fix several problems with config parser:

 a bug where it underflows the string
 a bug where it never frees parser_t struct
make read_config() return 0 if parser is NULL,
 make config_close() accept and ignore NULL parser -
 eliminates many if() blocks
reverse the sense of parser bit flags - negative flags
 are harder to grok.
hexdump: revert the change to use config parser, it is BIGGER
 and also requires additional quirks in parser
*: explicitly use PARSER_NORMAL instead of 0

function                                             old     new   delta
login_main                                          1575    1596     +21
config_close                                          18      29     +11
bbunpack                                             383     391      +8
qgravechar                                           106     109      +3
rtnl_tab_initialize                                  121     117      -4
expand                                              1697    1693      -4
man_main                                             717     712      -5
nameif_main                                          674     668      -6
hexdump_main                                         597     591      -6
read_config                                          217     209      -8
dnsd_main                                           1478    1470      -8
sysctl_main                                          203     189     -14
config_open2                                          44      25     -19
make_device                                         1177    1141     -36
config_read                                          597     549     -48
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(add/remove: 0/0 grow/shrink: 4/11 up/down: 43/-158)         Total: -115 bytes

18 files changed, 163 insertions, 145 deletions

diff --git a/include/libbb.h b/include/libbb.h
index 47fcdf0..48cbd90 100644
--- a/include/libbb.h
+++ b/include/libbb.h
@@ -998,15 +998,20 @@ int bb_parse_mode(const char* s, mode_t* theMode) FAST_FUNC;
  * Config file parser
  */
 enum {
-	PARSE_VANILLA        = 0x00000000, // trim line, collapse delimiters, warn and continue if less than mintokens
-	PARSE_DONT_REDUCE    = 0x00010000, // do not treat consecutive delimiters as one
-	PARSE_DONT_TRIM      = 0x00020000, // do not trim line of leading and trailing delimiters
-	PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY = 0x00040000, // last token takes whole remainder of the line
-//	PARSE_DONT_NULL      = 0x00080000, // do not set tokens[] to NULL
-	PARSE_MIN_DIE        = 0x00100000, // die if less tokens found
+	PARSE_COLLAPSE  = 0x00010000, // treat consecutive delimiters as one
+	PARSE_TRIM      = 0x00020000, // trim leading and trailing delimiters
+// TODO: COLLAPSE and TRIM seem to always go in pair
+	PARSE_GREEDY    = 0x00040000, // last token takes entire remainder of the line
+	PARSE_MIN_DIE   = 0x00100000, // die if < min tokens found
 	// keep a copy of current line
-	PARSE_KEEP_COPY      = 0x00200000 * ENABLE_DEBUG_CROND_OPTION,
-	PARSE_ESCAPE         = 0x00400000, // process escape sequences in tokens
+	PARSE_KEEP_COPY = 0x00200000 * ENABLE_DEBUG_CROND_OPTION,
+//	PARSE_ESCAPE    = 0x00400000, // process escape sequences in tokens
+	// NORMAL is:
+	// * remove leading and trailing delimiters and collapse
+	//   multiple delimiters into one
+	// * warn and continue if less than mintokens delimiters found
+	// * grab everything into last token
+	PARSE_NORMAL    = PARSE_COLLAPSE | PARSE_TRIM | PARSE_GREEDY,
 };
 typedef struct parser_t {
 	FILE *fp;
diff --git a/init/init.c b/init/init.c
index 884603a..e02773c 100644
--- a/init/init.c
+++ b/init/init.c
@@ -701,13 +701,13 @@ static void parse_inittab(void)
 		new_init_action(ASKFIRST, bb_default_login_shell, VC_4);
 		/* sysinit */
 		new_init_action(SYSINIT, INIT_SCRIPT, "");
-
 		return;
 	}
 	/* optional_tty:ignored_runlevel:action:command
 	 * Delims are not to be collapsed and need exactly 4 tokens
 	 */
-	while (config_read(parser, token, 4, 0, "#:", PARSE_DONT_TRIM|PARSE_DONT_REDUCE|PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY)) {
+	while (config_read(parser, token, 4, 0, "#:",
+				PARSE_NORMAL & ~(PARSE_TRIM | PARSE_COLLAPSE))) {
 		int action;
 		char *tty = token[0];
 
