diff --git a/libutils/RefBase.cpp b/libutils/RefBase.cpp
index 0d98db9..24737b9 100644
--- a/libutils/RefBase.cpp
+++ b/libutils/RefBase.cpp
@@ -760,6 +760,4 @@
     ref->mRefs->renameWeakRefId(old_id, new_id);
 }
 
-VirtualLightRefBase::~VirtualLightRefBase() {}
-
 }; // namespace android
diff --git a/libutils/include/utils/LightRefBase.h b/libutils/include/utils/LightRefBase.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65257ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libutils/include/utils/LightRefBase.h
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2017 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+/*
+ * See documentation in RefBase.h
+ */
+
+#include <atomic>
+
+#include <sys/types.h>
+
+namespace android {
+
+class ReferenceRenamer;
+
+template <class T>
+class LightRefBase
+{
+public:
+    inline LightRefBase() : mCount(0) { }
+    inline void incStrong(__attribute__((unused)) const void* id) const {
+        mCount.fetch_add(1, std::memory_order_relaxed);
+    }
+    inline void decStrong(__attribute__((unused)) const void* id) const {
+        if (mCount.fetch_sub(1, std::memory_order_release) == 1) {
+            std::atomic_thread_fence(std::memory_order_acquire);
+            delete static_cast<const T*>(this);
+        }
+    }
+    //! DEBUGGING ONLY: Get current strong ref count.
+    inline int32_t getStrongCount() const {
+        return mCount.load(std::memory_order_relaxed);
+    }
+
+    typedef LightRefBase<T> basetype;
+
+protected:
+    inline ~LightRefBase() { }
+
+private:
+    friend class ReferenceMover;
+    inline static void renameRefs(size_t /*n*/, const ReferenceRenamer& /*renamer*/) { }
+    inline static void renameRefId(T* /*ref*/, const void* /*old_id*/ , const void* /*new_id*/) { }
+
+private:
+    mutable std::atomic<int32_t> mCount;
+};
+
+
+// This is a wrapper around LightRefBase that simply enforces a virtual
+// destructor to eliminate the template requirement of LightRefBase
+class VirtualLightRefBase : public LightRefBase<VirtualLightRefBase> {
+public:
+    virtual ~VirtualLightRefBase() = default;
+};
+
+}; // namespace android
diff --git a/libutils/include/utils/RefBase.h b/libutils/include/utils/RefBase.h
index a61ea58..223b666 100644
--- a/libutils/include/utils/RefBase.h
+++ b/libutils/include/utils/RefBase.h
@@ -177,6 +177,9 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
+// LightRefBase used to be declared in this header, so we have to include it
+#include <utils/LightRefBase.h>
+
 #include <utils/StrongPointer.h>
 #include <utils/TypeHelpers.h>
 
@@ -216,7 +219,7 @@
 
 class ReferenceRenamer {
 protected:
-    // destructor is purposedly not virtual so we avoid code overhead from
+    // destructor is purposely not virtual so we avoid code overhead from
     // subclasses; we have to make it protected to guarantee that it
     // cannot be called from this base class (and to make strict compilers
     // happy).
@@ -246,13 +249,13 @@
     {
     public:
         RefBase*            refBase() const;
-        
+
         void                incWeak(const void* id);
         void                decWeak(const void* id);
-        
+
         // acquires a strong reference if there is already one.
         bool                attemptIncStrong(const void* id);
-        
+
         // acquires a weak reference if there is already one.
         // This is not always safe. see ProcessState.cpp and BpBinder.cpp
         // for proper use.
@@ -268,12 +271,12 @@
         // enable -- enable/disable tracking
         // retain -- when tracking is enable, if true, then we save a stack trace
         //           for each reference and dereference; when retain == false, we
-        //           match up references and dereferences and keep only the 
+        //           match up references and dereferences and keep only the
         //           outstanding ones.
-        
+
         void                trackMe(bool enable, bool retain);
     };
-    
+
             weakref_type*   createWeak(const void* id) const;
             
             weakref_type*   getWeakRefs() const;
@@ -345,54 +348,12 @@
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-template <class T>
-class LightRefBase
-{
-public:
-    inline LightRefBase() : mCount(0) { }
-    inline void incStrong(__attribute__((unused)) const void* id) const {
-        mCount.fetch_add(1, std::memory_order_relaxed);
-    }
-    inline void decStrong(__attribute__((unused)) const void* id) const {
-        if (mCount.fetch_sub(1, std::memory_order_release) == 1) {
-            std::atomic_thread_fence(std::memory_order_acquire);
-            delete static_cast<const T*>(this);
-        }
-    }
-    //! DEBUGGING ONLY: Get current strong ref count.
-    inline int32_t getStrongCount() const {
-        return mCount.load(std::memory_order_relaxed);
-    }
-
-    typedef LightRefBase<T> basetype;
-
-protected:
-    inline ~LightRefBase() { }
-
-private:
-    friend class ReferenceMover;
-    inline static void renameRefs(size_t /*n*/, const ReferenceRenamer& /*renamer*/) { }
-    inline static void renameRefId(T* /*ref*/, const void* /*old_id*/ , const void* /*new_id*/) { }
-
-private:
-    mutable std::atomic<int32_t> mCount;
-};
-
-// This is a wrapper around LightRefBase that simply enforces a virtual
-// destructor to eliminate the template requirement of LightRefBase
-class VirtualLightRefBase : public LightRefBase<VirtualLightRefBase> {
-public:
-    virtual ~VirtualLightRefBase();
-};
-
-// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 template <typename T>
 class wp
 {
 public:
     typedef typename RefBase::weakref_type weakref_type;
-    
+
     inline wp() : m_ptr(0) { }
 
     wp(T* other);  // NOLINT(implicit)
@@ -403,31 +364,31 @@
     template<typename U> wp(const wp<U>& other);  // NOLINT(implicit)
 
     ~wp();
-    
+
     // Assignment
 
     wp& operator = (T* other);
     wp& operator = (const wp<T>& other);
     wp& operator = (const sp<T>& other);
-    
+
     template<typename U> wp& operator = (U* other);
     template<typename U> wp& operator = (const wp<U>& other);
     template<typename U> wp& operator = (const sp<U>& other);
-    
+
     void set_object_and_refs(T* other, weakref_type* refs);
 
     // promotion to sp
-    
+
     sp<T> promote() const;
 
     // Reset
-    
+
     void clear();
 
     // Accessors
-    
+
     inline  weakref_type* get_refs() const { return m_refs; }
-    
+
     inline  T* unsafe_get() const { return m_ptr; }
 
     // Operators