diff --git a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
index 1373e4cf109e6fca7fe7aaecc0b73e39b9a400c9..f978c59f67bff7fe72ea46564a6f4a256301f614 100644
--- a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
+++ b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-parse.c
@@ -4809,7 +4809,12 @@ int pevent_strerror(struct pevent *pevent, enum pevent_errno errnum,
 	const char *msg;
 
 	if (errnum >= 0) {
-		strerror_r(errnum, buf, buflen);
+		msg = strerror_r(errnum, buf, buflen);
+		if (msg != buf) {
+			size_t len = strlen(msg);
+			char *c = mempcpy(buf, msg, min(buflen-1, len));
+			*c = '\0';
+		}
 		return 0;
 	}
 
diff --git a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-utils.h b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-utils.h
index 08296383d1e69d2a45d49df818309354017b96a1..bc075006966eb69c9dc8f0fcc7a6d636da413cff 100644
--- a/tools/lib/traceevent/event-utils.h
+++ b/tools/lib/traceevent/event-utils.h
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ void __vdie(const char *fmt, ...);
 void __vwarning(const char *fmt, ...);
 void __vpr_stat(const char *fmt, ...);
 
+#define min(x, y) ({				\
+	typeof(x) _min1 = (x);			\
+	typeof(y) _min2 = (y);			\
+	(void) (&_min1 == &_min2);		\
+	_min1 < _min2 ? _min1 : _min2; })
+
 static inline char *strim(char *string)
 {
 	char *ret;