diff --git a/module/zfs/metaslab.c b/module/zfs/metaslab.c
index 21f18b42cd1f..df03271d6698 100644
--- a/module/zfs/metaslab.c
+++ b/module/zfs/metaslab.c
@@ -614,24 +614,24 @@ metaslab_parse_rotor_config(metaslab_class_t *mc, char *rotorvector)
 
 	while (rotorvector < endconfig) {
 		char *nextrotor;
-		char *colon, *lessthan;
+		char *semicolon, *lessthan;
 		char *endtypes;
 		int nguids = 0;
 
 		nextrotor = endconfig;
-		colon = strchr(rotorvector, ':');
-		if (colon == NULL)
-			colon = endconfig;
+		semicolon = strchr(rotorvector, ';');
+		if (semicolon == NULL)
+			semicolon = endconfig;
 		else
-			nextrotor = colon+1;
+			nextrotor = semicolon+1;
 		lessthan = strstr(rotorvector, "<=");
-		if ((lessthan == NULL && colon != endconfig) ||
-		    lessthan > colon)
+		if ((lessthan == NULL && semicolon != endconfig) ||
+		    lessthan > semicolon)
 			return; /* malformed, missing '<=' in this item */
-		if (lessthan != NULL && colon == endconfig)
+		if (lessthan != NULL && semicolon == endconfig)
 			return; /* malformed, '<=' for last item */
 
-		endtypes = (lessthan) ? lessthan : colon;
+		endtypes = (lessthan) ? lessthan : semicolon;
 
 		while (rotorvector < endtypes) {
 			char *comma, *nexttype;
@@ -691,7 +691,7 @@ metaslab_parse_rotor_config(metaslab_class_t *mc, char *rotorvector)
 			uint64_t threshold;
 #ifdef _KERNEL
 			char tmpstr[64];
-			size_t len = colon-(lessthan+2);
+			size_t len = semicolon-(lessthan+2);
 			strncpy(tmpstr, lessthan+2, len);
 			tmpstr[len] = 0;
 #endif
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ metaslab_parse_rotor_config(metaslab_class_t *mc, char *rotorvector)
 #else
 			char *endptr;
 			threshold = strtoull(lessthan+2, &endptr, 0);
-			if (endptr != colon)
+			if (endptr != semicolon)
 				return; /* malformed configuration */
 #endif
 			/*