diff --git a/src/lib/encoding/confline.c b/src/lib/encoding/confline.c
index b36e83dcc6..fdb575e03f 100644
--- a/src/lib/encoding/confline.c
+++ b/src/lib/encoding/confline.c
@@ -33,23 +33,14 @@ config_line_append(config_line_t **lst,
                    const char *key,
                    const char *val)
 {
+  tor_assert(lst);
+
   config_line_t *newline;
 
   newline = tor_malloc_zero(sizeof(config_line_t));
   newline->key = tor_strdup(key);
   newline->value = tor_strdup(val);
   newline->next = NULL;
-
-  config_line_append_line(lst, newline);
-}
-
-/** Helper: append <b>newline</b> to the end of <b>lst</b>. */
-void
-config_line_append_line(config_line_t **lst,
-                        config_line_t *newline)
-{
-  tor_assert(lst);
-
   while (*lst)
     lst = &((*lst)->next);
 
@@ -265,7 +256,7 @@ config_lines_dup_and_filter(const config_line_t *inp,
 /** Return true iff a and b contain identical keys and values in identical
  * order. */
 int
-config_lines_eq(const config_line_t *a, const config_line_t *b)
+config_lines_eq(config_line_t *a, config_line_t *b)
 {
   while (a && b) {
     if (strcasecmp(a->key, b->key) || strcmp(a->value, b->value))
diff --git a/src/lib/encoding/confline.h b/src/lib/encoding/confline.h
index 7d0b9ce5fc..56ea36bf61 100644
--- a/src/lib/encoding/confline.h
+++ b/src/lib/encoding/confline.h
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ typedef struct config_line_t {
 
 void config_line_append(config_line_t **lst,
                         const char *key, const char *val);
-void config_line_append_line(config_line_t **lst, config_line_t *newline);
 void config_line_prepend(config_line_t **lst,
                          const char *key, const char *val);
 config_line_t *config_lines_dup(const config_line_t *inp);
@@ -51,7 +50,7 @@ const config_line_t *config_line_find(const config_line_t *lines,
                                       const char *key);
 const config_line_t *config_line_find_case(const config_line_t *lines,
                                            const char *key);
-int config_lines_eq(const config_line_t *a, const config_line_t *b);
+int config_lines_eq(config_line_t *a, config_line_t *b);
 int config_count_key(const config_line_t *a, const char *key);
 void config_free_lines_(config_line_t *front);
 #define config_free_lines(front) \