diff --git a/src/List.cc b/src/List.cc
index 8d70cc95c2..1f2e4ec410 100644
--- a/src/List.cc
+++ b/src/List.cc
@@ -114,3 +114,17 @@ TEST_CASE("plists")
 		delete v;
 	list.clear();
 	}
+
+TEST_CASE("unordered list operation")
+	{
+	List<int, LIST_UNORDERED> list({1, 2, 3, 4});
+	CHECK(list.size() == 4);
+
+	// An unordered list doesn't maintain the ordering of the elements when
+	// one is removed. It just swaps the last element into the hole.
+	list.remove(2);
+	CHECK(list.size() == 3);
+	CHECK(list[0] == 1);
+	CHECK(list[1] == 4);
+	CHECK(list[2] == 3);
+	}
diff --git a/src/List.h b/src/List.h
index 57d26c462b..55256b35fb 100644
--- a/src/List.h
+++ b/src/List.h
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@
 // TODO: this can be removed in v3.1 when List::sort() is removed
 typedef int (*list_cmp_func)(const void* v1, const void* v2);
 
-template<typename T>
+enum list_order { LIST_ORDERED, LIST_UNORDERED };
+
+template<typename T, list_order Order = LIST_ORDERED>
 class List {
 public:
 
@@ -195,13 +197,11 @@ public:
 
 	bool remove(const T& a)	// delete entry from list
 		{
-		for ( int i = 0; i < num_entries; ++i )
+		int pos = member_pos(a);
+		if ( pos != -1 )
 			{
-			if ( a == entries[i] )
-				{
-				remove_nth(i);
-				return true;
-				}
+			remove_nth(pos);
+			return true;
 			}
 
 		return false;
@@ -212,10 +212,22 @@ public:
 		assert(n >=0 && n < num_entries);
 
 		T old_ent = entries[n];
-		--num_entries;
 
-		for ( ; n < num_entries; ++n )
-			entries[n] = entries[n+1];
+		// For data where we don't care about ordering, we don't care about keeping
+		// the list in the same order when removing an element. Just swap the last
+		// element with the element being removed.
+		if ( Order == LIST_ORDERED )
+			{
+			--num_entries;
+
+			for ( ; n < num_entries; ++n )
+				entries[n] = entries[n+1];
+			}
+		else
+			{
+			entries[n] = entries[num_entries - 1];
+			--num_entries;
+			}
 
 		return old_ent;
 		}
@@ -332,8 +344,8 @@ protected:
 
 
 // Specialization of the List class to store pointers of a type.
-template<typename T>
-using PList = List<T*>;
+template<typename T, list_order Order = LIST_ORDERED>
+using PList = List<T*, Order>;
 
 // Popular type of list: list of strings.
 typedef PList<char> name_list;