diff --git a/devtools/check-forbidden-tokens.awk b/devtools/check-forbidden-tokens.awk
index fd77cdd87c..8c89de3d4e 100755
--- a/devtools/check-forbidden-tokens.awk
+++ b/devtools/check-forbidden-tokens.awk
@@ -63,12 +63,7 @@ BEGIN {
 END {
 	if (count > 0) {
 		print "Warning in " substr(last_file,6) ":"
-		print "are you sure you want to add the following:"
-		for (key in expressions) {
-			if (expressions[key] > 0) {
-				print key
-			}
-		}
+		print MESSAGE
 		exit RET_ON_FAIL
 	}
 }
diff --git a/devtools/checkpatches.sh b/devtools/checkpatches.sh
index fb9e9f76de..ee8debecf7 100755
--- a/devtools/checkpatches.sh
+++ b/devtools/checkpatches.sh
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ check_forbidden_additions() { # <patch>
 	awk -v FOLDERS="lib drivers" \
 		-v EXPRESSIONS="rte_panic\\\( rte_exit\\\(" \
 		-v RET_ON_FAIL=1 \
+		-v MESSAGE='Using rte_panic/rte_exit' \
 		-f $(dirname $(readlink -e $0))/check-forbidden-tokens.awk \
 		"$1"
 	# svg figures must be included with wildcard extension
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ check_forbidden_additions() { # <patch>
 	awk -v FOLDERS='doc' \
 		-v EXPRESSIONS='::[[:space:]]*[^[:space:]]*\\.svg' \
 		-v RET_ON_FAIL=1 \
+		-v MESSAGE='Using explicit .svg extension instead of .*' \
 		-f $(dirname $(readlink -e $0))/check-forbidden-tokens.awk \
 		"$1"
 }