diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistBrowserModel.cc b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistBrowserModel.cc
index 142674903..335141342 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistBrowserModel.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistBrowserModel.cc
@@ -798,11 +798,6 @@ static std::string search_string_from_names (const std::pair<const Obj *, const
   }
 }
 
-static std::string rewire_subcircuit_pins_status_hint ()
-{
-  return tl::to_string (tr ("Either pins or nets don't form a good pair.\nThis means either pin swapping happens (in this case, the nets will still match)\nor the subcircuit wiring is not correct (you'll see an error on the net)."));
-}
-
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //  item class declarations
 
@@ -1112,36 +1107,6 @@ private:
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-//  @@@ TODO: remove?
-class CircuitPinNetItemData
-  : public NetlistModelItemData
-{
-public:
-  CircuitPinNetItemData (NetlistModelItemData *parent, const IndexedNetlistModel::net_pair &np);
-
-  virtual void do_ensure_children (NetlistBrowserModel *model);
-  virtual QIcon icon (NetlistBrowserModel *model);
-  virtual QString text (int column, NetlistBrowserModel *model);
-  virtual QString search_text ();
-  virtual std::string tooltip (NetlistBrowserModel *model);
-  virtual db::NetlistCrossReference::Status status (NetlistBrowserModel *model);
-
-  IndexedNetlistModel::pin_pair pp ()
-  {
-    return pins ();
-  }
-
-  virtual std::pair<const db::Net *, const db::Net *> nets_of_this ()
-  {
-    return m_np;
-  }
-
-private:
-  IndexedNetlistModel::net_pair m_np;
-};
-
-// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 class CircuitSubCircuitPinsItemData
   : public NetlistModelItemData
 {
@@ -1794,56 +1759,6 @@ CircuitPinItemData::icon (NetlistBrowserModel * /*model*/)
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-// @@@ remove?
-CircuitPinNetItemData::CircuitPinNetItemData (NetlistModelItemData *parent, const IndexedNetlistModel::net_pair &np)
-  : NetlistModelItemData (parent), m_np (np)
-{ }
-
-void
-CircuitPinNetItemData::do_ensure_children (NetlistBrowserModel * /*model*/)
-{
-  //  nothing (leaf node)
-}
-
-QIcon
-CircuitPinNetItemData::icon (NetlistBrowserModel *model)
-{
-  return model->icon_for_connection (m_np);
-}
-
-QString
-CircuitPinNetItemData::text (int column, NetlistBrowserModel *model)
-{
-  //  circuit/pin/net: header column = name, second column link to net
-  if (column == model->object_column ()) {
-    return escaped (str_from_expanded_names (m_np, model->indexer ()->is_single ()));
-  } else if (column == model->first_column () || column == model->second_column ()) {
-    return model->make_link_to (m_np, column);
-  }
-
-  return QString ();
-}
-
-QString
-CircuitPinNetItemData::search_text ()
-{
-  return tl::to_qstring (search_string_from_expanded_names (nets_from_circuit_pins (circuits (), pp ())));
-}
-
-std::string
-CircuitPinNetItemData::tooltip (NetlistBrowserModel * /*model*/)
-{
-  return std::string ();
-}
-
-db::NetlistCrossReference::Status
-CircuitPinNetItemData::status (NetlistBrowserModel * /*model*/)
-{
-  return db::NetlistCrossReference::None;
-}
-
-// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 CircuitNetItemData::CircuitNetItemData (NetlistModelItemData *parent, const IndexedNetlistModel::net_pair &np)
   : NetlistModelItemData (parent), m_np (np), m_seen (parent && parent->derived_from_nets (np))
 { }
diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistCrossReferenceModel.cc b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistCrossReferenceModel.cc
index fc82a79a6..bf816b302 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistCrossReferenceModel.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layNetlistCrossReferenceModel.cc
@@ -310,17 +310,73 @@ const db::Circuit *NetlistCrossReferenceModel::second_circuit_for (const db::Cir
 
 namespace {
 
-  struct CompareNetRefsByPins
+  //  TODO: borrowed from dbNetlistCrossReference.cc
+
+  static int string_value_compare (const std::string &a, const std::string &b)
   {
-    bool operator () (const std::pair<const db::NetSubcircuitPinRef *, const db::NetSubcircuitPinRef *> &a,
-                      const std::pair<const db::NetSubcircuitPinRef *, const db::NetSubcircuitPinRef *> &b)
+    return a == b ? 0 : (a < b ? -1 : 1);
+  }
+
+  template <class Obj>
+  struct by_expanded_name_value_compare
+  {
+    int operator() (const Obj &a, const Obj &b) const
     {
-      size_t pin_id1 = a.first ? a.first->pin_id () : (a.second ? a.second->pin_id () : std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max ());
-      size_t pin_id2 = b.first ? b.first->pin_id () : (b.second ? b.second->pin_id () : std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max ());
-      return pin_id1 < pin_id2;
+      return string_value_compare (a.expanded_name (), b.expanded_name ());
     }
   };
 
+  template <class Obj> struct net_object_compare;
+
+  template <>
+  struct net_object_compare<db::NetSubcircuitPinRef>
+  {
+    int operator() (const db::NetSubcircuitPinRef &a, const db::NetSubcircuitPinRef &b) const
+    {
+      int ct = by_expanded_name_value_compare<db::SubCircuit> () (*a.subcircuit (), *b.subcircuit ());
+      if (ct == 0) {
+        return by_expanded_name_value_compare<db::Pin> () (*a.pin (), *b.pin ());
+      } else {
+        return ct;
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
+  template <class Obj, class ValueCompare>
+  struct two_pointer_compare
+  {
+    int operator() (const Obj *a, const Obj *b) const
+    {
+      if ((a == 0) != (b == 0)) {
+        return (a == 0) > (b == 0) ? -1 : 1;
+      }
+      if (a != 0) {
+        return ValueCompare () (*a, *b);
+      } else {
+        return 0;
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
+  template <class Obj, class ValueCompare>
+  struct two_pair_compare
+  {
+    bool operator() (const std::pair<const Obj *, const Obj *> &a, const std::pair<const Obj *, const Obj *> &b)
+    {
+      int ct = two_pointer_compare<Obj, ValueCompare> () (a.first, b.first);
+      if (ct != 0) {
+        return ct < 0;
+      }
+      return two_pointer_compare<Obj, ValueCompare> () (a.second, b.second) < 0;
+    }
+  };
+
+  struct SortNetSubCircuitPins
+    : public two_pair_compare<db::NetSubcircuitPinRef, net_object_compare<db::NetSubcircuitPinRef> >
+  {
+    //  .. nothing yet ..
+  };
+
 }
 
 void NetlistCrossReferenceModel::ensure_subcircuit_data_built () const
@@ -370,7 +426,7 @@ void NetlistCrossReferenceModel::ensure_subcircuit_data_built () const
           }
         }
 
-        std::sort (sc_data.nets_per_pins.begin (), sc_data.nets_per_pins.end (), CompareNetRefsByPins ());
+        std::sort (sc_data.nets_per_pins.begin (), sc_data.nets_per_pins.end (), SortNetSubCircuitPins ());
 
       }