Index: config_file.cpp
===================================================================
--- config_file.cpp	(revision 86799)
+++ config_file.cpp	(working copy)
@@ -76,9 +76,21 @@
                 return s.substr(n, n2-n+1);
             }
         }
+
+        string strip_comments(const string& s)
+        {
+            string::size_type pos = string::npos;
+            for (size_t n = 0, slashes = 0; n < s.size(); ++n) {
+                if (s[n] == '\\') { ++slashes; continue; }
+                if ((s[n] == '#' || s[n] == ';') && !(slashes % 2)) { // not escaped comment symbol
+                    pos = n; break;
+                }
+                slashes = 0;
+            }
+            return (pos != string::npos) ? s.substr(0, pos) : s;
+        }
     }
 
-
     void common_config_file_iterator::get()
     {
         string s;
@@ -87,10 +99,7 @@
 
         while(this->getline(s)) {
 
-            // strip '#' comments and whitespace
-            if ((n = s.find('#')) != string::npos)
-                s = s.substr(0, n);
-            s = trim_ws(s);
+            s = trim_ws(strip_comments(s));
 
             if (!s.empty()) {
                 // Handle section name