diff -u a/src/journal.sh b/src/journal.sh

--- a/src/journal.sh

+++ b/src/journal.sh

@@ -918,13 +918,13 @@

     while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do

       case $1 in

       --)

-        line+=" -- \"$(echo -n "$2" | base64 -w 0)\""

+        line+=" -- $(echo -n "$2" | base64 -w 0)"

         printf -v lineraw "%s -- %q" "$lineraw" "$2"

         shift 2

         break

         ;;

       --*)

-        line+=" $1=\"$(echo -n "$2" | base64 -w 0)\""

+        line+=" $1=$(echo -n "$2" | base64 -w 0)"

         printf -v lineraw "%s %s=%q" "$lineraw" "$1" "$2"

         shift

         ;;

@@ -944,8 +944,8 @@

     printf -v indent '%*s' $__INTERNAL_METAFILE_INDENT_LEVEL

-    line="$indent${element:+$element }--timestamp=\"${__INTERNAL_TIMESTAMP}\"$line"

-    lineraw="$indent${element:+$element }--timestamp=\"${__INTERNAL_TIMESTAMP}\"$lineraw"

+    line="$indent${element:+$element }--timestamp=${__INTERNAL_TIMESTAMP}$line"

+    lineraw="$indent${element:+$element }--timestamp=${__INTERNAL_TIMESTAMP}$lineraw"

     [[ -n "$DEBUG" ]] && echo "#${lineraw:1}" >> $__INTERNAL_BEAKERLIB_METAFILE

     echo "$line" >> $__INTERNAL_BEAKERLIB_METAFILE

 }