[PATCH v1] perf trace: Avoid an ERR_PTR in syscall_stats

From: Ian Rogers

Date: Mon Mar 02 2026 - 18:49:11 EST


hashmap__new may return an ERR_PTR and previously this would be
assigned to syscall_stats meaning all use of syscall_stats needs to
test for NULL (uninitialized) or an ERR_PTR. Given the only reason
hashmap__new can fail is ENOMEM, just use NULL to indicate the
allocation failure and avoid the code having to test for NULL and
IS_ERR.

Fixes: 96f202eab813 (perf trace: Fix IS_ERR() vs NULL check bug)
Signed-off-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/builtin-trace.c | 12 +++++++-----
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
index 295b272c6c29..7ff85fa90d98 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
@@ -1565,7 +1565,9 @@ static bool syscall_id_equal(long key1, long key2, void *ctx __maybe_unused)

static struct hashmap *alloc_syscall_stats(void)
{
- return hashmap__new(syscall_id_hash, syscall_id_equal, NULL);
+ struct hashmap *result = hashmap__new(syscall_id_hash, syscall_id_equal, NULL);
+
+ return IS_ERR(result) ? NULL : result;
}

static void delete_syscall_stats(struct hashmap *syscall_stats)
@@ -1573,7 +1575,7 @@ static void delete_syscall_stats(struct hashmap *syscall_stats)
struct hashmap_entry *pos;
size_t bkt;

- if (IS_ERR(syscall_stats))
+ if (!syscall_stats)
return;

hashmap__for_each_entry(syscall_stats, pos, bkt)
@@ -1589,7 +1591,7 @@ static struct thread_trace *thread_trace__new(struct trace *trace)
ttrace->files.max = -1;
if (trace->summary) {
ttrace->syscall_stats = alloc_syscall_stats();
- if (IS_ERR(ttrace->syscall_stats))
+ if (!ttrace->syscall_stats)
zfree(&ttrace);
}
}
@@ -4464,7 +4466,7 @@ static int trace__run(struct trace *trace, int argc, const char **argv)

if (trace->summary_mode == SUMMARY__BY_TOTAL && !trace->summary_bpf) {
trace->syscall_stats = alloc_syscall_stats();
- if (IS_ERR(trace->syscall_stats))
+ if (!trace->syscall_stats)
goto out_delete_evlist;
}

@@ -4771,7 +4773,7 @@ static int trace__replay(struct trace *trace)

if (trace->summary_mode == SUMMARY__BY_TOTAL) {
trace->syscall_stats = alloc_syscall_stats();
- if (IS_ERR(trace->syscall_stats))
+ if (!trace->syscall_stats)
goto out;
}

--
2.53.0.473.g4a7958ca14-goog