diff --git a/git-config/Cargo.toml b/git-config/Cargo.toml
index 48ebf432d76..4b0f57ecdc1 100644
--- a/git-config/Cargo.toml
+++ b/git-config/Cargo.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ serde_crate = { version = "1", package = "serde", optional = true }
 pwd = "1.3.1"
 quick-error = "2.0.0"
 unicode-bom = "1.1.4"
+bstr = { version = "0.2.13", default-features = false }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 serial_test = "0.5.1"
diff --git a/git-config/src/values.rs b/git-config/src/values.rs
index 6cb093783dc..29411c59adf 100644
--- a/git-config/src/values.rs
+++ b/git-config/src/values.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 //! Rust containers for valid `git-config` types.
 
+use bstr::BStr;
 use std::{borrow::Cow, convert::TryFrom, fmt::Display, str::FromStr};
 
 use quick_error::quick_error;
@@ -145,6 +146,7 @@ fn b(s: &str) -> &[u8] {
     s.as_bytes()
 }
 
+// TODO: remove bytes
 /// Any string value
 #[derive(Clone, Eq, PartialEq, Ord, PartialOrd, Hash, Debug)]
 pub struct Bytes<'a> {
@@ -177,6 +179,25 @@ impl<'a> From<Cow<'a, [u8]>> for Bytes<'a> {
     }
 }
 
+/// Any string value
+#[derive(Clone, Eq, PartialEq, Ord, PartialOrd, Hash, Debug)]
+pub struct String<'a> {
+    /// The string value
+    pub value: Cow<'a, BStr>,
+}
+
+impl<'a> From<Cow<'a, [u8]>> for String<'a> {
+    #[inline]
+    fn from(c: Cow<'a, [u8]>) -> Self {
+        String {
+            value: match c {
+                Cow::Borrowed(c) => Cow::Borrowed(c.into()),
+                Cow::Owned(c) => Cow::Owned(c.into()),
+            },
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 ///
 pub mod path {
     use std::borrow::Cow;
@@ -433,6 +454,13 @@ pub enum Boolean<'a> {
 }
 
 impl Boolean<'_> {
+    /// Return ourselves as plain bool.
+    pub fn to_bool(&self) -> bool {
+        match self {
+            Boolean::True(_) => true,
+            Boolean::False(_) => false,
+        }
+    }
     /// Generates a byte representation of the value. This should be used when
     /// non-UTF-8 sequences are present or a UTF-8 representation can't be
     /// guaranteed.
diff --git a/git-repository/src/repository/config.rs b/git-repository/src/repository/config.rs
deleted file mode 100644
index 84bf53ea455..00000000000
--- a/git-repository/src/repository/config.rs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-/// Provide simplified access to git configuration values
-impl crate::Repository {
-    /// Return the integer value at `key` (like `core.abbrev`) or use the given `default` value if it isn't present.
-    // TODO: figure out how to identify sub-sections, or how to design such an API. This is really just a first test.
-    // TODO: tests
-    // TODO: parse-errors do exist, don't dumb it down too much as to not fill in defaults for incorrect configuration.
-    //       Fail like git does.
-    pub(crate) fn config_int(&self, key: &str, default: i64) -> i64 {
-        let (section, key) = key.split_once('.').expect("valid section.key format");
-        self.config
-            .resolved
-            .value::<git_config::values::Integer>(section, None, key)
-            .map_or(default, |v| v.value)
-    }
-}