diff --git a/libbb/parse_config.c b/libbb/parse_config.c
index 83dc997..ace6f3a 100644
--- a/libbb/parse_config.c
+++ b/libbb/parse_config.c
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@ int parse_main(int argc, char **argv) MAIN_EXTERNALLY_VISIBLE;
 int parse_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 {
 	const char *delims = "# \t";
-	unsigned flags = 0;
+	unsigned flags = PARSE_NORMAL;
 	int mintokens = 0, ntokens = 128;
+
 	opt_complementary = "-1:n+:m+:f+";
 	getopt32(argv, "n:m:d:f:", &ntokens, &mintokens, &delims, &flags);
 	//argc -= optind;
@@ -61,13 +62,15 @@ Typical usage:
 
 parser_t* FAST_FUNC config_open2(const char *filename, FILE* FAST_FUNC (*fopen_func)(const char *path))
 {
-	parser_t *parser = xzalloc(sizeof(parser_t));
-	/* empty file configures nothing */
-	parser->fp = fopen_func(filename);
-	if (parser->fp)
-		return parser;
-	free(parser);
-	return NULL;
+	FILE* fp;
+	parser_t *parser;
+
+	fp = fopen_func(filename);
+	if (!fp)
+		return NULL;
+	parser = xzalloc(sizeof(*parser));
+	parser->fp = fp;
+	return parser;
 }
 
 parser_t* FAST_FUNC config_open(const char *filename)
@@ -87,41 +90,53 @@ static void config_free_data(parser_t *const parser)
 
 void FAST_FUNC config_close(parser_t *parser)
 {
-	config_free_data(parser);
-	fclose(parser->fp);
+	if (parser) {
+		config_free_data(parser);
+		fclose(parser->fp);
+		free(parser);
+	}
 }
 
 /*
-1. Read a line from config file. If nothing to read then bail out returning 0.
-   Handle continuation character. Advance lineno for each physical line. Cut comments.
-2. if PARSE_DONT_TRIM is not set (default) skip leading and cut trailing delimiters, if any.
+0. If parser is NULL return 0.
+1. Read a line from config file. If nothing to read then return 0.
+   Handle continuation character. Advance lineno for each physical line.
+   Discard everything past comment characher.
+2. if PARSE_TRIM is set (default), remove leading and trailing delimiters.
 3. If resulting line is empty goto 1.
-4. Look for first delimiter. If PARSE_DONT_REDUCE or PARSE_DONT_TRIM is set then pin empty token.
-5. Else (default) if number of seen tokens is equal to max number of tokens (token is the last one)
-   and PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY is set then pin the remainder of the line as the last token.
-   Else (token is not last or PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY is not set) just replace first delimiter with '\0'
-   thus delimiting token and pin it.
-6. Advance line pointer past the end of token. If number of seen tokens is less than required number
-   of tokens then goto 4.
-7. Control the number of seen tokens is not less the min number of tokens. Die if condition is not met.
+4. Look for first delimiter. If !PARSE_COLLAPSE or !PARSE_TRIM is set then
+   remember the token as empty.
+5. Else (default) if number of seen tokens is equal to max number of tokens
+   (token is the last one) and PARSE_GREEDY is set then the remainder
+   of the line is the last token.
+   Else (token is not last or PARSE_GREEDY is not set) just replace
+   first delimiter with '\0' thus delimiting the token.
+6. Advance line pointer past the end of token. If number of seen tokens
+   is less than required number of tokens then goto 4.
+7. Check the number of seen tokens is not less the min number of tokens.
+   Complain or die otherwise depending on PARSE_MIN_DIE.
 8. Return the number of seen tokens.
 
