+/*
+ * Parse a sort string, and return 0 if parsed successfully. Will return
+ * non-zero when the sort string does not parse into a known type. If var is
+ * given, the error message becomes a warning and includes information about
+ * the configuration value.
+ */
+static int parse_sort_string(const char *var, const char *arg, int *sort)
+{
+ int type = 0, flags = 0;
+
+ if (skip_prefix(arg, "-", &arg))
+ flags |= REVERSE_SORT;
+
+ if (skip_prefix(arg, "version:", &arg) || skip_prefix(arg, "v:", &arg))
+ type = VERCMP_SORT;
+ else
+ type = STRCMP_SORT;
+
+ if (strcmp(arg, "refname")) {
+ if (!var)
+ return error(_("unsupported sort specification '%s'"), arg);
+ else {
+ warning(_("unsupported sort specification '%s' in variable '%s'"),
+ var, arg);
+ return -1;
+ }
+ }
+
+ *sort = (type | flags);
+
+ return 0;
+}
+