diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -6209,7 +6209,7 @@
        prevents from deciding exact order of them, for safety.
     """
     with repo.wlock():
-        return shelvemod._dounshelve(ui, repo, *shelved, **opts)
+        return shelvemod.dounshelve(ui, repo, *shelved, **opts)
 
 @command('update|up|checkout|co',
     [('C', 'clean', None, _('discard uncommitted changes (no backup)')),
diff --git a/mercurial/shelve.py b/mercurial/shelve.py
--- a/mercurial/shelve.py
+++ b/mercurial/shelve.py
@@ -845,7 +845,7 @@
         hint = _("run hg status to see which files are missing")
         raise error.Abort(m, hint=hint)
 
-def _dounshelve(ui, repo, *shelved, **opts):
+def dounshelve(ui, repo, *shelved, **opts):
     opts = pycompat.byteskwargs(opts)
     abortf = opts.get('abort')
     continuef = opts.get('continue')