diff --git a/docs/tracing.txt b/docs/tracing.txt
index 4b27ab0c2a71f0a5d094fe52069f26ff8d66238c..d0171aabda63969e1bf26c0fe1d153cf409b716e 100644
--- a/docs/tracing.txt
+++ b/docs/tracing.txt
@@ -80,10 +80,7 @@ Trace events should use types as follows:
 
 Format strings should reflect the types defined in the trace event.  Take
 special care to use PRId64 and PRIu64 for int64_t and uint64_t types,
-respectively.  This ensures portability between 32- and 64-bit platforms.  Note
-that format strings must begin and end with double quotes.  When using
-portability macros, ensure they are preceded and followed by double quotes:
-"value %"PRIx64"".
+respectively.  This ensures portability between 32- and 64-bit platforms.
 
 === Hints for adding new trace events ===
 
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool b/scripts/tracetool
index 743d2462893c8626bd4b72f4e6bd87544dab61cd..4c9951d0aaf9e1ec2d2506467466a592b340f26b 100755
--- a/scripts/tracetool
+++ b/scripts/tracetool
@@ -40,6 +40,15 @@ EOF
     exit 1
 }
 
+# Print a line without interpreting backslash escapes
+#
+# The built-in echo command may interpret backslash escapes without an option
+# to disable this behavior.
+puts()
+{
+    printf "%s\n" "$1"
+}
+
 # Get the name of a trace event
 get_name()
 {
@@ -111,13 +120,10 @@ get_argc()
     echo $argc
 }
 
-# Get the format string for a trace event
+# Get the format string including double quotes for a trace event
 get_fmt()
 {
-    local fmt
-    fmt=${1#*\"}
-    fmt=${fmt%\"*}
-    echo "$fmt"
+    puts "${1#*)}"
 }
 
 linetoh_begin_nop()
@@ -266,7 +272,7 @@ linetoh_stderr()
 static inline void trace_$name($args)
 {
     if (trace_list[$stderr_event_num].state != 0) {
-        fprintf(stderr, "$name $fmt\n" $argnames);
+        fprintf(stderr, "$name " $fmt "\n" $argnames);
     }
 }
 EOF
@@ -366,7 +372,7 @@ DEFINE_TRACE(ust_$name);
 
 static void ust_${name}_probe($args)
 {
-    trace_mark(ust, $name, "$fmt"$argnames);
+    trace_mark(ust, $name, $fmt$argnames);
 }
 EOF