why a static function is in kernel symbol table

[Ji Li]

Hi all,

I happened to find that a static function show up in kernel symbol table:

 static bool tcp_write_xmit(struct sock *sk, unsigned int mss_now, int nonagle,

                            int push_one, gfp_t gfp);

I feel puzzled. The only difference between this function with other
static functions in net/ipv4/tcp_output.c is that tcp_write_xmit is
declared at the very beginning of the file. However, I tried putting
declaration of another static function in front of tcp_write_xmit, but
it still did not show up in newly compiled vmlinux.

Could anyone kindly cast some light?

Thanks
Ji