-mintokens > 0 make config_read() exit with error message if less than mintokens
+mintokens > 0 make config_read() print error message if less than mintokens
 (but more than 0) are found. Empty lines are always skipped (not warned about).
 */
 #undef config_read
 int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const char *delims)
 {
 	char *line, *q;
-	char comment = *delims++;
+	char comment;
 	int ii;
-	int ntokens = flags & 0xFF;
-	int mintokens = (flags & 0xFF00) >> 8;
+	int ntokens;
+	int mintokens;
+
+	comment = *delims++;
+	ntokens = flags & 0xFF;
+	mintokens = (flags & 0xFF00) >> 8;
 
  again:
-	// N.B. this could only be used in read-in-one-go version, or when tokens use xstrdup(). TODO
-	//if (!parser->lineno || !(flags & PARSE_DONT_NULL))
-		memset(tokens, 0, sizeof(tokens[0]) * ntokens);
+	memset(tokens, 0, sizeof(tokens[0]) * ntokens);
+	if (!parser)
+		return 0;
 	config_free_data(parser);
 
 	while (1) {
@@ -142,20 +157,20 @@ int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const
 			line[--ii] = '\0';
 //TODO: add xmalloc_fgetline-like iface but with appending to existing str
 			q = xmalloc_fgetline(parser->fp);
-			if (q) {
-				parser->lineno++;
-				line = xasprintf("%s%s", line, q);
-				free(q);
-			}
+			if (!q)
+				break;
+			parser->lineno++;
+			line = xasprintf("%s%s", line, q);
+			free(q);
 		}
-		// comments mean EOLs
+		// discard comments
 		if (comment) {
 			q = strchrnul(line, comment);
 			*q = '\0';
 			ii = q - line;
 		}
 		// skip leading and trailing delimiters
-		if (!(flags & PARSE_DONT_TRIM)) {
+		if (flags & PARSE_TRIM) {
 			// skip leading
 			int n = strspn(line, delims);
 			if (n) {
@@ -177,7 +192,6 @@ int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const
 		// skip empty line
 		free(line);
 	}
-
 	// non-empty line found, parse and return the number of tokens
 
 	// store line
@@ -190,14 +204,15 @@ int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const
 	ntokens--; // now it's max allowed token no
 	// N.B. non-empty remainder is also a token,
 	// so if ntokens <= 1, we just return the whole line
-	// N.B. if PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY is set the remainder of the line is stuck to the last token
-	for (ii = 0; *line && ii <= ntokens; ) {
+	// N.B. if PARSE_GREEDY is set the remainder of the line is stuck to the last token
+	ii = 0;
+	while (*line && ii <= ntokens) {
 		//bb_info_msg("L[%s]", line);
 		// get next token
-		// at the last token and need greedy token ->
-		if ((flags & PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY) && (ii == ntokens)) {
+		// at last token and need greedy token ->
+		if ((flags & PARSE_GREEDY) && (ii == ntokens)) {
 			// skip possible delimiters
-			if (!(flags & PARSE_DONT_REDUCE))
+			if (flags & PARSE_COLLAPSE)
 				line += strspn(line, delims);
 			// don't cut the line
 			q = line + strlen(line);
@@ -208,10 +223,11 @@ int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const
 				*q++ = '\0';
 		}
 		// pin token
-		if ((flags & (PARSE_DONT_REDUCE|PARSE_DONT_TRIM)) || *line) {
+		if (!(flags & (PARSE_COLLAPSE | PARSE_TRIM)) || *line) {
 			//bb_info_msg("N[%d] T[%s]", ii, line);
 			tokens[ii++] = line;
 			// process escapes in token
+#if 0 // unused so far
 			if (flags & PARSE_ESCAPE) {
 				char *s = line;
 				while (*s) {
@@ -224,6 +240,7 @@ int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const
 				}
 				*line = '\0';
 			}
+#endif
 		}
 		line = q;
 		//bb_info_msg("A[%s]", line);
@@ -234,6 +251,7 @@ int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const
  				parser->lineno, ii, mintokens);
 		if (flags & PARSE_MIN_DIE)
 			xfunc_die();
+		ntokens++;
 		goto again;
 	}
 
