return str;
 }
 
+static int check_set(const char **dest, char *src, char *name)
+{
+       int rc = 0;
+
+       if (*dest) {
+               rc = -EINVAL;
+               pr_err("match-spec:%s val:%s overridden by %s",
+                       name, *dest, src);
+       }
+       *dest = src;
+       return rc;
+}
+
 /*
  * Parse words[] as a ddebug query specification, which is a series
  * of (keyword, value) pairs chosen from these possibilities:
  * format <escaped-string-to-find-in-format>
  * line <lineno>
  * line <first-lineno>-<last-lineno> // where either may be empty
+ *
+ * Only 1 of each type is allowed.
+ * Returns 0 on success, <0 on error.
  */
 static int ddebug_parse_query(char *words[], int nwords,
                               struct ddebug_query *query)
 {
        unsigned int i;
+       int rc;
 
        /* check we have an even number of words */
        if (nwords % 2 != 0)
 
        for (i = 0 ; i < nwords ; i += 2) {
                if (!strcmp(words[i], "func"))
-                       query->function = words[i+1];
+                       rc = check_set(&query->function, words[i+1], "func");
                else if (!strcmp(words[i], "file"))
-                       query->filename = words[i+1];
+                       rc = check_set(&query->filename, words[i+1], "file");
                else if (!strcmp(words[i], "module"))
-                       query->module = words[i+1];
+                       rc = check_set(&query->module, words[i+1], "module");
                else if (!strcmp(words[i], "format"))
-                       query->format = unescape(words[i+1]);
+                       rc = check_set(&query->format, unescape(words[i+1]),
+                               "format");
                else if (!strcmp(words[i], "line")) {
                        char *first = words[i+1];
                        char *last = strchr(first, '-');
+                       if (query->first_lineno || query->last_lineno) {
+                               pr_err("match-spec:line given 2 times\n");
+                               return -EINVAL;
+                       }
                        if (last)
                                *last++ = '\0';
                        if (parse_lineno(first, &query->first_lineno) < 0)
                                return -EINVAL;
-                       if (last != NULL) {
+                       if (last) {
                                /* range <first>-<last> */
-                               if (parse_lineno(last, &query->last_lineno) < 0)
+                               if (parse_lineno(last, &query->last_lineno)
+                                   < query->first_lineno) {
+                                       pr_err("last-line < 1st-line\n");
                                        return -EINVAL;
+                               }
                        } else {
                                query->last_lineno = query->first_lineno;
                        }
                        pr_err("unknown keyword \"%s\"\n", words[i]);
                        return -EINVAL;
                }
+               if (rc)
+                       return rc;
        }
 
        if (verbose)