diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index b07155af..a5d7a260 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -204,17 +204,7 @@ check-whitespace:
     - .fdo.ci-fairy
   stage: sanity check
   script:
-    # remove trailing whitespaces
-    - sed -i 's/ *$//' $(git ls-files)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Trailing whitespaces in patchset, please fix" && false)
-    - sed -i 's/\t*$//' $(git ls-files)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Trailing tabs in patchset, please fix" && false)
-    # search for tab after space
-    - sed -i 's/ \t//' $(git ls-files)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Tab after space in patchset, please fix" && false)
-    # search for duplicated empty lines
-    - sed -i '/^$/N;/^\n$/D' $(git ls-files src/*.{h,c} tools/*.{h,c} udev/*.c test/*.c)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Duplicated empty lines, please fix" && false)
+    - .gitlab-ci/whitespace-check.py $(git ls-files)
 
 #
 # pre-commit hooks
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/ci.template b/.gitlab-ci/ci.template
index 9e7b09ca..cfc0ce46 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci/ci.template
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/ci.template
@@ -192,17 +192,7 @@ check-whitespace:
     - .fdo.ci-fairy
   stage: sanity check
   script:
-    # remove trailing whitespaces
-    - sed -i 's/ *$//' $(git ls-files)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Trailing whitespaces in patchset, please fix" && false)
-    - sed -i 's/\t*$//' $(git ls-files)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Trailing tabs in patchset, please fix" && false)
-    # search for tab after space
-    - sed -i 's/ \t//' $(git ls-files)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Tab after space in patchset, please fix" && false)
-    # search for duplicated empty lines
-    - sed -i '/^$/N;/^\n$/D' $(git ls-files src/*.{h,c} tools/*.{h,c} udev/*.c test/*.c)
-    - git diff --exit-code || (echo "ERROR - Duplicated empty lines, please fix" && false)
+    - .gitlab-ci/whitespace-check.py $(git ls-files)
 
 #
 # pre-commit hooks
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/whitespace-check.py b/.gitlab-ci/whitespace-check.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..ac21ed1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/whitespace-check.py
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+from pathlib import Path
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+import argparse
+import itertools
+import os
+import sys
+
+
+@dataclass
+class WhitespaceError:
+    message: str
+    lineno: int
+    nlines: int = 1
+    column: None | int = None
+    ncolumns: int = 1
+
+
+def test_duplicate_empty_lines(lines: list[str]) -> list[WhitespaceError]:
+    errors = []
+    for idx, (l1, l2) in enumerate(itertools.pairwise(lines)):
+        if not l1 and not l2:
+            errors.append(WhitespaceError("Duplicated empty lines", idx, nlines=2))
+    return errors
+
+
+def test_tab_after_space(lines: list[str]) -> list[WhitespaceError]:
+    errors = []
+    for idx, l in enumerate(lines):
+        index = l.find(" \t")
+        if index > -1:
+            errors.append(
+                WhitespaceError(
+                    "Tab after space", idx, nlines=index, column=index, ncolumns=2
+                )
+            )
+    return errors
+
+
+def test_trailing_whitespace(lines: list[str]) -> list[WhitespaceError]:
+    errors = []
+    for idx, l in enumerate(lines):
+        if l.rstrip() != l:
+            errors.append(WhitespaceError("Trailing whitespace", idx))
+    return errors
+
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Whitespace checker script")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "files",
+        metavar="FILES",
+        type=Path,
+        nargs="+",
+        help="The files to check",
+    )
+
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    have_errors: bool = False
+
+    if os.isatty(sys.stderr.fileno()):
+        red = "\x1b[0;31m"
+        reset = "\x1b[0m"
+    else:
+        red = ""
+        reset = ""
+
+    for file in args.files:
+        lines = [l.rstrip("\n") for l in file.open().readlines()]
+
+        errors = []
+        errors.extend(test_tab_after_space(lines))
+        errors.extend(test_trailing_whitespace(lines))
+        if any(file.name.endswith(suffix) for suffix in [".c", ".h"]):
+            if not file.parts[0] == "include":
+                errors.extend(test_duplicate_empty_lines(lines))
+
+        for e in errors:
+            print(f"{red}ERROR: {e.message} in {file}:{reset}", file=sys.stderr)
+            print(f"{'-' * 72}", file=sys.stderr)
+            lineno = max(0, e.lineno - 5)
+            for idx, l in enumerate(lines[lineno : lineno + 10]):
+                if e.lineno <= lineno + idx < e.lineno + e.nlines:
+                    prefix = "->"
+                    hl = red
+                    nohl = reset
+                else:
+                    prefix = "  "
+                    hl = ""
+                    nohl = ""
+                print(f"{hl}{lineno + idx:3d}: {prefix} {l.rstrip()}{nohl}")
+
+            print(f"{'-' * 72}", file=sys.stderr)
+
+        if errors:
+            have_errors = True
+
+    if have_errors:
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 68f914fa..bc80fcf7 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -18,3 +18,9 @@ repos:
   hooks:
   - id: check-commits
   - id: generate-template
+- repo: local
+  hooks:
+  - id: run-sed-script
+    name: Check for whitespace errors
+    entry: ./.gitlab-ci/whitespace-check.py
+    language: system