diff --git a/loginutils/login.c b/loginutils/login.c
index 5a75ed2..8732b99 100644
--- a/loginutils/login.c
+++ b/loginutils/login.c
@@ -139,20 +139,17 @@ static ALWAYS_INLINE void die_if_nologin(void) {}
 #if ENABLE_FEATURE_SECURETTY && !ENABLE_PAM
 static int check_securetty(void)
 {
-	char *buf;
-	int ret = 1;
+	char *buf = (char*)"/etc/securetty"; /* any non-NULL is ok */
 	parser_t *parser = config_open2("/etc/securetty", fopen_for_read);
-	/* N.B. A missing securetty file is not an error. */
-	if (parser) {
-		while (config_read(parser, &buf, 1, 1, "# \t", 0)) {
-			if (strcmp(buf, short_tty) == 0)
-				break;
-		}
-		config_close(parser);
-		// buf != NULL here iff config file was empty (OK) or buf equals short_tty (OK)
-		ret = buf != NULL;
+	while (config_read(parser, &buf, 1, 1, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL)) {
+		if (strcmp(buf, short_tty) == 0)
+			break;
+		buf = NULL;
 	}
-	return ret;
+	config_close(parser);
+	/* buf != NULL here if config file was not found, empty
+	 * or line was found which equals short_tty */
+	return buf != NULL;
 }
 #else
 static ALWAYS_INLINE int check_securetty(void) { return 1; }
diff --git a/miscutils/crond.c b/miscutils/crond.c
index b3a06a3..2f0bf6e 100644
--- a/miscutils/crond.c
+++ b/miscutils/crond.c
@@ -469,11 +469,15 @@ static void SynchronizeFile(const char *fileName)
 		file->cf_User = xstrdup(fileName);
 		pline = &file->cf_LineBase;
 
-		while (--maxLines
-		 && (n = config_read(parser, tokens, 6, 1, "# \t", PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY|PARSE_KEEP_COPY))
-		) {
+		while (1) {
 			CronLine *line;
 
+			if (!--maxLines)
+				break;
+			n = config_read(parser, tokens, 6, 1, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL | PARSE_KEEP_COPY);
+			if (!n)
+				break;
+
 			if (DebugOpt)
 				crondlog(LVL5 "user:%s entry:%s", fileName, parser->data);
 
@@ -488,7 +492,7 @@ static void SynchronizeFile(const char *fileName)
 			/* check if a minimum of tokens is specified */
 			if (n < 6)
 				continue;
-			*pline = line = xzalloc(sizeof(CronLine));
+			*pline = line = xzalloc(sizeof(*line));
 			/* parse date ranges */
 			ParseField(file->cf_User, line->cl_Mins, 60, 0, NULL, tokens[0]);
 			ParseField(file->cf_User, line->cl_Hrs, 24, 0, NULL, tokens[1]);
diff --git a/miscutils/fbsplash.c b/miscutils/fbsplash.c
index 6357f78..f8289c3 100644
--- a/miscutils/fbsplash.c
+++ b/miscutils/fbsplash.c
@@ -288,10 +288,10 @@ static void init(const char *cfg_filename)
 		"DEBUG\0"
 #endif
 		;
-
 	char *token[2];
 	parser_t *parser = config_open2(cfg_filename, xfopen_stdin);
-	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "#=", PARSE_MIN_DIE)) {
+	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "#=",
+				    (PARSE_NORMAL | PARSE_MIN_DIE) & ~(PARSE_TRIM | PARSE_COLLAPSE))) {
 		unsigned val = xatoi_u(token[1]);
 		int i = index_in_strings(param_names, token[0]);
 		if (i < 0)
diff --git a/miscutils/man.c b/miscutils/man.c
index 7ef5941..adb85b8 100644
--- a/miscutils/man.c
+++ b/miscutils/man.c
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ int man_main(int argc UNUSED_PARAM, char **argv)
 	char *cur_path, *cur_sect;
 	int count_mp, cur_mp;
 	int opt, not_found;
+	char *token[2];
 
 	opt_complementary = "-1"; /* at least one argument */
 	opt = getopt32(argv, "+aw");
diff --git a/modutils/modprobe-small.c b/modutils/modprobe-small.c
index 1654cc5..63be9aa 100644
--- a/modutils/modprobe-small.c
+++ b/modutils/modprobe-small.c
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ static int already_loaded(const char *name)
 	int ret = 0;
 	char *s;
 	parser_t *parser = config_open2("/proc/modules", xfopen_for_read);
-	while (config_read(parser, &s, 1, 1, "# \t", 0)) {
+	while (config_read(parser, &s, 1, 1, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL & ~PARSE_GREEDY)) {
 		if (strcmp(s, name) == 0) {
 			ret = 1;
 			break;
diff --git a/networking/dnsd.c b/networking/dnsd.c
index efb5cfb..e8dcb40 100644
--- a/networking/dnsd.c
+++ b/networking/dnsd.c
@@ -106,43 +106,41 @@ static void undot(uint8_t * rip)
  */
 static void dnsentryinit(void)
 {
+	char *token[2];
 	parser_t *parser;
 	struct dns_entry *m, *prev;
 
