diff --git a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
index a8b6357d1ffef8678d82b0ae357b445b9ba2cf71..3a7bd175f73c3716094217cac20bced98d52dcf6 100644
--- a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
+++ b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <limits.h>
+#include <linux/string.h>
 
 #include <netinet/ip6.h>
 #include "event-parse.h"
@@ -6131,12 +6132,7 @@ int pevent_strerror(struct pevent *pevent __maybe_unused,
 	const char *msg;
 
 	if (errnum >= 0) {
-		msg = strerror_r(errnum, buf, buflen);
-		if (msg != buf) {
-			size_t len = strlen(msg);
-			memcpy(buf, msg, min(buflen - 1, len));
-			*(buf + min(buflen - 1, len)) = '\0';
-		}
+		str_error_r(errnum, buf, buflen);
 		return 0;
 	}