[PATCH] tools/build: Use SYSTEM_BPFTOOL for system bpftool

From: Tomas Glozar
Date: Tue Mar 25 2025 - 20:41:10 EST


The feature test for system bpftool uses BPFTOOL as the variable to set
its path, defaulting to just "bpftool" if not set by the user.

This conflicts with selftests and a few other utilities, which expect
BPFTOOL to be set to the in-tree bpftool path by default. For example,
bpftool selftests fail to build:

$ make -C tools/testing/selftests/bpf/
make: Entering directory '/home/tglozar/dev/linux/tools/testing/selftests/bpf'

make: *** No rule to make target 'bpftool', needed by '/home/tglozar/dev/linux/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/tools/include/vmlinux.h'. Stop.
make: Leaving directory '/home/tglozar/dev/linux/tools/testing/selftests/bpf'

Fix the problem by renaming the variable used for system bpftool from
BPFTOOL to SYSTEM_BPFTOOL, so that the new usage does not conflict with
the existing one of BPFTOOL.

Reported-by: Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-kernel/5df6968a-2e5f-468e-b457-fc201535dd4c@xxxxxxxxxxxxx/
Suggested-by: Quentin Monnet <qmo@xxxxxxxx>
Fixes: 8a635c3856dd ("tools/build: Add bpftool-skeletons feature test")
Signed-off-by: Tomas Glozar <tglozar@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/build/feature/Makefile | 2 +-
tools/scripts/Makefile.include | 2 +-
tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile | 2 +-
3 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/build/feature/Makefile b/tools/build/feature/Makefile
index 4f9c1d950f5d..b8b5fb183dd4 100644
--- a/tools/build/feature/Makefile
+++ b/tools/build/feature/Makefile
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ $(OUTPUT)test-libpfm4.bin:
$(BUILD) -lpfm

$(OUTPUT)test-bpftool-skeletons.bin:
- $(BPFTOOL) version | grep '^features:.*skeletons' \
+ $(SYSTEM_BPFTOOL) version | grep '^features:.*skeletons' \
> $(@:.bin=.make.output) 2>&1
###############################

diff --git a/tools/scripts/Makefile.include b/tools/scripts/Makefile.include
index 6268534309aa..5158250988ce 100644
--- a/tools/scripts/Makefile.include
+++ b/tools/scripts/Makefile.include
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ LLVM_OBJCOPY ?= llvm-objcopy
LLVM_STRIP ?= llvm-strip

# Some tools require bpftool
-BPFTOOL ?= bpftool
+SYSTEM_BPFTOOL ?= bpftool

ifeq ($(CC_NO_CLANG), 1)
EXTRA_WARNINGS += -Wstrict-aliasing=3
diff --git a/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile b/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile
index 4cc3017dccaa..746ccf2f5808 100644
--- a/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile
+++ b/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ src/timerlat.bpf.o: src/timerlat.bpf.c
$(QUIET_CLANG)$(CLANG) -g -O2 -target bpf -c $(filter %.c,$^) -o $@

src/timerlat.skel.h: src/timerlat.bpf.o
- $(QUIET_GENSKEL)$(BPFTOOL) gen skeleton $< > $@
+ $(QUIET_GENSKEL)$(SYSTEM_BPFTOOL) gen skeleton $< > $@
else
src/timerlat.skel.h:
$(Q)echo '/* BPF skeleton is disabled */' > src/timerlat.skel.h
--
2.48.1