diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index fcb511db70..b820b6adc1 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -1318,6 +1318,7 @@ extern int git_config_rename_section_in_file(const char *, const char *, const c
 extern const char *git_etc_gitconfig(void);
 extern int check_repository_format_version(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb);
 extern int git_env_bool(const char *, int);
+extern unsigned long git_env_ulong(const char *, unsigned long);
 extern int git_config_system(void);
 extern int config_error_nonbool(const char *);
 #if defined(__GNUC__)
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 058505cb8d..adab91909e 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -1116,12 +1116,28 @@ const char *git_etc_gitconfig(void)
 	return system_wide;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Parse environment variable 'k' as a boolean (in various
+ * possible spellings); if missing, use the default value 'def'.
+ */
 int git_env_bool(const char *k, int def)
 {
 	const char *v = getenv(k);
 	return v ? git_config_bool(k, v) : def;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Parse environment variable 'k' as ulong with possibly a unit
+ * suffix; if missing, use the default value 'val'.
+ */
+unsigned long git_env_ulong(const char *k, unsigned long val)
+{
+	const char *v = getenv(k);
+	if (v && !git_parse_ulong(v, &val))
+		die("failed to parse %s", k);
+	return val;
+}
+
 int git_config_system(void)
 {
 	return !git_env_bool("GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM", 0);