diff --git a/include/osmocore/msgb.h b/include/osmocore/msgb.h
index 354c5d88a..395c7c2ca 100644
--- a/include/osmocore/msgb.h
+++ b/include/osmocore/msgb.h
@@ -187,4 +187,9 @@ static inline struct msgb *msgb_alloc_headroom(int size, int headroom,
 	return msg;
 }
 
+/* non inline functions to ease binding */
+uint8_t *msgb_data(const struct msgb *msg);
+uint16_t msgb_length(const struct msgb *msg);
+
+
 #endif /* _MSGB_H */
diff --git a/src/msgb.c b/src/msgb.c
index a60e2ffa5..12a839a93 100644
--- a/src/msgb.c
+++ b/src/msgb.c
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 /* (C) 2008 by Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org>
+ * (C) 2010 by Holger Hans Peter Freyther <zecke@selfish.org>
  * All Rights Reserved
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -88,3 +89,13 @@ void msgb_reset(struct msgb *msg)
 
 	memset(&msg->cb, 0, sizeof(msg->cb));
 }
+
+uint8_t *msgb_data(const struct msgb *msg)
+{
+	return msg->data;
+}
+
+uint16_t msgb_length(const struct msgb *msg)
+{
+	return msg->len;
+}