+/**
+ * Compare two osl objects of string type.
+ *
+ * \param obj1 Pointer to the first object.
+ * \param obj2 Pointer to the second object.
+ *
+ * In any case, only \p MIN(obj1->size, obj2->size) characters of each string
+ * are taken into account.
+ *
+ * \return It returns an integer less than, equal to, or greater than zero if
+ * \a obj1 is found, respectively, to be less than, to match, or be greater than
+ * obj2.
+ *
+ * \sa strcmp(3), strncmp(3), osl_compare_func.
+ */
+int string_compare(const struct osl_object *obj1, const struct osl_object *obj2)
+{
+ const char *str1 = (const char *)obj1->data;
+ const char *str2 = (const char *)obj2->data;
+ return strncmp(str1, str2, PARA_MIN(obj1->size, obj2->size));
+}
+
+/**
+ * A wrapper for strtol(3).
+ *
+ * \param str The string to be converted to a long integer.
+ * \param result The converted value is stored here.
+ *
+ * \return Positive on success, -E_ATOL on errors.
+ *
+ * \sa strtol(3), atoi(3).
+ */
+int para_atol(const char *str, long *result)
+{
+ char *endptr;
+ long val;
+ int ret, base = 10;
+
+ errno = 0; /* To distinguish success/failure after call */
+ val = strtol(str, &endptr, base);
+ ret = -E_ATOL;
+ if (errno == ERANGE && (val == LONG_MAX || val == LONG_MIN))
+ goto out; /* overflow */
+ if (errno != 0 && val == 0)
+ goto out; /* other error */
+ if (endptr == str)
+ goto out; /* No digits were found */
+ if (*endptr != '\0')
+ goto out; /* Further characters after number */
+ *result = val;
+ ret = 1;
+out:
+ return ret;
+}
+
+