EXPORT symbol statements in loop.c-2.6

In this stanza:
extern void loop_compute_sector_iv(sector_t, u_int32_t *);
EXPORT_SYMBOL(loop_compute_sector_iv);
extern void loop_compute_md5_iv_v3(sector_t, u_int32_t *, u_int32_t *);
EXPORT_SYMBOL(loop_compute_md5_iv_v3);
extern void loop_compute_md5_iv(sector_t, u_int32_t *, u_int32_t *);
EXPORT_SYMBOL(loop_compute_md5_iv);
extern void md5_transform_CPUbyteorder(u_int32_t *, u_int32_t const *);
EXPORT_SYMBOL(md5_transform_CPUbyteorder);
extern void md5_transform_CPUbyteorder_C(u_int32_t *, u_int32_t const
*);
EXPORT_SYMBOL(md5_transform_CPUbyteorder_C);

Isn't it more standard if the EXPORT_SYMBOL appear next to the function
definition?
Why would they be exported?  Who uses them other than the loopAES
module?

marty

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