diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3a417656e288..0e3816918cd3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@ config-all-devices.*
 config-all-disas.*
 config-host.*
 config-target.*
-trace.h
-trace.c
-trace-dtrace.h
-trace-dtrace.dtrace
+trace/generated-tracers.h
+trace/generated-tracers.c
+trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.h
+trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace
 *-timestamp
 *-softmmu
 *-darwin-user
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a0321dd7f04d..a7ac04b9ae53 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -31,12 +31,15 @@ ifneq ($(filter-out %clean,$(MAKECMDGOALS)),$(if $(MAKECMDGOALS),,fail))
 endif
 endif
 
-GENERATED_HEADERS = config-host.h trace.h qemu-options.def
+GENERATED_HEADERS = config-host.h qemu-options.def
+GENERATED_HEADERS += qmp-commands.h qapi-types.h qapi-visit.h
+GENERATED_SOURCES += qmp-marshal.c qapi-types.c qapi-visit.c
+
+GENERATED_HEADERS += trace/generated-tracers.h
 ifeq ($(TRACE_BACKEND),dtrace)
-GENERATED_HEADERS += trace-dtrace.h
+GENERATED_HEADERS += trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.h
 endif
-GENERATED_HEADERS += qmp-commands.h qapi-types.h qapi-visit.h
-GENERATED_SOURCES += qmp-marshal.c qapi-types.c qapi-visit.c trace.c
+GENERATED_SOURCES += trace/generated-tracers.c
 
 # Don't try to regenerate Makefile or configure
 # We don't generate any of them
@@ -233,9 +236,9 @@ clean:
 	rm -f *.a *.lo $(TOOLS) $(HELPERS-y) qemu-ga TAGS cscope.* *.pod *~ */*~
 	rm -Rf .libs
 	rm -f qemu-img-cmds.h
-	rm -f trace-dtrace.dtrace trace-dtrace.dtrace-timestamp
 	@# May not be present in GENERATED_HEADERS
-	rm -f trace-dtrace.h trace-dtrace.h-timestamp
+	rm -f trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace*
+	rm -f trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.h*
 	rm -f $(foreach f,$(GENERATED_HEADERS),$(f) $(f)-timestamp)
 	rm -f $(foreach f,$(GENERATED_SOURCES),$(f) $(f)-timestamp)
 	rm -rf qapi-generated
diff --git a/Makefile.objs b/Makefile.objs
index 4ef0a718d2bf..3a3a4028c583 100644
--- a/Makefile.objs
+++ b/Makefile.objs
@@ -133,66 +133,7 @@ universal-obj-y += disas/
 ######################################################################
 # trace
 
-ifeq ($(TRACE_BACKEND),dtrace)
-TRACE_H_EXTRA_DEPS=trace-dtrace.h
-endif
-trace.h: trace.h-timestamp $(TRACE_H_EXTRA_DEPS)
-trace.h-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/trace-events $(BUILD_DIR)/config-host.mak
-	$(call quiet-command,$(TRACETOOL) \
-		--format=h \
-		--backend=$(TRACE_BACKEND) \
-		< $< > $@,"  GEN   trace.h")
-	@cmp -s $@ trace.h || cp $@ trace.h
-
-trace.c: trace.c-timestamp
-trace.c-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/trace-events $(BUILD_DIR)/config-host.mak
-	$(call quiet-command,$(TRACETOOL) \
-		--format=c \
-		--backend=$(TRACE_BACKEND) \
-		< $< > $@,"  GEN   trace.c")
-	@cmp -s $@ trace.c || cp $@ trace.c
-
-trace.o: trace.c $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
-
-trace-dtrace.h: trace-dtrace.dtrace
-	$(call quiet-command,dtrace -o $@ -h -s $<, "  GEN   trace-dtrace.h")
-
-# Normal practice is to name DTrace probe file with a '.d' extension
-# but that gets picked up by QEMU's Makefile as an external dependency
-# rule file. So we use '.dtrace' instead
-trace-dtrace.dtrace: trace-dtrace.dtrace-timestamp
-trace-dtrace.dtrace-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/trace-events $(BUILD_DIR)/config-host.mak
-	$(call quiet-command,$(TRACETOOL) \
-		--format=d \
-		--backend=$(TRACE_BACKEND) \
-		< $< > $@,"  GEN   trace-dtrace.dtrace")
-	@cmp -s $@ trace-dtrace.dtrace || cp $@ trace-dtrace.dtrace
-
-trace-dtrace.o: trace-dtrace.dtrace $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
-	$(call quiet-command,dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<, "  GEN   trace-dtrace.o")
-
-ifeq ($(LIBTOOL),)
-trace-dtrace.lo: trace-dtrace.dtrace
-	@echo "missing libtool. please install and rerun configure."; exit 1
-else
-trace-dtrace.lo: trace-dtrace.dtrace
-	$(call quiet-command,$(LIBTOOL) --mode=compile --tag=CC dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<, "  lt GEN trace-dtrace.o")
-endif
-
-trace/simple.o: trace/simple.c $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
-
-trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_DTRACE) += trace-dtrace.o
-ifneq ($(TRACE_BACKEND),dtrace)
-trace-obj-y = trace.o
-endif
-
-trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_DEFAULT) += trace/default.o
-trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_SIMPLE) += trace/simple.o
-trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_SIMPLE) += qemu-timer-common.o
-trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_STDERR) += trace/stderr.o
-trace-obj-y += trace/control.o
-
-$(trace-obj-y): $(GENERATED_HEADERS)
+trace-obj-y += trace/
 
 universal-obj-y += $(trace-obj-y)
 