 	prev = dnsentry = NULL;
 	parser = config_open(fileconf);
-	if (parser) {
-		char *token[2];
-		while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t", 0)) {
-			unsigned int a,b,c,d;
-			/*
-			 * Assumes all host names are lower case only
-			 * Hostnames with more than one label are not handled correctly.
-			 * Presently the dot is copied into name without
-			 * converting to a length/string substring for that label.
-			 */
-//			if (!token[1] || sscanf(token[1], ".%u.%u.%u.%u"+1, &a, &b, &c, &d) != 4)
-			if (sscanf(token[1], ".%u.%u.%u.%u"+1, &a, &b, &c, &d) != 4)
-				continue;
-
-			m = xzalloc(sizeof(*m));
-			/*m->next = NULL;*/
-			sprintf(m->ip, ".%u.%u.%u.%u"+1, a, b, c, d);
-			sprintf(m->rip, ".%u.%u.%u.%u", d, c, b, a);
-			undot((uint8_t*)m->rip);
-			convname(m->name, (uint8_t*)token[0]);
-
-			if (OPT_verbose)
-				fprintf(stderr, "\tname:%s, ip:%s\n", &(m->name[1]), m->ip);
-
-			if (prev == NULL)
-				dnsentry = m;
-			else
-				prev->next = m;
-			prev = m;
-		}
-		config_close(parser);
+	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL)) {
+		unsigned a, b, c, d;
+		/*
+		 * Assumes all host names are lower case only
+		 * Hostnames with more than one label are not handled correctly.
+		 * Presently the dot is copied into name without
+		 * converting to a length/string substring for that label.
+		 */
+//		if (!token[1] || sscanf(token[1], ".%u.%u.%u.%u"+1, &a, &b, &c, &d) != 4)
+		if (sscanf(token[1], ".%u.%u.%u.%u"+1, &a, &b, &c, &d) != 4)
+			continue;
+
+		m = xzalloc(sizeof(*m));
+		/*m->next = NULL;*/
+		sprintf(m->ip, ".%u.%u.%u.%u"+1, a, b, c, d);
+		sprintf(m->rip, ".%u.%u.%u.%u", d, c, b, a);
+		undot((uint8_t*)m->rip);
+		convname(m->name, (uint8_t*)token[0]);
+
+		if (OPT_verbose)
+			fprintf(stderr, "\tname:%s, ip:%s\n", &(m->name[1]), m->ip);
+
+		if (prev == NULL)
+			dnsentry = m;
+		else
+			prev->next = m;
+		prev = m;
 	}
+	config_close(parser);
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/networking/hostname.c b/networking/hostname.c
index dd2a206..48e70db 100644
--- a/networking/hostname.c
+++ b/networking/hostname.c
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ static void do_sethostname(char *s, int isfile)
 		return;
 	if (isfile) {
 		parser_t *parser = config_open2(s, xfopen_for_read);
-		while (config_read(parser, &s, 1, 1, "# \t", 0)) {
+		while (config_read(parser, &s, 1, 1, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL & ~PARSE_GREEDY)) {
 			do_sethostname(s, 0);
 		}
 		if (ENABLE_FEATURE_CLEAN_UP)
diff --git a/networking/libiproute/rt_names.c b/networking/libiproute/rt_names.c
index 1a2d52e..e4d1061 100644
--- a/networking/libiproute/rt_names.c
+++ b/networking/libiproute/rt_names.c
@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@ static void rtnl_tab_initialize(const char *file, const char **tab, int size)
 {
 	char *token[2];
 	parser_t *parser = config_open2(file, fopen_for_read);
-	if (!parser)
-		return;
-	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t", 0)) {
+	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL)) {
 		int id = bb_strtou(token[0], NULL, 0);
 		if (id < 0 || id > size) {
 			bb_error_msg("database %s is corrupted at line %d",
diff --git a/networking/nameif.c b/networking/nameif.c
index 5a3bd60..12c08f1 100644
--- a/networking/nameif.c
+++ b/networking/nameif.c
@@ -160,13 +160,11 @@ int nameif_main(int argc, char **argv)
 			prepend_new_eth_table(&clist, ifname, *argv++);
 		}
 	} else {
+		char *tokens[2];
 		struct parser_t *parser = config_open(fname);
-		if (parser) {
-			char *tokens[2];
-			while (config_read(parser, tokens, 2, 2, "# \t", 0))
-				prepend_new_eth_table(&clist, tokens[0], tokens[1]);
-			config_close(parser);
-		}
+		while (config_read(parser, tokens, 2, 2, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL))
+			prepend_new_eth_table(&clist, tokens[0], tokens[1]);
+		config_close(parser);
 	}
 
