diff --git a/networking/inetd.c b/networking/inetd.c
index 9ebec19a5..f80b51052 100644
--- a/networking/inetd.c
+++ b/networking/inetd.c
@@ -300,9 +300,8 @@ struct globals {
 	unsigned max_concurrency;
 	smallint alarm_armed;
 	uid_t real_uid; /* user ID who ran us */
-	unsigned config_lineno;
 	const char *config_filename;
-	FILE *fconfig;
+	parser_t *parser;
 	char *default_local_hostname;
 #if ENABLE_FEATURE_INETD_SUPPORT_BUILTIN_CHARGEN
 	char *end_ring;
@@ -327,9 +326,8 @@ struct BUG_G_too_big {
 #define max_concurrency (G.max_concurrency)
 #define alarm_armed     (G.alarm_armed    )
 #define real_uid        (G.real_uid       )
-#define config_lineno   (G.config_lineno  )
 #define config_filename (G.config_filename)
-#define fconfig         (G.fconfig        )
+#define parser          (G.parser         )
 #define default_local_hostname (G.default_local_hostname)
 #define first_ps_byte   (G.first_ps_byte  )
 #define last_ps_byte    (G.last_ps_byte   )
@@ -543,61 +541,20 @@ static int reopen_config_file(void)
 {
 	free(default_local_hostname);
 	default_local_hostname = xstrdup("*");
-	if (fconfig != NULL)
-		fclose(fconfig);
-	config_lineno = 0;
-	fconfig = fopen_or_warn(config_filename, "r");
-	return (fconfig != NULL);
+	if (parser != NULL)
+		config_close(parser);
+	parser = config_open(config_filename);
+	return (parser != NULL);
 }
 
 static void close_config_file(void)
 {
-	if (fconfig) {
-		fclose(fconfig);
-		fconfig = NULL;
+	if (parser) {
+		config_close(parser);
+		parser = NULL;
 	}
 }
 
-static char *next_line(void)
-{
-	if (fgets(line, LINE_SIZE, fconfig) == NULL)
-		return NULL;
-	config_lineno++;
-	*strchrnul(line, '\n') = '\0';
-	return line;
-}
-
-static char *next_word(char **cpp)
-{
-	char *start;
-	char *cp = *cpp;
-
-	if (cp == NULL)
-		return NULL;
- again:
-	while (*cp == ' ' || *cp == '\t')
-		cp++;
-	if (*cp == '\0') {
-		int c = getc(fconfig);
-		ungetc(c, fconfig);
-		if (c == ' ' || c == '\t') {
-			cp = next_line();
-			if (cp)
-				goto again;
-		}
-		*cpp = NULL;
-		return NULL;
-	}
-	start = cp;
-	while (*cp && *cp != ' ' && *cp != '\t')
-		cp++;
-	if (*cp != '\0')
-		*cp++ = '\0';
-
-	*cpp = cp;
-	return start;
-}
-
 static void free_servtab_strings(servtab_t *cp)
 {
 	int i;
@@ -643,55 +600,49 @@ static servtab_t *dup_servtab(servtab_t *sep)
 }
 
 /* gcc generates much more code if this is inlined */
-static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
+static servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 {
 	int argc;
-	char *p, *cp, *arg;
+	char *token[6+MAXARGV];
+	char *p, *arg;
 	char *hostdelim;
 	servtab_t *sep;
 	servtab_t *nsep;
  new:
 	sep = new_servtab();
  more:
-	while ((cp = next_line()) && *cp == '#')
-		continue; /* skip comment lines */
-	if (cp == NULL) {
+	argc = config_read(parser, token, 6+MAXARGV, 1, "# \t", PARSE_NORMAL);
+	if (!argc) {
 		free(sep);
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
-	arg = next_word(&cp);
-	if (arg == NULL) /* a blank line. */
-		goto more;
-
 	/* [host:]service socktype proto wait user[:group] prog [args] */
 	/* Check for "host:...." line */
+	arg = token[0];
 	hostdelim = strrchr(arg, ':');
 	if (hostdelim) {
 		*hostdelim = '\0';
 		sep->se_local_hostname = xstrdup(arg);
 		arg = hostdelim + 1;
-		if (*arg == '\0') {
-			arg = next_word(&cp);
-			if (arg == NULL) {
-				/* Line has just "host:", change the
-				 * default host for the following lines. */
-				free(default_local_hostname);
-				default_local_hostname = sep->se_local_hostname;
-				goto more;
-			}
+		if (*arg == '\0' && argc == 1) {
+			/* Line has just "host:", change the
+			 * default host for the following lines. */
+			free(default_local_hostname);
+			default_local_hostname = sep->se_local_hostname;
+			goto more;
 		}
 	} else
 		sep->se_local_hostname = xstrdup(default_local_hostname);
 
