diff --git a/color.c b/color.c
index fc0b72ad59b13e4bd86372e5e81b4f400c99d26e..54a3da1bad2118815eb8dd1a5f401b67c0879262 100644
--- a/color.c
+++ b/color.c
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ void color_parse(const char *value, const char *var, char *dst)
 	*dst = 0;
 	return;
 bad:
-	die("bad config value '%s' for variable '%s'", value, var);
+	die("bad color value '%s' for variable '%s'", value, var);
 }
 
 int git_config_colorbool(const char *var, const char *value, int stdout_is_tty)
@@ -191,3 +191,10 @@ int color_fprintf_ln(FILE *fp, const char *color, const char *fmt, ...)
 	va_end(args);
 	return r;
 }
+
+void color_parse_mem(const char *value, int len, const char *var, char *dst)
+{
+	char *tmp = xmemdupz(value, len);
+	color_parse(tmp, var, dst);
+	free(tmp);
+}
diff --git a/color.h b/color.h
index 6cf5c88aaf8d0e38e2853e6fd212e3cdd6c180cb..70660999df4b937b542fff6163b798bf16841b7f 100644
--- a/color.h
+++ b/color.h
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ extern int git_use_color_default;
 int git_color_default_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb);
 
 int git_config_colorbool(const char *var, const char *value, int stdout_is_tty);
-void color_parse(const char *var, const char *value, char *dst);
+void color_parse(const char *value, const char *var, char *dst);
+void color_parse_mem(const char *value, int len, const char *var, char *dst);
 int color_fprintf(FILE *fp, const char *color, const char *fmt, ...);
 int color_fprintf_ln(FILE *fp, const char *color, const char *fmt, ...);