diff --git a/rules.mak b/rules.mak
index 5c82c19..3fdb261 100644
--- a/rules.mak
+++ b/rules.mak
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@
                   $(filter-out %.o %.mo,$1))
 
 %.o: %.c
-	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"  CC    $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(CC) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"CC","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 %.o: %.rc
-	$(call quiet-command,$(WINDRES) -I. -o $@ $<,"  RC    $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(WINDRES) -I. -o $@ $<,"RC","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 # If we have a CXX we might have some C++ objects, in which case we
 # must link with the C++ compiler, not the plain C compiler.
@@ -67,22 +67,22 @@
 
 LINK = $(call quiet-command, $(LINKPROG) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ \
        $(call process-archive-undefs, $1) \
-       $(version-obj-y) $(call extract-libs,$1) $(LIBS),"  LINK  $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+       $(version-obj-y) $(call extract-libs,$1) $(LIBS),"LINK","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 %.o: %.S
-	$(call quiet-command,$(CCAS) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"  CCAS  $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(CCAS) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<,"CCAS","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 %.o: %.cc
-	$(call quiet-command,$(CXX) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CXXFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"  CXX   $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(CXX) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CXXFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"CXX","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 %.o: %.cpp
-	$(call quiet-command,$(CXX) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CXXFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"  CXX   $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(CXX) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CXXFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"CXX","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 %.o: %.m
-	$(call quiet-command,$(OBJCC) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"  OBJC  $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(OBJCC) $(QEMU_INCLUDES) $(QEMU_CFLAGS) $(QEMU_DGFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $($@-cflags) -c -o $@ $<,"OBJC","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 %.o: %.dtrace
-	$(call quiet-command,dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<, "  GEN   $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<,"GEN","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 DSO_OBJ_CFLAGS := -fPIC -DBUILD_DSO
 module-common.o: CFLAGS += $(DSO_OBJ_CFLAGS)
@@ -90,13 +90,13 @@
 %$(DSOSUF): %.mo
 	$(call LINK,$^)
 	@# Copy to build root so modules can be loaded when program started without install
-	$(if $(findstring /,$@),$(call quiet-command,cp $@ $(subst /,-,$@), "  CP    $(subst /,-,$@)"))
+	$(if $(findstring /,$@),$(call quiet-command,cp $@ $(subst /,-,$@),"CP","$(subst /,-,$@)"))
 
 
 LD_REL := $(CC) -nostdlib -Wl,-r $(LD_REL_FLAGS)
 
 %.mo:
-	$(call quiet-command,$(LD_REL) -o $@ $^,"  LD -r $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,$(LD_REL) -o $@ $^,"LD","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
 .PHONY: modules
 modules:
@@ -105,9 +105,15 @@
 	$(call LINK,$(filter %.o %.a %.mo, $^))
 
 %.a:
-	$(call quiet-command,rm -f $@ && $(AR) rcs $@ $^,"  AR    $(TARGET_DIR)$@")
+	$(call quiet-command,rm -f $@ && $(AR) rcs $@ $^,"AR","$(TARGET_DIR)$@")
 
-quiet-command = $(if $(V),$1,$(if $(2),@echo $2 && $1, @$1))
+# Usage: $(call quiet-command,command and args,"NAME","args to print")
+# This will run "command and args", and either:
+#  if V=1 just print the whole command and args
+#  otherwise print the 'quiet' output in the format "  NAME     args to print"
+# NAME should be a short name of the command, 7 letters or fewer.
+# If called with only a single argument, will print nothing in quiet mode.
+quiet-command = $(if $(V),$1,$(if $(2),@printf "  %-7s %s\n" $2 $3 && $1, @$1))
 
 # cc-option
 # Usage: CFLAGS+=$(call cc-option, -falign-functions=0, -malign-functions=0)
@@ -173,7 +179,7 @@
 	@cmp $< $@ >/dev/null 2>&1 || cp $< $@
 
 config-%.h-timestamp: config-%.mak $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/create_config
-	$(call quiet-command, sh $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/create_config < $< > $@, "  GEN   $(TARGET_DIR)config-$*.h")
+	$(call quiet-command, sh $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/create_config < $< > $@,"GEN","$(TARGET_DIR)config-$*.h")
 
 .PHONY: clean-timestamp
 clean-timestamp: