diff --git a/src/table/sync.rs b/src/table/sync.rs
index c66c863f..1f23d3a1 100644
--- a/src/table/sync.rs
+++ b/src/table/sync.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ use tokio::sync::{mpsc, watch};
 
 use garage_util::background::*;
 use garage_util::data::*;
-use garage_util::encode::nonversioned_encode;
+use garage_util::encode::{nonversioned_encode, debug_serialize};
 use garage_util::error::{Error, OkOrMessage};
 
 use garage_rpc::ring::*;
diff --git a/src/util/data.rs b/src/util/data.rs
index b2a52e25..3f61e301 100644
--- a/src/util/data.rs
+++ b/src/util/data.rs
@@ -140,19 +140,3 @@ pub fn fasthash(data: &[u8]) -> FastHash {
 pub fn gen_uuid() -> Uuid {
 	rand::thread_rng().gen::<[u8; 32]>().into()
 }
-
-/// Serialize to JSON, truncating long result
-pub fn debug_serialize<T: Serialize>(x: T) -> String {
-	match serde_json::to_string(&x) {
-		Ok(ss) => {
-			if ss.len() > 100 {
-				// TODO this can panic if 100 is not a codepoint boundary, but inside a 2 Bytes
-				// (or more) codepoint
-				ss[..100].to_string()
-			} else {
-				ss
-			}
-		}
-		Err(e) => format!("<JSON serialization error: {}>", e),
-	}
-}
diff --git a/src/util/encode.rs b/src/util/encode.rs
index 724e482a..1cd3198f 100644
--- a/src/util/encode.rs
+++ b/src/util/encode.rs
@@ -24,3 +24,19 @@ where
 {
 	rmp_serde::decode::from_read_ref::<_, T>(bytes)
 }
+
+/// Serialize to JSON, truncating long result
+pub fn debug_serialize<T: Serialize>(x: T) -> String {
+	match serde_json::to_string(&x) {
+		Ok(ss) => {
+			if ss.len() > 100 {
+				// TODO this can panic if 100 is not a codepoint boundary, but inside a 2 Bytes
+				// (or more) codepoint
+				ss[..100].to_string()
+			} else {
+				ss
+			}
+		}
+		Err(e) => format!("<JSON serialization error: {}>", e),
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/util/error.rs b/src/util/error.rs
index 9995c746..3fcee71d 100644
--- a/src/util/error.rs
+++ b/src/util/error.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ use err_derive::Error;
 use serde::{de::Visitor, Deserialize, Deserializer, Serialize, Serializer};
 
 use crate::data::*;
+use crate::encode::debug_serialize;
 
 /// Regroup all Garage errors
 #[derive(Debug, Error)]