diff --git a/common.c b/common.c
index 782572d..25bf761 100644
--- a/common.c
+++ b/common.c
@@ -1604,6 +1604,15 @@ xssl_get_error (SSL *ssl, int result, const char **error_info)
 	}
 }
 
+static char *
+format_host_port_pair (const char *host, const char *port)
+{
+	// IPv6 addresses mess with the "colon notation"; let's go with RFC 2732
+	if (strchr (host, ':'))
+		return xstrdup_printf ("[%s]:%s", host, port);
+	return xstrdup_printf ("%s:%s", host, port);
+}
+
 // --- Regular expressions -----------------------------------------------------
 
 static regex_t *
diff --git a/kike.c b/kike.c
index 39b824a..d66b012 100644
--- a/kike.c
+++ b/kike.c
@@ -2661,7 +2661,10 @@ on_irc_client_available (const struct pollfd *pfd, void *user_data)
 			host, sizeof host, port, sizeof port, NI_NUMERICSERV);
 		if (err)
 			print_debug ("%s: %s", "getnameinfo", gai_strerror (err));
-		print_debug ("accepted connection from %s:%s", host, port);
+
+		char *address = format_host_port_pair (host, port);
+		print_debug ("accepted connection from %s", address);
+		free (address);
 
 		struct client *c = xmalloc (sizeof *c);
 		client_init (c);
@@ -2922,26 +2925,27 @@ irc_listen (struct addrinfo *gai_iter)
 	soft_assert (setsockopt (fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR,
 		&yes, sizeof yes) != -1);
 
-	char real_host[NI_MAXHOST], real_port[NI_MAXSERV];
-	real_host[0] = real_port[0] = '\0';
+	char host[NI_MAXHOST], port[NI_MAXSERV];
+	host[0] = port[0] = '\0';
 	int err = getnameinfo (gai_iter->ai_addr, gai_iter->ai_addrlen,
-		real_host, sizeof real_host, real_port, sizeof real_port,
+		host, sizeof host, port, sizeof port,
 		NI_NUMERICHOST | NI_NUMERICSERV);
 	if (err)
 		print_debug ("%s: %s", "getnameinfo", gai_strerror (err));
 
+	char *address = format_host_port_pair (host, port);
 	if (bind (fd, gai_iter->ai_addr, gai_iter->ai_addrlen))
-		print_error ("bind to %s:%s failed: %s",
-			real_host, real_port, strerror (errno));
+		print_error ("bind to %s failed: %s", address, strerror (errno));
 	else if (listen (fd, 16 /* arbitrary number */))
-		print_error ("listen on %s:%s failed: %s",
-			real_host, real_port, strerror (errno));
+		print_error ("listen on %s failed: %s", address, strerror (errno));
 	else
 	{
-		print_status ("listening on %s:%s", real_host, real_port);
+		print_status ("listening on %s", address);
+		free (address);
 		return fd;
 	}
 
+	free (address);
 	xclose (fd);
 	return -1;
 }
@@ -2954,8 +2958,10 @@ irc_listen_resolve (struct server_context *ctx,
 	int err = getaddrinfo (host, port, gai_hints, &gai_result);
 	if (err)
 	{
-		print_error ("bind to %s:%s failed: %s: %s",
-			host, port, "getaddrinfo", gai_strerror (err));
+		char *address = format_host_port_pair (host, port);
+		print_error ("bind to %s failed: %s: %s",
+			address, "getaddrinfo", gai_strerror (err));
+		free (address);
 		return;
 	}
 
diff --git a/zyklonb.c b/zyklonb.c
index 806de8b..d4e66ca 100644
--- a/zyklonb.c
+++ b/zyklonb.c
@@ -355,7 +355,10 @@ irc_establish_connection (struct bot_context *ctx,
 			real_host = buf;
 
 		// XXX: we shouldn't mix these statuses with `struct error'; choose 1!
-		print_status ("connecting to `%s:%s'...", real_host, port);
+		char *address = format_host_port_pair (real_host, port);
+		print_status ("connecting to %s...", address);
+		free (address);
+
 		if (!connect (sockfd, gai_iter->ai_addr, gai_iter->ai_addrlen))
 			break;