diff --git a/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc b/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc
index 42b8235ef..095fa37d7 100644
--- a/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc
+++ b/lib/rocksdb/env_spdk.cc
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ std::string g_bdev_name;
 volatile bool g_spdk_ready = false;
 volatile bool g_spdk_start_failure = false;
 
-static void SpdkInitializeThread(void);
+void SpdkInitializeThread(void);
 
 class SpdkThreadCtx
 {
@@ -638,11 +638,10 @@ public:
  * SpdkInitializeThread function, so that the main thread can explicitly
  * call it after the filesystem has been loaded.
  */
-static void SpdkInitializeThread(void)
+void SpdkInitializeThread(void)
 {
 	struct spdk_thread *thread;
 
-	assert(g_sync_args.channel == NULL);
 	if (g_fs != NULL) {
 		thread = spdk_thread_create("spdk_rocksdb", NULL);
 		spdk_set_thread(thread);