-static inline int
-vl_api_to_api_string (u32 len, const char *buf, vl_api_string_t * str)
-{
- clib_memcpy(str->buf, buf, len);
- str->length = clib_host_to_net_u32 (len);
- return len + sizeof (u32);
-}
-
-/* Return a pointer to the API string (not nul terminated */
-static inline u8 *
-vl_api_from_api_string (vl_api_string_t * astr)
-{
- return astr->buf;
-}
+extern int vl_api_to_api_string (u32 len, const char *buf, vl_api_string_t * str);
+extern int vl_api_vec_to_api_string (const u8 *vec, vl_api_string_t * str);
+extern u8 * vl_api_from_api_string (vl_api_string_t * astr);
+extern u32 vl_api_string_len (vl_api_string_t * astr);
+extern u8 * vl_api_from_api_to_vec (vl_api_string_t *astr);