diff --git a/sys/netinet/ip_fw.h b/sys/netinet/ip_fw.h
index 7a9f9eacb0f..666e5361bed 100644
--- a/sys/netinet/ip_fw.h
+++ b/sys/netinet/ip_fw.h
@@ -36,6 +36,12 @@
  */
 #define	IPFW_DEFAULT_RULE	65535
 
+/*
+ * The number of ipfw tables.  The maximum allowed table number is the
+ * (IPFW_TABLES_MAX - 1).
+ */
+#define	IPFW_TABLES_MAX		128
+
 /*
  * The kernel representation of ipfw rules is made of a list of
  * 'instructions' (for all practical purposes equivalent to BPF
@@ -640,7 +646,6 @@ extern	ip_fw_chk_t	*ip_fw_chk_ptr;
 
 #ifdef IPFW_INTERNAL
 
-#define	IPFW_TABLES_MAX		128
 struct ip_fw_chain {
 	struct ip_fw	*rules;		/* list of rules */
 	struct ip_fw	*reap;		/* list of rules to reap */