@@ -239,5 +180,6 @@ nested-vars += \
 	user-obj-y \
 	common-obj-y \
 	universal-obj-y \
-	extra-obj-y
+	extra-obj-y \
+	trace-obj-y
 dummy := $(call unnest-vars)
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool/backend/dtrace.py b/scripts/tracetool/backend/dtrace.py
index 23c43e277280..ad5eb3b0ab21 100644
--- a/scripts/tracetool/backend/dtrace.py
+++ b/scripts/tracetool/backend/dtrace.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def c(events):
 
 
 def h(events):
-    out('#include "trace-dtrace.h"',
+    out('#include "trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.h"',
         '')
 
     for e in events:
diff --git a/scripts/tracetool/format/h.py b/scripts/tracetool/format/h.py
index 6ffb3c2f4e02..9a58de1331f6 100644
--- a/scripts/tracetool/format/h.py
+++ b/scripts/tracetool/format/h.py
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 def begin(events):
     out('/* This file is autogenerated by tracetool, do not edit. */',
         '',
-        '#ifndef TRACE_H',
-        '#define TRACE_H',
+        '#ifndef TRACE__GENERATED_TRACERS_H',
+        '#define TRACE__GENERATED_TRACERS_H',
         '',
         '#include "qemu-common.h"')
 
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def end(events):
             enabled = 1
         out('#define TRACE_%s_ENABLED %d' % (e.name.upper(), enabled))
     out('',
-        '#endif /* TRACE_H */')
+        '#endif /* TRACE__GENERATED_TRACERS_H */')
 
 def nop(events):
     for e in events:
diff --git a/trace.h b/trace.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c15f4981280f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/trace.h
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#ifndef TRACE_H
+#define TRACE_H
+
+#include "trace/generated-tracers.h"
+
+#endif  /* TRACE_H */
diff --git a/trace/Makefile.objs b/trace/Makefile.objs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b7917236962d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/trace/Makefile.objs
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+# -*- mode: makefile -*-
+
+######################################################################
+# Auto-generated tracing routines
+
+ifeq ($(TRACE_BACKEND),dtrace)
+TRACE_H_EXTRA_DEPS=$(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.h
+endif
+$(obj)/generated-tracers.h: $(obj)/generated-tracers.h-timestamp $(TRACE_H_EXTRA_DEPS)
+$(obj)/generated-tracers.h-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/trace-events $(BUILD_DIR)/config-host.mak
+	$(call quiet-command,$(TRACETOOL) \
+		--format=h \
+		--backend=$(TRACE_BACKEND) \
+		< $< > $@,"  GEN   $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@)")
+	@cmp -s $@ $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@) || cp $@ $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@)
+
+$(obj)/generated-tracers.c: $(obj)/generated-tracers.c-timestamp
+$(obj)/generated-tracers.c-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/trace-events $(BUILD_DIR)/config-host.mak
+	$(call quiet-command,$(TRACETOOL) \
+		--format=c \
+		--backend=$(TRACE_BACKEND) \
+		< $< > $@,"  GEN   $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@)")
+	@cmp -s $@ $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@) || cp $@ $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@)
+
+$(obj)/generated-tracers.o: $(obj)/generated-tracers.c $(obj)/generated-tracers.h
+
+ifneq ($(TRACE_BACKEND),dtrace)
+trace-obj-y += generated-tracers.o
+endif
+
+
+######################################################################
+# Auto-generated DTrace code
+
+# Normal practice is to name DTrace probe file with a '.d' extension
+# but that gets picked up by QEMU's Makefile as an external dependency
+# rule file. So we use '.dtrace' instead
+$(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace: $(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace-timestamp
+$(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace-timestamp: $(SRC_PATH)/trace-events $(BUILD_DIR)/config-host.mak
+	$(call quiet-command,$(TRACETOOL) \
+		--format=d \
+		--backend=$(TRACE_BACKEND) \
+		< $< > $@,"  GEN   $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@)")
+	@cmp -s $@ $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@) || cp $@ $(patsubst %-timestamp,%,$@)
+
+$(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.h: trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace
+	$(call quiet-command,dtrace -o $@ -h -s $<, "  GEN   $@")
+
+$(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.o: trace/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace
+	$(call quiet-command,dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<, "  GEN   $@")
+
+trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_DTRACE) += generated-tracers-dtrace.o
+
+
+ifeq ($(LIBTOOL),)
+$(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.lo: $(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace
+	@echo "missing libtool. please install and rerun configure."; exit 1
+else
+$(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.lo: $(obj)/generated-tracers-dtrace.dtrace
+	$(call quiet-command,$(LIBTOOL) --mode=compile --tag=CC dtrace -o $@ -G -s $<, "  lt GEN $@")
+endif
+
+
+######################################################################
+# Backend code
+
+trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_DEFAULT) += default.o
+trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_SIMPLE) += simple.o
+trace-obj-$(CONFIG_TRACE_STDERR) += stderr.o
+trace-obj-y += control.o