doc/news.texi |  3 +++
 log.go        | 25 ++++++++++++-------------
 status.go     |  3 ++-

diff --git a/doc/news.texi b/doc/news.texi
index d7a57cf84984857e4ec14d8dabfafdf724659e38f75a44715ec2ba6ab76765fb..d4dc54ca36c1682dee89fa85abb166697b402de5f7435b8bba86ac4ba746f074 100644
--- a/doc/news.texi
+++ b/doc/news.texi
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ @item
     Fixed proper @option{-xx} and @env{REDO_TRACE} workability, that
     previously was not applied to all targets.
 @item
+    Simpler statusline cleaning function, does not leading to whitespace
+    junk after long lines.
+@item
     Updated dependant libraries.
 @end itemize
 
diff --git a/log.go b/log.go
index 7c6cab2d022972a9a0acb3e685c84b5ce89b2b2067df9c3c11cc0fdbf3c9b1d6..81e22f42ca3fcddca9ada989b950856787f1c7febd469e55a93b32378ab44e3c 100644
--- a/log.go
+++ b/log.go
@@ -68,8 +68,9 @@ 	flagLogLock    = flag.Bool("log-lock", false, fmt.Sprintf("enable lock messages logging (%s=1)", EnvLogLock))
 	flagLogPid     = flag.Bool("log-pid", false, fmt.Sprintf("append PIDs (%s=1)", EnvLogPid))
 	flagLogJS      = flag.Bool("log-js", false, fmt.Sprintf("enable jobserver messages logging (%s=1)", EnvLogJS))
 
-	LogMutex   sync.Mutex
-	LogLenPrev int
+	LogMutex     sync.Mutex
+	KeyEraseLine string
+	LogWasStatus bool
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -83,15 +84,12 @@ 	CErr = string(t.Escape.Red)
 	CWarn = string(t.Escape.Magenta)
 	CJS = string(t.Escape.White)
 	CReset = string(t.Escape.Reset)
+	KeyEraseLine = fmt.Sprintf("%s[K", CReset[0:1])
 }
 
-func fillUpToTermSize(s, end string) string {
-	sLen := len(s)
-	if sLen < LogLenPrev {
-		s += strings.Repeat(" ", LogLenPrev-sLen)
-		LogLenPrev = sLen
-	} else {
-		LogLenPrev = sLen
+func erasedStatus(s, end string) string {
+	if LogWasStatus {
+		s += KeyEraseLine
 	}
 	return s + end
 }
@@ -103,10 +101,10 @@ 		p = fmt.Sprintf("[%d] ", MyPid)
 	}
 	switch level {
 	case CNone:
+		p = StderrPrefix + p + fmt.Sprintf(format, args...)
 		LogMutex.Lock()
-		os.Stderr.WriteString(fillUpToTermSize(
-			StderrPrefix+p+fmt.Sprintf(format, args...), "\n",
-		))
+		os.Stderr.WriteString(erasedStatus(p, "\n"))
+		LogWasStatus = false
 		LogMutex.Unlock()
 		return
 	case CDebug:
@@ -142,7 +140,8 @@ 	}
 	msg := fmt.Sprintf(format, args...)
 	msg = StderrPrefix + colourize(level, p+strings.Repeat(". ", Level)+msg)
 	LogMutex.Lock()
-	os.Stderr.WriteString(fillUpToTermSize(msg, "\n"))
+	os.Stderr.WriteString(erasedStatus(msg, "\n"))
+	LogWasStatus = false
 	LogMutex.Unlock()
 }
 
diff --git a/status.go b/status.go
index 468059429d261bc2b74c09dbed15e861c7ebdd9bafa135186be25588754f9caa..3795c330a841346a9686ed9664e2c1d7b4b416dba2058b0d4d47fe46bd2bb734 100644
--- a/status.go
+++ b/status.go
@@ -97,7 +97,8 @@ 					CJS, done, CReset,
 				)
 			}
 			LogMutex.Lock()
-			os.Stderr.WriteString(fillUpToTermSize(out, "\r"))
+			os.Stderr.WriteString(erasedStatus(out, "\r"))
+			LogWasStatus = true
 			LogMutex.Unlock()
 		}
 	}()