diff --git a/contrib/plugins/hwprofile.c b/contrib/plugins/hwprofile.c
index faf216ac00..691d4edb0c 100644
--- a/contrib/plugins/hwprofile.c
+++ b/contrib/plugins/hwprofile.c
@@ -259,27 +259,42 @@ int qemu_plugin_install(qemu_plugin_id_t id, const qemu_info_t *info,
                         int argc, char **argv)
 {
     int i;
+    g_autoptr(GString) matches_raw = g_string_new("");
 
     for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
         char *opt = argv[i];
-        if (g_strcmp0(opt, "read") == 0) {
-            rw = QEMU_PLUGIN_MEM_R;
-        } else if (g_strcmp0(opt, "write") == 0) {
-            rw = QEMU_PLUGIN_MEM_W;
-        } else if (g_strcmp0(opt, "pattern") == 0) {
-            pattern = true;
-        } else if (g_strcmp0(opt, "source") == 0) {
-            source = true;
-        } else if (g_str_has_prefix(opt, "match")) {
-            gchar **parts = g_strsplit(opt, "=", 2);
+        g_autofree char **tokens = g_strsplit(opt, "=", 2);
+
+        if (g_strcmp0(tokens[0], "track") == 0) {
+            if (g_strcmp0(tokens[1], "read") == 0) {
+                rw = QEMU_PLUGIN_MEM_R;
+            } else if (g_strcmp0(tokens[1], "write") == 0) {
+                rw = QEMU_PLUGIN_MEM_W;
+            } else {
+                fprintf(stderr, "invalid value for track: %s\n", tokens[1]);
+                return -1;
+            }
+        } else if (g_strcmp0(tokens[0], "pattern") == 0) {
+            if (!qemu_plugin_bool_parse(tokens[0], tokens[1], &pattern)) {
+                fprintf(stderr, "boolean argument parsing failed: %s\n", opt);
+                return -1;
+            }
+        } else if (g_strcmp0(tokens[0], "source") == 0) {
+            if (!qemu_plugin_bool_parse(tokens[0], tokens[1], &source)) {
+                fprintf(stderr, "boolean argument parsing failed: %s\n", opt);
+                return -1;
+            }
+        } else if (g_strcmp0(tokens[0], "match") == 0) {
             check_match = true;
-            matches = g_strsplit(parts[1], ",", -1);
-            g_strfreev(parts);
+            g_string_append_printf(matches_raw, "%s,", tokens[1]);
         } else {
             fprintf(stderr, "option parsing failed: %s\n", opt);
             return -1;
         }
     }
+    if (check_match) {
+        matches = g_strsplit(matches_raw->str, ",", -1);
+    }
 
     if (source && pattern) {
         fprintf(stderr, "can only currently track either source or pattern.\n");
diff --git a/docs/devel/tcg-plugins.rst b/docs/devel/tcg-plugins.rst
index 5cddf31c70..e1f9eff587 100644
--- a/docs/devel/tcg-plugins.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/tcg-plugins.rst
@@ -306,22 +306,22 @@ which will eventually report::
 The hwprofile tool can only be used with system emulation and allows
 the user to see what hardware is accessed how often. It has a number of options:
 
- * arg=read or arg=write
+ * track=read or track=write
 
  By default the plugin tracks both reads and writes. You can use one
  of these options to limit the tracking to just one class of accesses.
 
- * arg=source
+ * source
 
  Will include a detailed break down of what the guest PC that made the
- access was. Not compatible with arg=pattern. Example output::
+ access was. Not compatible with the pattern option. Example output::
 
    cirrus-low-memory @ 0xfffffd00000a0000
     pc:fffffc0000005cdc, 1, 256
     pc:fffffc0000005ce8, 1, 256
     pc:fffffc0000005cec, 1, 256
 
- * arg=pattern
+ * pattern
 
  Instead break down the accesses based on the offset into the HW
  region. This can be useful for seeing the most used registers of a