diff --git a/dsf/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/concurrent/Transaction.java b/dsf/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/concurrent/Transaction.java
index 01bc5d9d6c0..ef72971b5ab 100644
--- a/dsf/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/concurrent/Transaction.java
+++ b/dsf/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/concurrent/Transaction.java
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ public abstract class Transaction<V> {
             fRm.done();
         }
         fRm = rm;
+        assert fRm != null;
         execute();
     }
 
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ public abstract class Transaction<V> {
 	 * @throws CoreException
 	 *             if an error was encountered getting the data from the source
 	 */
-    protected void validate(ICache<?> cache) throws InvalidCacheException, CoreException {
+    public void validate(ICache<?> cache) throws InvalidCacheException, CoreException {
         if (cache.isValid()) {
             if (!cache.getStatus().isOK()) {
                 throw new CoreException(cache.getStatus());
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ public abstract class Transaction<V> {
      * See {@link #validate(RequestCache)}. This variant simply validates
      * multiple cache objects.
      */
-    protected void validate(ICache<?> ... caches) throws InvalidCacheException, CoreException {
+    public void validate(ICache<?> ... caches) throws InvalidCacheException, CoreException {
         validate(Arrays.asList(caches));
     }
     
@@ -156,7 +157,7 @@ public abstract class Transaction<V> {
 	 * See {@link #validate(RequestCache)}. This variant simply validates
 	 * multiple cache objects.
 	 */
-    protected void validate(Iterable<ICache<?>> caches) throws InvalidCacheException, CoreException {
+    public void validate(Iterable<ICache<?>> caches) throws InvalidCacheException, CoreException {
         // Check if any of the caches have errors:
         boolean allValid = true;