diff --git a/lib/dynamic_debug.c b/lib/dynamic_debug.c
index 04f4c80..08e4b05 100644
--- a/lib/dynamic_debug.c
+++ b/lib/dynamic_debug.c
@@ -237,7 +237,6 @@
 {
 	int nwords = 0;
 
-	vpr_info("entry, buf:'%s'\n", buf);
 	while (*buf) {
 		char *end;
 
@@ -248,8 +247,6 @@
 		if (*buf == '#')
 			break;	/* token starts comment, skip rest of line */
 
-		vpr_info("start-of-word:%d '%s'\n", nwords, buf);
-
 		/* find `end' of word, whitespace separated or quoted */
 		if (*buf == '"' || *buf == '\'') {
 			int quote = *buf++;
@@ -260,9 +257,7 @@
 				return -EINVAL;	/* unclosed quote */
 			}
 		} else {
-			for (end = buf;
-			     *end && *end != '=' && !isspace(*end);
-			     end++)
+			for (end = buf; *end && !isspace(*end); end++)
 				;
 			BUG_ON(end == buf);
 		}
@@ -378,21 +373,30 @@
 	unsigned int i;
 	int rc = 0;
 	char *fline;
+	char *keyword, *arg;
 
-	if (nwords % 2 != 0) {
-		pr_err("expecting pairs of match-spec <value>\n");
-		return -EINVAL;
-	}
-	if (modname) {
+	if (modname)
 		/* support $modname.dyndbg=<multiple queries> */
-		vpr_info("module:%s queries:'%s'\n", modname);
 		query->module = modname;
-	}
-	for (i = 0; i < nwords; i += 2) {
-		char *keyword = words[i];
-		char *arg = words[i+1];
 
-		vpr_info("keyword:'%s' value:'%s'\n", keyword, arg);
+	for (i = 0; i < nwords; i++) {
+		/* accept keyword=arg */
+		vpr_info("%d w:%s\n", i, words[i]);
+
+		keyword = words[i];
+		arg = strchr(keyword, '=');
+		if (arg) {
+			*arg++ = '\0';
+		} else {
+			i++; /* next word is arg */
+			if (!(i < nwords)) {
+				pr_err("missing arg to keyword: %s\n", keyword);
+				return -EINVAL;
+			}
+			arg = words[i];
+		}
+		vpr_info("%d key:%s arg:%s\n", i, keyword, arg);
+
 		if (!strcmp(keyword, "func")) {
 			rc = check_set(&query->function, arg, "func");
 		} else if (!strcmp(keyword, "file")) {