diff --git a/Config.in.legacy b/Config.in.legacy
index 95b9d784d3..3d5df3abbb 100644
--- a/Config.in.legacy
+++ b/Config.in.legacy
@@ -195,6 +195,26 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BOOST_LAYOUT_VERSIONED
 
 comment "Legacy options removed in 2022.02"
 
+config BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS
+	string "entrypoint argumetns has been changed as command"
+	help
+	  The OCI image BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS option
+	  has been renamed to BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_CMD to better
+	  reflect its relation to the actual 'command' of the OCI
+	  image.
+
+	  The new semantic for BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_CMD is slightly
+	  differnt in relation to how it is interpreted, so be sure to
+	  review the help entry for it.
+
+	  Due to this breaking change, the old value here could not be
+	  set to the new variable.
+
+config BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS_WRAP
+	bool
+	default y if BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS != ""
+	select BR2_LEGACY
+
 config BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCURL_LIBNSS
 	bool "libcurl NSS removed"
 	select BR2_LEGACY
diff --git a/fs/oci/Config.in b/fs/oci/Config.in
index 8f36c91c8f..5e7aff282f 100644
--- a/fs/oci/Config.in
+++ b/fs/oci/Config.in
@@ -42,10 +42,26 @@ config BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT
 	help
 	  Command to execute when the container starts.
 
-config BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS
-	string "entrypoint arguments"
+	  Spaces must be quoted or escaped, like for a shell string:
+	    /usr/bin/env sh -c
+	    /bin/my-init --some-option "1 2 3 4" some\ arg --
+
+	  See the Docker documentation on how entrypoint and command
+	  interact together:
+	    https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/builder/#understand-how-cmd-and-entrypoint-interact
+
+config BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_CMD
+	string "command (or entrypoint arguments)"
 	help
-	  Default arguments to the entrypoint of the container.
+	  Default command, or entrypoint arguments, of the container.
+
+	  Spaces must be quoted or escaped, like for a shell string:
+	    "your shell scriptlet"
+	    /usr/bin/env sh
+
+	  See the Docker documentation on how entrypoint and command
+	  interact together:
+	    https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/builder/#understand-how-cmd-and-entrypoint-interact
 
 config BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_WORKDIR
 	string "working directory"
diff --git a/fs/oci/oci.mk b/fs/oci/oci.mk
index aa81920d36..4458cf8ef9 100644
--- a/fs/oci/oci.mk
+++ b/fs/oci/oci.mk
@@ -12,17 +12,23 @@ OCI_SLOCI_IMAGE_OPTS = --arch $(GO_GOARCH)
 # architecture variant (typically used only for arm)
 OCI_SLOCI_IMAGE_OPTS += $(and $(GO_GOARM),--arch-variant v$(GO_GOARM))
 
-# entrypoint
-OCI_ENTRYPOINT = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT))
-ifneq ($(OCI_ENTRYPOINT),)
-OCI_SLOCI_IMAGE_OPTS += --entrypoint "$(OCI_ENTRYPOINT)"
-endif
-
-# entrypoint arguments
-OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS))
-ifneq ($(OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS),)
-OCI_SLOCI_IMAGE_OPTS += --cmd "$(OCI_ENTRYPOINT_ARGS)"
-endif
+# entrypoint and command
+# Special treatment: both the entrypoint and arguments (aka command) are
+# a double-quoted, space-separated, escaped-double-quoted string, like:
+#     "foo \"1 2   3 4\" '  a b c d  ' bar\ buz"
+# which should be interpreted as a 4-item list (using single quotes to
+# delimit them and see leading/trailing spaces):
+#     'foo'
+#     '1 2   3 4'
+#     '  a b c d  '
+#     'bar buz'
+#
+# We use some trickery to have the shell properly expand this into a list
+# where each item is single-quoted and prefixed with the appropriate
+# option string:
+OCI_SLOCI_IMAGE_OPTS += \
+	$(shell eval printf -- "--entrypoint\ \'%s\'\ " $(BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_ENTRYPOINT)) \
+	$(shell eval printf -- "--cmd\ \'%s\'\ " $(BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_CMD))
 
 # author
 OCI_AUTHOR = $(call qstrip,$(BR2_TARGET_ROOTFS_OCI_AUTHOR))