i;
 
@@ -749,9 +749,8 @@ static int update_shallow_ref(struct command *cmd, struct shallow_info *si)
 		    !delayed_reachability_test(si, i))
 			sha1_array_append(&extra, si->shallow->sha1[i]);
 
-	setup_alternate_shallow(&shallow_lock, &alt_file, &extra);
-	if (check_shallow_connected(command_singleton_iterator,
-				    0, cmd, alt_file)) {
+	setup_alternate_shallow(&shallow_lock, &opt.shallow_file, &extra);
+	if (check_connected(command_singleton_iterator, cmd, &opt)) {
 		rollback_lock_file(&shallow_lock);
 		sha1_array_clear(&extra);
 		return -1;
@@ -1160,8 +1159,8 @@ static void set_connectivity_errors(struct command *commands,
 		if (shallow_update && si->shallow_ref[cmd->index])
 			/* to be checked in update_shallow_ref() */
 			continue;
-		if (!check_everything_connected(command_singleton_iterator,
-						0, &singleton))
+		if (!check_connected(command_singleton_iterator, &singleton,
+				     NULL))
 			continue;
 		cmd->error_string = "missing necessary objects";
 	}
@@ -1330,7 +1329,7 @@ static void execute_commands(struct command *commands,
 
 	data.cmds = commands;
 	data.si = si;
-	if (check_everything_connected(iterate_receive_command_list, 0, &data))
+	if (check_connected(iterate_receive_command_list, &data, NULL))
 		set_connectivity_errors(commands, si);
 
 	reject_updates_to_hidden(commands);
diff --git a/connected.c b/connected.c
index a3bfc4e679..2a51eac759 100644
--- a/connected.c
+++ b/connected.c
@@ -4,10 +4,6 @@
 #include "connected.h"
 #include "transport.h"
 
-int check_everything_connected(sha1_iterate_fn fn, int quiet, void *cb_data)
-{
-	return check_everything_connected_with_transport(fn, quiet, cb_data, NULL);
-}
 /*
  * If we feed all the commits we want to verify to this command
  *
@@ -19,19 +15,22 @@ int check_everything_connected(sha1_iterate_fn fn, int quiet, void *cb_data)
  *
  * Returns 0 if everything is connected, non-zero otherwise.
  */
-static int check_everything_connected_real(sha1_iterate_fn fn,
-					   int quiet,
-					   void *cb_data,
-					   struct transport *transport,
-					   const char *shallow_file)
+int check_connected(sha1_iterate_fn fn, void *cb_data,
+		    struct check_connected_options *opt)
 {
 	struct child_process rev_list = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
+	struct check_connected_options defaults = CHECK_CONNECTED_INIT;
 	char commit[41];
 	unsigned char sha1[20];
 	int err = 0;
 	struct packed_git *new_pack = NULL;
+	struct transport *transport;
 	size_t base_len;
 
+	if (!opt)
+		opt = &defaults;
+	transport = opt->transport;
+
 	if (fn(cb_data, sha1))
 		return err;
 
@@ -46,9 +45,9 @@ static int check_everything_connected_real(sha1_iterate_fn fn,
 		strbuf_release(&idx_file);
 	}
 
-	if (shallow_file) {
+	if (opt->shallow_file) {
 		argv_array_push(&rev_list.args, "--shallow-file");
-		argv_array_push(&rev_list.args, shallow_file);
+		argv_array_push(&rev_list.args, opt->shallow_file);
 	}
 	argv_array_push(&rev_list.args,"rev-list");
 	argv_array_push(&rev_list.args, "--objects");
@@ -60,7 +59,7 @@ static int check_everything_connected_real(sha1_iterate_fn fn,
 	rev_list.git_cmd = 1;
 	rev_list.in = -1;
 	rev_list.no_stdout = 1;
-	rev_list.no_stderr = quiet;
+	rev_list.no_stderr = opt->quiet;
 	if (start_command(&rev_list))
 		return error(_("Could not run 'git rev-list'"));
 
@@ -94,19 +93,3 @@ static int check_everything_connected_real(sha1_iterate_fn fn,
 	sigchain_pop(SIGPIPE);
 	return finish_command(&rev_list) || err;
 }
-
-int check_everything_connected_with_transport(sha1_iterate_fn fn,
-					      int quiet,
-					      void *cb_data,
-					      struct transport *transport)
-{
-	return check_everything_connected_real(fn, quiet, cb_data,
-					       transport, NULL);
-}
-
-int check_shallow_connected(sha1_iterate_fn fn, int quiet, void *cb_data,
-			    const char *shallow_file)
-{
-	return check_everything_connected_real(fn, quiet, cb_data,
-					       NULL, shallow_file);
-}
diff --git a/connected.h b/connected.h
index 071d408f38..12594efa16 100644
--- a/connected.h
+++ b/connected.h
@@ -10,18 +10,33 @@ struct transport;
  */
 typedef int (*sha1_iterate_fn)(void *, unsigned char [20]);
 
+/*
+ * Named-arguments struct for check_connected. All arguments are
+ * optional, and can be left to defaults as set by CHECK_CONNECTED_INIT.
+ */
+struct check_connected_options {
+	/* Avoid printing any errors to stderr. */
+	int quiet;
+
+	/* --shallow-file to pass to rev-list sub-process */
+	const char *shallow_file;
+
+	/* Transport whose objects we are checking, if available. */
+	struct transport *transport;
+};
+
+#define CHECK_CONNECTED_INIT { 0 }
+
 /*
  * Make sure that our object store has all the commits necessary to
  * connect the ancestry chain to some of our existing refs, and all
  * the trees and blobs that these commits use.
  *
  * Return 0 if Ok, non zero otherwise (i.e. some missing objects)
+ *
+ * If "opt" is NULL, behaves as if CHECK_CONNECTED_INIT was passed.
  */
-extern int check_everything_connected(sha1_iterate_fn, int quiet, void *cb_data);
-extern int check_shallow_connected(sha1_iterate_fn, int quiet, void *cb_data,
-				   const char *shallow_file);
-extern int check_everything_connected_with_transport(sha1_iterate_fn, int quiet,
-						     void *cb_data,
-						     struct transport *transport);
+int check_connected(sha1_iterate_fn fn, void *cb_data,
+		    struct check_connected_options *opt);
 
 #endif /* CONNECTED_H */