diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/RefUpdateTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/RefUpdateTest.java
index daef91d53..0f26b0fa6 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/RefUpdateTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/RefUpdateTest.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 package org.eclipse.jgit.internal.storage.file;
 
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.LOCK_SUFFIX;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
@@ -758,11 +759,11 @@ public void tryRenameWhenLocked(String toLock, String fromName,
 			// Check that the involved refs are the same despite the failure
 			assertExists(false, toName);
 			if (!toLock.equals(toName))
-				assertExists(false, toName + ".lock");
-			assertExists(true, toLock + ".lock");
+				assertExists(false, toName + LOCK_SUFFIX);
+			assertExists(true, toLock + LOCK_SUFFIX);
 			if (!toLock.equals(fromName))
-				assertExists(false, "logs/" + fromName + ".lock");
-			assertExists(false, "logs/" + toName + ".lock");
+				assertExists(false, "logs/" + fromName + LOCK_SUFFIX);
+			assertExists(false, "logs/" + toName + LOCK_SUFFIX);
 			assertEquals(oldHeadId, db.resolve(Constants.HEAD));
 			assertEquals(oldfromId, db.resolve(fromName));
 			assertNull(db.resolve(toName));
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/.settings/.api_filters b/org.eclipse.jgit/.settings/.api_filters
index c68b9a093..40255670a 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/.settings/.api_filters
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/.settings/.api_filters
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     <resource path="META-INF/MANIFEST.MF">
         <filter id="924844039">
             <message_arguments>
-                <message_argument value="4.7.2"/>
+                <message_argument value="4.7.3"/>
                 <message_argument value="4.7.0"/>
             </message_arguments>
         </filter>
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/LockFile.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/LockFile.java
index 5af93cf2c..584c4714d 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/LockFile.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/LockFile.java
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jgit.internal.storage.file;
 
+import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.LOCK_SUFFIX;
+
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
@@ -75,7 +77,6 @@
  * name.
  */
 public class LockFile {
-	static final String SUFFIX = ".lock"; //$NON-NLS-1$
 
 	/**
 	 * Unlock the given file.
@@ -105,14 +106,15 @@ public static boolean unlock(final File file) {
 	 * @return lock file
 	 */
 	static File getLockFile(File file) {
-		return new File(file.getParentFile(), file.getName() + SUFFIX);
+		return new File(file.getParentFile(),
+				file.getName() + LOCK_SUFFIX);
 	}
 
 	/** Filter to skip over active lock files when listing a directory. */
 	static final FilenameFilter FILTER = new FilenameFilter() {
 		@Override
 		public boolean accept(File dir, String name) {
-			return !name.endsWith(SUFFIX);
+			return !name.endsWith(LOCK_SUFFIX);
 		}
 	};
 
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ReflogWriter.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ReflogWriter.java
index 24d2c790e..892c1c85a 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ReflogWriter.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/ReflogWriter.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.HEAD;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.LOGS;
+import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.LOCK_SUFFIX;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.R_HEADS;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.R_REFS;
 import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.R_REMOTES;
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ public class ReflogWriter {
 	 * @return the name of the ref's lock ref
 	 */
 	public static String refLockFor(final String name) {
-		return name + LockFile.SUFFIX;
+		return name + LOCK_SUFFIX;
 	}
 
 	private final Repository parent;
@@ -287,4 +288,4 @@ private boolean shouldAutoCreateLog(final String refName) {
 				|| refName.startsWith(R_REMOTES) //
 				|| refName.equals(R_STASH);
 	}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java
index ff80672f8..bda1a2745 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Constants.java
@@ -665,6 +665,13 @@ public static byte[] encode(final String str) {
 	public static final ObjectId EMPTY_BLOB_ID = ObjectId
 			.fromString("e69de29bb2d1d6434b8b29ae775ad8c2e48c5391");
 
+	/**
+	 * Suffix of lock file name
+	 *
+	 * @since 4.7
+	 */
+	public static final String LOCK_SUFFIX = ".lock"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+
 	private Constants() {
 		// Hide the default constructor
 	}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Repository.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Repository.java
index ea37e7938..aa70f4209 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Repository.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Repository.java
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jgit.lib;
 
+import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.LOCK_SUFFIX;
+
 import java.io.BufferedOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
@@ -1293,10 +1295,12 @@ public RepositoryState getRepositoryState() {
 	 */
 	public static boolean isValidRefName(final String refName) {
 		final int len = refName.length();
-		if (len == 0)
+		if (len == 0) {
 			return false;
-		if (refName.endsWith(".lock")) //$NON-NLS-1$
+		}
+		if (refName.endsWith(LOCK_SUFFIX)) {
 			return false;
+		}
 
 		// Refs may be stored as loose files so invalid paths
 		// on the local system must also be invalid refs.
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportSftp.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportSftp.java
index c46f94b7d..99e4809cf 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportSftp.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/TransportSftp.java
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jgit.transport;
 
+import static org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants.LOCK_SUFFIX;
+
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -341,7 +343,7 @@ OutputStream writeFile(final String path,
 
 		@Override
 		void writeFile(final String path, final byte[] data) throws IOException {
-			final String lock = path + ".lock"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+			final String lock = path + LOCK_SUFFIX;
 			try {
 				super.writeFile(lock, data);
 				try {