diff --git a/include/libbb.h b/include/libbb.h
index 6077f64..51e8f27 100644
--- a/include/libbb.h
+++ b/include/libbb.h
@@ -1403,6 +1403,11 @@
 	// keep a copy of current line
 	PARSE_KEEP_COPY = 0x00200000 * ENABLE_FEATURE_CROND_D,
 	PARSE_EOL_COMMENTS = 0x00400000, // comments are recognized even if they aren't the first char
+	PARSE_ALT_COMMENTS = 0x00800000, // delim[0] and delim[1] are two different allowed comment chars
+	// (so far, delim[0] will only work as comment char for full-line comment)
+	// (IOW: it works as if PARSE_EOL_COMMENTS is not set. sysctl applet is okay with this)
+	PARSE_WS_COMMENTS  = 0x01000000, // comments are recognized even if there is whitespace before
+	// ("line start><space><tab><space>#comment" is also comment, not only "line start>#comment")
 	// NORMAL is:
 	// * remove leading and trailing delimiters and collapse
 	//   multiple delimiters into one
diff --git a/libbb/parse_config.c b/libbb/parse_config.c
index da7482c..eaf69d9 100644
--- a/libbb/parse_config.c
+++ b/libbb/parse_config.c
@@ -161,13 +161,18 @@
 #undef config_read
 int FAST_FUNC config_read(parser_t *parser, char **tokens, unsigned flags, const char *delims)
 {
-	char *line;
+	char *line, *p;
 	int ntokens, mintokens;
 	int t;
+	char alt_comment_ch;
 
 	if (!parser)
 		return 0;
 
+	alt_comment_ch = '\0';
+	if (flags & PARSE_ALT_COMMENTS)
+		alt_comment_ch = *delims++;
+
 	ntokens = (uint8_t)flags;
 	mintokens = (uint8_t)(flags >> 8);
 
@@ -184,7 +189,10 @@
 	if (flags & PARSE_TRIM)
 		line += strspn(line, delims + 1);
 
-	if (line[0] == '\0' || line[0] == delims[0])
+	p = line;
+	if (flags & PARSE_WS_COMMENTS)
+		p = skip_whitespace(p);
+	if (p[0] == '\0' || p[0] == delims[0] || p[0] == alt_comment_ch)
 		goto again;
 
 	if (flags & PARSE_KEEP_COPY) {
diff --git a/procps/sysctl.c b/procps/sysctl.c
index ef1a1b9..a42a912 100644
--- a/procps/sysctl.c
+++ b/procps/sysctl.c
@@ -247,15 +247,16 @@
 	/* Must do it _after_ config_open(): */
 	xchdir("/proc/sys");
 
-//TODO: ';' is comment char too
-//TODO: <space><tab><space>#comment is also comment, not strictly 1st char only
 	parse_flags = 0;
 	parse_flags &= ~PARSE_COLLAPSE;   // NO (var==val is not var=val) - treat consecutive delimiters as one
 	parse_flags &= ~PARSE_TRIM;       // NO - trim leading and trailing delimiters
 	parse_flags |= PARSE_GREEDY;      // YES - last token takes entire remainder of the line
 	parse_flags &= ~PARSE_MIN_DIE;    // NO - die if < min tokens found
 	parse_flags &= ~PARSE_EOL_COMMENTS; // NO (only first char) - comments are recognized even if not first char
-	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, "#=", parse_flags)) {
+	parse_flags |= PARSE_ALT_COMMENTS;// YES - two comment chars: ';' and '#'
+	/* <space><tab><space>#comment is also comment, not strictly 1st char only */
+	parse_flags |= PARSE_WS_COMMENTS; // YES - comments are recognized even if there is whitespace before
+	while (config_read(parser, token, 2, 2, ";#=", parse_flags)) {
 		char *tp;
 
 		trim(token[1]);