{
        int nwords = 0;
 
-       vpr_info("entry, buf:'%s'\n", buf);
        while (*buf) {
                char *end;
 
                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++;
                                return -EINVAL; /* unclosed quote */
                        }
                } else {
-                       for (end = buf;
-                            *end && *end != '=' && !isspace(*end);
-                            end++)
+                       for (end = buf; *end && !isspace(*end); end++)
                                ;
                        BUG_ON(end == buf);
                }
        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")) {