diff --git a/include/bake.h b/include/bake.h
index b16a872f447e446a8e7f3d60459f28a530fbc997..91a99ae3238f3e22913990f9c7ce10b289348d1b 100644
--- a/include/bake.h
+++ b/include/bake.h
@@ -47,6 +47,16 @@ typedef struct {
  */
 void bake_perror(char *s, int ret);
 
+/**
+ * Convert region id into printable string for debugging purposes
+ *
+ * @param[in] str string to fill in
+ * @param[in] size length of string, not including terminator.  If rid
+ *                 string is longer than this it will be truncated.
+ * @param[in] rid region_id
+ */
+void bake_print_dbg_region_id_t(char *str, size_t size, bake_region_id_t rid);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/src/bake-copy-from.c b/src/bake-copy-from.c
index 70d9bdb564f58cbd179bc1c595e155f74d97f6ad..25f8787500a9c7cbae377c3cb642ab03af257a29 100644
--- a/src/bake-copy-from.c
+++ b/src/bake-copy-from.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     char* local_region;
     int region_fd;
     uint64_t size;
+    char region_str[128];
  
     if(argc != 6)
     {
@@ -111,6 +112,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     }
     close(region_fd);
 
+    bake_print_dbg_region_id_t(region_str, 127, rid);
+    printf("# will read bake region %s\n", region_str);
+
 #ifdef USE_SIZECHECK_HEADERS
     uint64_t check_size;
     ret = bake_get_size(bph, rid, &check_size);
diff --git a/src/bake-copy-to.c b/src/bake-copy-to.c
index 499a5156ccbe2f50fc04f703e030801e539a483c..b89077f9313083f064540128ce268ba87854767f 100644
--- a/src/bake-copy-to.c
+++ b/src/bake-copy-to.c
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     char* local_region;
     int region_fd;
     char region_file[128];
+    char region_str[128];
 #ifdef USE_SIZECHECK_HEADERS
     uint64_t  check_size;
 #endif
@@ -162,6 +163,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
         return(-1);
     }
 
+    bake_print_dbg_region_id_t(region_str, 127, rid);
+    printf("# created bake region %s\n", region_str);
+
     /* transfer data */
     ret = bake_write(
         bph,
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index d329b5bfb720e8c2e3b14e4b3ddea6a9e699697d..c0083e9338834df9c56787b3ef1021698821d51d 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 #include "bake-config.h"
 #include "bake.h"
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <inttypes.h>
+#include <libpmemobj.h>
 
 static char * bake_err_str(int ret)
 {
@@ -64,3 +66,14 @@ void bake_perror(char *s, int err)
     fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", error_string);
 }
 
+void bake_print_dbg_region_id_t(char *str, size_t size, bake_region_id_t rid)
+{
+    PMEMoid *oid;
+
+    /* NOTE: this is fragile.  Would break if pmemobj format changes. */
+    oid = (PMEMoid *)rid.data;
+
+    snprintf(str, size, "%u:%" PRIu64 ":%" PRIu64, rid.type, oid->pool_uuid_lo, oid->off);
+
+    return;
+}