minor util changes #1880

Job	Run time
build (ubuntu-24.04, gcc-14)	6m 40s
build (ubuntu-24.04, clang-18)	7m 8s
build-test-downstream (ubuntu-24.04, clang-18)	3m 49s
build (macos-14, armv8-clang-14)	4m 11s
build-test-downstream (macos-13, clang-14)	3m 8s
build-test-downstream (macos-14, armv8-clang-14)	2m 31s
build-test-downstream (ubuntu-24.04, gcc-14)	4m 3s
build (windows-2022, msvc-1940)	4m 8s
build (macos-13, clang-14)	7m 9s
build-test-downstream (windows-2022, msvc-1940)	3m 30s
docker (ubuntu-24.04, clang-18)	27s
test (macos-14, armv8-clang-14)	4m 32s
	51m 16s

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