diff --git a/pungi/phases/createrepo.py b/pungi/phases/createrepo.py
index 7f8f292b..e6f691ee 100644
--- a/pungi/phases/createrepo.py
+++ b/pungi/phases/createrepo.py
@@ -33,7 +33,12 @@ from kobo.shortcuts import run, relative_path
 from ..wrappers.scm import get_dir_from_scm
 from ..wrappers.createrepo import CreaterepoWrapper
 from .base import PhaseBase
-from ..util import find_old_compose, temp_dir, get_arch_variant_data
+from ..util import (
+    find_old_compose,
+    get_arch_variant_data,
+    iter_module_defaults,
+    temp_dir,
+)
 from pungi import Modulemd
 from pungi.arch import tree_arch_to_yum_arch
 
@@ -244,10 +249,9 @@ def create_variant_repo(compose, arch, variant, pkg_type, modules_metadata=None)
             modules.append(repo_mmd)
 
         module_names = set([x.get_name() for x in modules])
-        for mmddeffile in glob.glob(os.path.join(compose.paths.work.module_defaults_dir(), "*.yaml")):
-            for mmddef in Modulemd.objects_from_file(mmddeffile):
-                if isinstance(mmddef, Modulemd.Defaults) and mmddef.peek_module_name() in module_names:
-                    modules.append(mmddef)
+        for mmddef in iter_module_defaults(compose.paths.work.module_defaults_dir()):
+            if mmddef.peek_module_name() in module_names:
+                modules.append(mmddef)
 
         with temp_dir() as tmp_dir:
             modules_path = os.path.join(tmp_dir, "modules.yaml")
diff --git a/pungi/phases/init.py b/pungi/phases/init.py
index 0df1ca22..00cdc281 100644
--- a/pungi/phases/init.py
+++ b/pungi/phases/init.py
@@ -15,16 +15,14 @@
 
 
 import collections
-import glob
 import os
 import shutil
 
 from kobo.shortcuts import run
 
-from pungi import Modulemd
 from pungi.phases.base import PhaseBase
 from pungi.phases.gather import write_prepopulate_file
-from pungi.util import temp_dir
+from pungi.util import temp_dir, iter_module_defaults
 from pungi.wrappers.comps import CompsWrapper
 from pungi.wrappers.createrepo import CreaterepoWrapper
 from pungi.wrappers.scm import get_dir_from_scm, get_file_from_scm
@@ -188,11 +186,9 @@ def validate_module_defaults(path):
     :param str path: directory with cloned module defaults
     """
     seen_defaults = collections.defaultdict(set)
-    for file in glob.glob(os.path.join(path, "*.yaml")):
-        for mmddef in Modulemd.objects_from_file(file):
-            if not isinstance(mmddef, Modulemd.Defaults):
-                continue
-            seen_defaults[mmddef.peek_module_name()].add(mmddef.peek_default_stream())
+
+    for mmddef in iter_module_defaults(path):
+        seen_defaults[mmddef.peek_module_name()].add(mmddef.peek_default_stream())
 
     errors = []
     for module_name, defaults in seen_defaults.items():
diff --git a/pungi/util.py b/pungi/util.py
index 0bcd6d60..8bb33ebe 100644
--- a/pungi/util.py
+++ b/pungi/util.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import argparse
 import fnmatch
+import glob
 import json
 import subprocess
 import os
@@ -34,6 +35,8 @@ from six.moves import urllib, range, shlex_quote
 from kobo.shortcuts import run, force_list
 from productmd.common import get_major_version
 
+from pungi import Modulemd
+
 # Patterns that match all names of debuginfo packages
 DEBUG_PATTERNS = ["*-debuginfo", "*-debuginfo-*", "*-debugsource"]
 
@@ -855,3 +858,12 @@ def parse_koji_event(event):
         raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(
             "%s is not a number or path to compose with valid Koji event" % event
         )
+
+
+def iter_module_defaults(path):
+    """Given a path to a directory with yaml files, yield each module default in there.
+    """
+    for file in glob.glob(os.path.join(path, "*.yaml")):
+        for mmddef in Modulemd.objects_from_file(file):
+            if isinstance(mmddef, Modulemd.Defaults):
+                yield mmddef