"Multiple definition", "first defined here" errors

The problem here is that you are including commands.c in commands.h before the function prototype. Therefore, the C pre-processor inserts the content of commands.c into commands.h before the function prototype. commands.c contains the function definition. As a result, the function definition ends up before than the function declaration causing the error.

The content of commands.h after the pre-processor phase looks like this:

#ifndef COMMANDS_H_
#define COMMANDS_H_

// function definition
void f123(){

}

// function declaration
void f123();

#endif /* COMMANDS_H_ */

This is an error because you can't declare a function after its definition in C. If you swapped #include "commands.c" and the function declaration the error shouldn't happen because, now, the function prototype comes before the function declaration.

However, including a .c file is a bad practice and should be avoided. A better solution for this problem would be to include commands.h in commands.c and link the compiled version of command to the main file. For example:

commands.h

#ifndef COMMANDS_H_
#define COMMANDS_H_

void f123(); // function declaration

#endif

commands.c

#include "commands.h"

void f123(){} // function definition

I had a similar issue when not using inline for my global function that was included in two places.

You should not include commands.c in your header file. In general, you should not include .c files. Rather, commands.c should include commands.h. As defined here, the C preprocessor is inserting the contents of commands.c into commands.h where the include is. You end up with two definitions of f123 in commands.h.

commands.h

#ifndef COMMANDS_H_
#define COMMANDS_H_

void f123();

#endif

commands.c

#include "commands.h"

void f123()
{
    /* code */
}