diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 9b7eec4254a1ce..d8d22a52a67093 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -864,8 +864,8 @@ extern int pack_compression_level;
 extern size_t packed_git_window_size;
 extern size_t packed_git_limit;
 extern size_t delta_base_cache_limit;
-extern unsigned long big_file_threshold;
-extern unsigned long pack_size_limit_cfg;
+extern size_t big_file_threshold;
+extern size_t pack_size_limit_cfg;
 
 /*
  * Accessors for the core.sharedrepository config which lazy-load the value
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index e4ff9cedb232dd..38ee827186deb0 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -932,7 +932,16 @@ static int git_parse_int64(const char *value, int64_t *ret)
 int git_parse_ulong(const char *value, unsigned long *ret)
 {
 	uintmax_t tmp;
-	if (!git_parse_unsigned(value, &tmp, maximum_unsigned_value_of_type(long)))
+	if (!git_parse_unsigned(value, &tmp, maximum_unsigned_value_of_type(unsigned long)))
+		return 0;
+	*ret = tmp;
+	return 1;
+}
+
+int git_parse_size_t(const char *value, size_t *ret)
+{
+	uintmax_t tmp;
+	if (!git_parse_unsigned(value, &tmp, maximum_unsigned_value_of_type(size_t)))
 		return 0;
 	*ret = tmp;
 	return 1;
@@ -1005,6 +1014,15 @@ unsigned long git_config_ulong(const char *name, const char *value)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+/* on Windows we require size_t to cover the 64-bit range */
+size_t git_config_size_t(const char *name, const char *value)
+{
+	size_t ret;
+	if (!git_parse_size_t(value, &ret))
+		die_bad_number(name, value);
+	return ret;
+}
+
 ssize_t git_config_ssize_t(const char *name, const char *value)
 {
 	ssize_t ret;
@@ -1219,12 +1237,12 @@ static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	}
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "core.bigfilethreshold")) {
-		big_file_threshold = git_config_ulong(var, value);
+		big_file_threshold = git_config_size_t(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "core.packedgitlimit")) {
-		packed_git_limit = git_config_ulong(var, value);
+		packed_git_limit = git_config_size_t(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -1467,7 +1485,7 @@ int git_default_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	}
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "pack.packsizelimit")) {
-		pack_size_limit_cfg = git_config_ulong(var, value);
+		pack_size_limit_cfg = git_config_size_t(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -1651,6 +1669,18 @@ unsigned long git_env_ulong(const char *k, unsigned long val)
 	return val;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Parse environment variable 'k' as ulong with possibly a unit
+ * suffix; if missing, use the default value 'val'.
+ */
+size_t git_env_size_t(const char *k, size_t val)
+{
+	const char *v = getenv(k);
+	if (v && !git_parse_size_t(v, &val))
+		die(_("failed to parse %s"), k);
+	return val;
+}
+
 int git_config_system(void)
 {
 	return !git_env_bool("GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM", 0);
diff --git a/config.h b/config.h
index ede9e40d968d0a..1a842f37c3523f 100644
--- a/config.h
+++ b/config.h
@@ -94,10 +94,12 @@ int config_with_options(config_fn_t fn, void *,
 			const struct config_options *opts);
 int git_parse_ssize_t(const char *, ssize_t *);
 int git_parse_ulong(const char *, unsigned long *);
+int git_parse_size_t(const char *, size_t *);
 int git_parse_maybe_bool(const char *);
 int git_config_int(const char *, const char *);
 int64_t git_config_int64(const char *, const char *);
 unsigned long git_config_ulong(const char *, const char *);
+size_t git_config_size_t(const char *, const char *);
 ssize_t git_config_ssize_t(const char *, const char *);
 int git_config_bool_or_int(const char *, const char *, int *);
 int git_config_bool(const char *, const char *);
@@ -125,8 +127,10 @@ int git_config_copy_section_in_file(const char *, const char *, const char *);
 const char *git_etc_gitconfig(void);
 int git_env_bool(const char *, int);
 unsigned long git_env_ulong(const char *, unsigned long);
+size_t git_env_size_t(const char *, size_t);
 int git_config_system(void);
 int config_error_nonbool(const char *);
+
 #if defined(__GNUC__)
 #define config_error_nonbool(s) (config_error_nonbool(s), const_error())
 #endif
diff --git a/csum-file.c b/csum-file.c
index ab777dc2102195..b2b66b075afb94 100644
--- a/csum-file.c
+++ b/csum-file.c
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ static void flush(struct hashfile *f, const void *buf, size_t count)
 		if (ret != count)
 			die("%s: sha1 file truncated", f->name);
 		if (memcmp(buf, check_buffer, count))
-			die("sha1 file '%s' validation error", f->name);
+			die("sha1 file '%s' validation error, Count %"PRIuMAX, f->name, count);
 	}
 
 	for (;;) {
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index efa072680a2bca..b1ccfde8f24b91 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ int fsync_object_files;
 size_t packed_git_window_size = DEFAULT_PACKED_GIT_WINDOW_SIZE;
 size_t packed_git_limit = DEFAULT_PACKED_GIT_LIMIT;
 size_t delta_base_cache_limit = 96 * 1024 * 1024;
-unsigned long big_file_threshold = 512 * 1024 * 1024;
+size_t big_file_threshold = 512 * 1024 * 1024;
 int pager_use_color = 1;
 const char *editor_program;
 const char *askpass_program;
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ int grafts_replace_parents = 1;
 int core_apply_sparse_checkout;
 int merge_log_config = -1;
 int precomposed_unicode = -1; /* see probe_utf8_pathname_composition() */
-unsigned long pack_size_limit_cfg;
+size_t pack_size_limit_cfg;
 enum log_refs_config log_all_ref_updates = LOG_REFS_UNSET;
 
 #ifndef PROTECT_HFS_DEFAULT