 	ctl_sk = xsocket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
diff --git a/networking/udhcp/files.c b/networking/udhcp/files.c
index 264a988..ff5847d 100644
--- a/networking/udhcp/files.c
+++ b/networking/udhcp/files.c
@@ -318,10 +318,7 @@ void read_config(const char *file)
 		keywords[i].handler(keywords[i].def, keywords[i].var);
 
 	parser = config_open(file);
-	if (!parser)
-		return;
-
-	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t", PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY)) {
+	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL)) {
 		for (k = keywords, i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(keywords); k++, i++) {
 			if (!strcasecmp(token[0], k->keyword)) {
 				if (!k->handler(token[1], k->var)) {
diff --git a/procps/sysctl.c b/procps/sysctl.c
index 3fe6f6f..79f0074 100644
--- a/procps/sysctl.c
+++ b/procps/sysctl.c
@@ -95,10 +95,7 @@ static int sysctl_preload_file_and_exit(const char *filename)
 	parser_t *parser;
 
 	parser = config_open(filename);
-	if (!parser)
-		return 1;
-
-	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t=", PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY)) { // TODO: ';' is comment char too
+	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "# \t=", PARSE_NORMAL)) { // TODO: ';' is comment char too
 //		if (!token[1]) {
 //			bb_error_msg(WARN_BAD_LINE, filename, parser->lineno);
 //		} else {
diff --git a/selinux/sestatus.c b/selinux/sestatus.c
index 1351600..eca557e 100644
--- a/selinux/sestatus.c
+++ b/selinux/sestatus.c
@@ -54,10 +54,7 @@ static void read_config(char **pc, int npc, char **fc, int nfc)
 	pc[0] = fc[0] = NULL;
 
 	parser = config_open("/etc/sestatus.conf");
-	if (!parser)
-		return;
-
-	while (config_read(parser, &buf, 1, 1, "# \t", PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY)) {
+	while (config_read(parser, &buf, 1, 1, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL)) {
 		if (strcmp(buf, "[process]") == 0) {
 			section = 1;
 		} else if (strcmp(buf, "[files]") == 0) {
diff --git a/testsuite/parse.tests b/testsuite/parse.tests
index 06be8d2..f1ee7b8 100755
--- a/testsuite/parse.tests
+++ b/testsuite/parse.tests
@@ -5,20 +5,24 @@
 
 . testing.sh
 
-NO_REDUCE=65536
-NO_TRIM=131072
-GREEDY=262144
+COLLAPSE=$(( 0x00010000))
+TRIM=$((     0x00020000))
+GREEDY=$((   0x00040000))
+MIN_DIE=$((  0x00100000))
+KEEP_COPY=$((0x00200000))
+ESCAPE=$((   0x00400000))
+NORMAL=$((   COLLAPSE | TRIM | GREEDY))
 
 # testing "description" "command" "result" "infile" "stdin"
 
-testing "mdev.conf" \
-	"parse -n 4 -m 3 -f $GREEDY -" \
+testing "parse mdev.conf" \
+	"parse -n 4 -m 3 -f $((NORMAL)) -" \
 	"[sda][0:0][644][@echo @echo TEST]\n" \
 	"-" \
 	" sda 0:0 644 @echo @echo TEST # echo trap\n"
 
