diff --git a/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h b/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h
index 85d6568010fd..143d40e8a1ea 100644
--- a/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h
+++ b/include/linux/compiler-gcc.h
@@ -83,17 +83,18 @@
  * -Wunused-function.  This turns out to avoid the need for complex #ifdef
  * directives.  Suppress the warning in clang as well by using "unused"
  * function attribute, which is redundant but not harmful for gcc.
+ * Prefer gnu_inline, so that extern inline functions do not emit an
+ * externally visible function. This makes extern inline behave as per gnu89
+ * semantics rather than c99. This prevents multiple symbol definition errors
+ * of extern inline functions at link time.
+ * A lot of inline functions can cause havoc with function tracing.
  */
 #if !defined(CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_OPTIMIZED_INLINING) ||		\
     !defined(CONFIG_OPTIMIZE_INLINING) || (__GNUC__ < 4)
-#define inline inline		__attribute__((always_inline,unused)) notrace
-#define __inline__ __inline__	__attribute__((always_inline,unused)) notrace
-#define __inline __inline	__attribute__((always_inline,unused)) notrace
+#define inline \
+	inline __attribute__((always_inline, unused)) notrace __gnu_inline
 #else
-/* A lot of inline functions can cause havoc with function tracing */
-#define inline inline		__attribute__((unused)) notrace
-#define __inline__ __inline__	__attribute__((unused)) notrace
-#define __inline __inline	__attribute__((unused)) notrace
+#define inline inline		__attribute__((unused)) notrace __gnu_inline
 #endif
 
 #define __inline__ inline