diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 95a0bd397a..2ac37ee070 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -953,22 +953,39 @@ static inline void oidclr(struct object_id *oid)
 #define EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN_LITERAL \
 	 "\x4b\x82\x5d\xc6\x42\xcb\x6e\xb9\xa0\x60" \
 	 "\xe5\x4b\xf8\xd6\x92\x88\xfb\xee\x49\x04"
-#define EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN \
-	 ((const unsigned char *) EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN_LITERAL)
+extern const struct object_id empty_tree_oid;
+#define EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN (empty_tree_oid.hash)
 
 #define EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_HEX \
 	"e69de29bb2d1d6434b8b29ae775ad8c2e48c5391"
 #define EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_BIN_LITERAL \
 	"\xe6\x9d\xe2\x9b\xb2\xd1\xd6\x43\x4b\x8b" \
 	"\x29\xae\x77\x5a\xd8\xc2\xe4\x8c\x53\x91"
-#define EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_BIN \
-	((const unsigned char *) EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_BIN_LITERAL)
+extern const struct object_id empty_blob_oid;
+#define EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_BIN (empty_blob_oid.hash)
+
 
 static inline int is_empty_blob_sha1(const unsigned char *sha1)
 {
 	return !hashcmp(sha1, EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_BIN);
 }
 
+static inline int is_empty_blob_oid(const struct object_id *oid)
+{
+	return !hashcmp(oid->hash, EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_BIN);
+}
+
+static inline int is_empty_tree_sha1(const unsigned char *sha1)
+{
+	return !hashcmp(sha1, EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN);
+}
+
+static inline int is_empty_tree_oid(const struct object_id *oid)
+{
+	return !hashcmp(oid->hash, EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN);
+}
+
+
 int git_mkstemp(char *path, size_t n, const char *template);
 
 /* set default permissions by passing mode arguments to open(2) */
diff --git a/sha1_file.c b/sha1_file.c
index 02940f1920..5b8553d69e 100644
--- a/sha1_file.c
+++ b/sha1_file.c
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@ static inline uintmax_t sz_fmt(size_t s) { return s; }
 
 const unsigned char null_sha1[20];
 const struct object_id null_oid;
+const struct object_id empty_tree_oid = {
+	EMPTY_TREE_SHA1_BIN_LITERAL
+};
+const struct object_id empty_blob_oid = {
+	EMPTY_BLOB_SHA1_BIN_LITERAL
+};
 
 /*
  * This is meant to hold a *small* number of objects that you would