Re: [RFC PATCH 3/6] tools: build perf in tools_build

[Ian Rogers]

On Sun, Oct 11, 2026 at 4:36 PM Sasha Levin <sashal@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Add CONFIG_TOOLS_BUILD_PERF. perf is built as it is built standalone,
> with optional features enabled when their libraries are installed, and
> with -Werror following CONFIG_WERROR. The feature table is left out of
> the kernel build log.
>
> CONFIG_TOOLS_BUILD_PERF_MINIMAL turns every optional feature off
> instead, so the result does not depend on the build machine. allmodconfig
> and allyesconfig turn it on.
>
> Assisted-by: LLM
> Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  tools/Kconfig         | 15 +++++++++++++++
>  tools/Makefile.kbuild | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
>  2 files changed, 34 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/tools/Kconfig b/tools/Kconfig
> index bf0643b39b86e..488f439592150 100644
> --- a/tools/Kconfig
> +++ b/tools/Kconfig
> @@ -59,6 +59,21 @@ config TOOLS_BUILD_IIO
>         help
>           Build tools/iio (lsiio, iio_event_monitor, iio_generic_buffer).
>
> +config TOOLS_BUILD_PERF
> +       bool "perf"
> +       help
> +         Build tools/perf. As in a standalone perf build, optional
> +         features are enabled when the libraries they need are installed.
> +
> +config TOOLS_BUILD_PERF_MINIMAL
> +       bool "Build perf with all optional features disabled"
> +       depends on TOOLS_BUILD_PERF
> +       help
> +         Turn off every optional perf feature, so that the result does
> +         not depend on which libraries the build machine has installed.
> +         allmodconfig and allyesconfig turn this on, which keeps their
> +         builds the same on every machine.
> +
>  config TOOLS_BUILD_SPI
>         bool "SPI tools"
>         help
> diff --git a/tools/Makefile.kbuild b/tools/Makefile.kbuild
> index 820a2d9a3893b..62fd494253eca 100644
> --- a/tools/Makefile.kbuild
> +++ b/tools/Makefile.kbuild
> @@ -73,6 +73,25 @@ PHONY += $(tool-targets)
>  $(tool-targets): tool-%: FORCE
>         $(call build,$(outdir)/$*,-C $(toolsdir)/$* O=$(outdir)/$* CC='$(call escsq,$(tools-cc))',,TOOLS_BUILD_$(shell echo $* | tr a-z A-Z))
>
> +# perf, without the feature table in the kernel build log
> +perf-flags := CC='$(call escsq,$(tools-cc))' FEATURE_DISPLAY= WERROR=$(if $(CONFIG_WERROR),1,0)
> +
> +# Every optional feature off, so the result does not depend on which
> +# libraries are installed
> +perf-flags-$(CONFIG_TOOLS_BUILD_PERF_MINIMAL) += \
> +       NO_LIBELF=1 NO_LIBTRACEEVENT=1 NO_JEVENTS=1 NO_LIBPYTHON=1 NO_LIBDW=1 \
> +       NO_LIBBPF=1 BUILD_BPF_SKEL=0 NO_SLANG=1 NO_GTK2=1 NO_AIO=1 \
> +       NO_BACKTRACE=1 NO_DEMANGLE=1 NO_LZMA=1 NO_LIBZSTD=1 NO_ZLIB=1 \
> +       NO_LIBNUMA=1 NO_LIBUNWIND=1 NO_LIBLLVM=1 NO_CAPSTONE=1 NO_LIBPFM4=1 \
> +       NO_SDT=1 NO_JVMTI=1 NO_LIBDEBUGINFOD=1 NO_BABELTRACE2=1 NO_RUST=1 \
> +       NO_SHELLCHECK=1 NO_PERF_READ_VDSO32=1 NO_PERF_READ_VDSOX32=1

It seems unfortunate to maintain this list here, we also have a
minimal target as a build test here:
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/perf/perf-tools-next.git/tree/tools/perf/tests/make?h=perf-tools-next#n123
I wonder we should just add support for a MINIMAL=1 variable in
tools/perf/Makefile.config and have that set these other variables.

Thanks,
Ian

> +
> +__tools_build: $(if $(CONFIG_TOOLS_BUILD_PERF),perf)
> +
> +PHONY += perf
> +perf: FORCE
> +       $(call build,$(outdir)/perf,-C $(toolsdir)/perf -f Makefile.perf O=$(outdir)/perf $(perf-flags) $(perf-flags-y),,TOOLS_BUILD_PERF)
> +
>  PHONY += FORCE
>  FORCE:
>
> --
> 2.53.0
>