 	/* service socktype proto wait user[:group] prog [args] */
 	sep->se_service = xstrdup(arg);
+
 	/* socktype proto wait user[:group] prog [args] */
-	arg = next_word(&cp);
-	if (arg == NULL) {
+	if (argc < 6) {
  parse_err:
 		bb_error_msg("parse error on line %u, line is ignored",
-				config_lineno);
+				parser->lineno);
 		free_servtab_strings(sep);
 		/* Just "goto more" can make sep to carry over e.g.
 		 * "rpc"-ness (by having se_rpcver_lo != 0).
@@ -699,6 +650,7 @@ static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 		free(sep);
 		goto new;
 	}
+
 	{
 		static int8_t SOCK_xxx[] ALIGN1 = {
 			-1,
@@ -708,13 +660,11 @@ static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 		sep->se_socktype = SOCK_xxx[1 + index_in_strings(
 			"stream""\0" "dgram""\0" "rdm""\0"
 			"seqpacket""\0" "raw""\0"
-			, arg)];
+			, token[1])];
 	}
 
 	/* {unix,[rpc/]{tcp,udp}[6]} wait user[:group] prog [args] */
-	sep->se_proto = arg = xstrdup(next_word(&cp));
-	if (arg == NULL)
-		goto parse_err;
+	sep->se_proto = arg = xstrdup(token[2]);
 	if (strcmp(arg, "unix") == 0) {
 		sep->se_family = AF_UNIX;
 	} else {
@@ -773,9 +723,7 @@ static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 	}
 
 	/* [no]wait[.max] user[:group] prog [args] */
-	arg = next_word(&cp);
-	if (arg == NULL)
-		goto parse_err;
+	arg = token[3];
 	sep->se_max = max_concurrency;
 	p = strchr(arg, '.');
 	if (p) {
@@ -791,9 +739,7 @@ static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 		goto parse_err;
 
 	/* user[:group] prog [args] */
-	sep->se_user = xstrdup(next_word(&cp));
-	if (sep->se_user == NULL)
-		goto parse_err;
+	sep->se_user = xstrdup(token[4]);
 	arg = strchr(sep->se_user, '.');
 	if (arg == NULL)
 		arg = strchr(sep->se_user, ':');
@@ -803,9 +749,7 @@ static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 	}
 
 	/* prog [args] */
-	sep->se_program = xstrdup(next_word(&cp));
-	if (sep->se_program == NULL)
-		goto parse_err;
+	sep->se_program = xstrdup(token[5]);
 #ifdef INETD_BUILTINS_ENABLED
 	if (strcmp(sep->se_program, "internal") == 0
 	 && strlen(sep->se_service) <= 7
@@ -826,7 +770,7 @@ static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 	}
 #endif
 	argc = 0;
-	while ((arg = next_word(&cp)) != NULL && argc < MAXARGV)
+	while ((arg = token[6+argc]) != NULL && argc < MAXARGV)
 		sep->se_argv[argc++] = xstrdup(arg);
 
 	/* catch mixups. "<service> stream udp ..." == wtf */
@@ -839,6 +783,11 @@ static NOINLINE servtab_t *parse_one_line(void)
 			goto parse_err;
 	}
 
+//	bb_info_msg(
+//		"ENTRY[%s][%s][%s][%d][%d][%d][%d][%d][%s][%s][%s]",
+//		sep->se_local_hostname, sep->se_service, sep->se_proto, sep->se_wait, sep->se_proto_no,
+//		sep->se_max, sep->se_count, sep->se_time, sep->se_user, sep->se_group, sep->se_program);
+
 	/* check if the hostname specifier is a comma separated list
 	 * of hostnames. we'll make new entries for each address. */
 	while ((hostdelim = strrchr(sep->se_local_hostname, ',')) != NULL) {