diff --git a/include/stdio.h b/include/stdio.h
index c824764..a0d81d3 100644
--- a/include/stdio.h
+++ b/include/stdio.h
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
  */
 
 /* serial stuff */
-void	serial_printf(const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(printf, 1, 2)));
+void	serial_printf(const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(__printf__, 1, 2)));
 
 /* stdin */
 int	tstc(void);
@@ -30,12 +30,12 @@
 	console_putc(CONSOLE_STDOUT, c);
 }
 
-int	printf(const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(printf, 1, 2)));
+int	printf(const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(__printf__, 1, 2)));
 int	vprintf(const char *fmt, va_list args);
-int	sprintf(char *buf, const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(printf, 2, 3)));
-int	snprintf(char *buf, size_t size, const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(printf, 3, 4)));
+int	sprintf(char *buf, const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(__printf__, 2, 3)));
+int	snprintf(char *buf, size_t size, const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(__printf__, 3, 4)));
 int	vsprintf(char *buf, const char *fmt, va_list args);
-char	*asprintf(const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(printf, 1, 2)));
+char	*asprintf(const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(__printf__, 1, 2)));
 char	*vasprintf(const char *fmt, va_list ap);
 int	vsnprintf(char *buf, size_t size, const char *fmt, va_list args);
 int	vscnprintf(char *buf, size_t size, const char *fmt, va_list args);
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
 #define stderr		2
 #define MAX_FILES	128
 
-void	fprintf(int file, const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(printf, 2, 3)));
+void	fprintf(int file, const char *fmt, ...) __attribute__ ((format(__printf__, 2, 3)));
 int	fputs(int file, const char *s);
 int	fputc(int file, const char c);
 int	ftstc(int file);
diff --git a/scripts/mod/modpost.c b/scripts/mod/modpost.c
index 08b75b6..e994486 100644
--- a/scripts/mod/modpost.c
+++ b/scripts/mod/modpost.c
@@ -1300,7 +1300,7 @@
  * following helper, then compare to the file on disk and
  * only update the later if anything changed */
 
-void __attribute__((format(printf, 2, 3))) buf_printf(struct buffer *buf,
+void __attribute__((format(__printf__, 2, 3))) buf_printf(struct buffer *buf,
 						      const char *fmt, ...)
 {
 	char tmp[SZ];
diff --git a/scripts/mod/modpost.h b/scripts/mod/modpost.h
index 4156dd3..0c23259 100644
--- a/scripts/mod/modpost.h
+++ b/scripts/mod/modpost.h
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
 	int size;
 };
 
-void __attribute__((format(printf, 2, 3)))
+void __attribute__((format(__printf__, 2, 3)))
 buf_printf(struct buffer *buf, const char *fmt, ...);
 
 void