-testing "notrim" \
-	"parse -n 4 -m 3 -f $(($GREEDY+$NO_TRIM)) -" \
+testing "parse notrim" \
+	"parse -n 4 -m 3 -f $((NORMAL - TRIM - COLLAPSE)) -" \
 	"[][sda][0:0][644 @echo @echo TEST ]\n" \
 	"-" \
 	" sda 0:0 644 @echo @echo TEST \n"
@@ -49,12 +53,12 @@ cat >$FILE.res <<EOF
 [/dev/cdrom][/cdrom][iso9660][ro,user,noauto,nohide][0][0]
 [/dev/hdb5][/redhat][ext2][rw,root,noauto,nohide][0][0]
 [/dev/hdb6][/win2home][ntfs][rw,root,noauto,nohide][0][0]
-[/dev/hdb7][/win2skul][ntfs][rw,root,noauto,nohide][none][0]
+[/dev/hdb7][/win2skul][ntfs][rw,root,noauto,nohide][none][0		0]
 [none][/dev/pts][devpts][gid=5,mode=620][0][0]
 [none][/proc][proc][defaults][0][0]
 EOF
 
-testing "polluted fstab" \
+testing "parse polluted fstab" \
 	"parse -n 6 -m 6 $FILE" \
 	"`cat $FILE.res`\n" \
 	"" \
@@ -74,8 +78,8 @@ cat >$FILE.res <<EOF
 [][][shutdown][/sbin/swapoff -a]
 EOF
 
-testing "inittab from examples" \
-	"parse -n 4 -m 4 -f $(($GREEDY+$NO_TRIM)) -d'#:' $FILE" \
+testing "parse inittab from examples" \
+	"parse -n 4 -m 4 -f $((NORMAL - TRIM - COLLAPSE)) -d'#:' $FILE" \
 	"`cat $FILE.res`\n" \
 	"" \
 	""
@@ -94,7 +98,7 @@ cat >$FILE.res <<EOF
 [option][lease][864000]
 EOF
 
-testing "udhcpd.conf from examples" \
+testing "parse udhcpd.conf from examples" \
 	"parse -n 127 $FILE" \
 	"`cat $FILE.res`\n" \
 	"" \
diff --git a/util-linux/hexdump.c b/util-linux/hexdump.c
index 8ac12f0..48edd70 100644
--- a/util-linux/hexdump.c
+++ b/util-linux/hexdump.c
@@ -16,11 +16,19 @@
 
 static void bb_dump_addfile(dumper_t *dumper, char *name)
 {
-	parser_t *parser = config_open2(name, xfopen_for_read);
-	while (config_read(parser, &name, 1, 1, "# \t", 0)) {
-		bb_dump_add(dumper, name);
+	char *p;
+	FILE *fp;
+	char *buf;
+
+	fp = xfopen_for_read(name);
+	while ((buf = xmalloc_fgetline(fp)) != NULL) {
+		p = skip_whitespace(buf);
+		if (*p && (*p != '#')) {
+			bb_dump_add(dumper, p);
+		}
+		free(buf);
 	}
-	config_close(parser);
+	fclose(fp);
 }
 
 static const char *const add_strings[] = {
diff --git a/util-linux/mdev.c b/util-linux/mdev.c
index f6440b1..d0d0103 100644
--- a/util-linux/mdev.c
+++ b/util-linux/mdev.c
@@ -107,10 +107,7 @@ static void make_device(char *path, int delete)
 	parser = config_open2("/etc/mdev.conf", fopen_for_read);
 
 	/* If we have config file, look up user settings */
-	if (!parser)
-		goto end_parse;
-
-	while (config_read(parser, tokens, 4, 3, "# \t", PARSE_LAST_IS_GREEDY)) {
+	while (config_read(parser, tokens, 4, 3, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL)) {
 		regmatch_t off[1 + 9*ENABLE_FEATURE_MDEV_RENAME_REGEXP];
 		char *val;
 
@@ -244,7 +241,6 @@ static void make_device(char *path, int delete)
 	} /* end of "while line is read from /etc/mdev.conf" */
 
 	config_close(parser);
- end_parse:
 #endif /* ENABLE_FEATURE_MDEV_CONF */
 
 	if (!delete && sscanf(dev_maj_min, "%u:%u", &major, &minor) == 2) {