+/* strip the first /n/ character from each element */
+/* caller must make sure all elements are strings with
+ * length >= n, and also that data can be freed.
+ */
+static GSList*
+strip_prefix_from_elements (GSList *lst, guint n)
+{
+ GSList *cursor = lst;
+ while (cursor) {
+ gchar *str = (gchar*)cursor->data;
+ cursor->data = g_strdup (str + n);
+ g_free (str);
+ cursor = cursor->next;
+ }
+ return lst;
+}
+