diff --git a/command/plugins.go b/command/plugins.go
index 113378db00..fa4e48ab4a 100644
--- a/command/plugins.go
+++ b/command/plugins.go
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ func (m *Meta) providerFactories() map[string]terraform.ResourceProviderFactory
 		// by name, we're guaranteed that the metas in our set all have
 		// valid versions and that there's at least one meta.
 		newest := metas.Newest()
-		client := newest.Client()
+		client := tfplugin.Client(newest)
 		factories[name] = providerFactory(client)
 	}
 
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ func (m *Meta) provisionerFactories() map[string]terraform.ResourceProvisionerFa
 		// by name, we're guaranteed that the metas in our set all have
 		// valid versions and that there's at least one meta.
 		newest := metas.Newest()
-		client := newest.Client()
+		client := tfplugin.Client(newest)
 		factories[name] = provisionerFactory(client)
 	}
 
diff --git a/plugin/client.go b/plugin/client.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3a5cb7af05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugin/client.go
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package plugin
+
+import (
+	"os/exec"
+
+	plugin "github.com/hashicorp/go-plugin"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/plugin/discovery"
+)
+
+// ClientConfig returns a configuration object that can be used to instantiate
+// a client for the plugin described by the given metadata.
+func ClientConfig(m discovery.PluginMeta) *plugin.ClientConfig {
+	return &plugin.ClientConfig{
+		Cmd:             exec.Command(m.Path),
+		HandshakeConfig: Handshake,
+		Managed:         true,
+		Plugins:         PluginMap,
+	}
+}
+
+// Client returns a plugin client for the plugin described by the given metadata.
+func Client(m discovery.PluginMeta) *plugin.Client {
+	return plugin.NewClient(ClientConfig(m))
+}
diff --git a/plugin/discovery/meta.go b/plugin/discovery/meta.go
index 0c3a1ff4af..d93296cfc6 100644
--- a/plugin/discovery/meta.go
+++ b/plugin/discovery/meta.go
@@ -4,11 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"io"
 	"os"
-	"os/exec"
 
 	"github.com/blang/semver"
-	plugin "github.com/hashicorp/go-plugin"
-	tfplugin "github.com/hashicorp/terraform/plugin"
 )
 
 // PluginMeta is metadata about a plugin, useful for launching the plugin
@@ -51,19 +48,3 @@ func (m PluginMeta) SHA256() ([]byte, error) {
 
 	return h.Sum(nil), nil
 }
-
-// ClientConfig returns a configuration object that can be used to instantiate
-// a client for the referenced plugin.
-func (m PluginMeta) ClientConfig() *plugin.ClientConfig {
-	return &plugin.ClientConfig{
-		Cmd:             exec.Command(m.Path),
-		HandshakeConfig: tfplugin.Handshake,
-		Managed:         true,
-		Plugins:         tfplugin.PluginMap,
-	}
-}
-
-// Client returns a plugin client for the referenced plugin.
-func (m PluginMeta) Client() *plugin.Client {
-	return plugin.NewClient(m.ClientConfig())
-}