[PATCH 0/5] perf build: nondistro build tidyups

[PATCH 0/5] perf build: nondistro build tidyups

[James Clark]

nondistro builds now require a specific version of libbfd, so this adds
an error when doing an explicit BUILD_NONDISTRO build and some other
related tidyups.

I'm not sure if the intention is to skip build-tests if something is
missing, but I see it was done for libbpf versions, so I added the same
for libbfd. This is the main thing that I hit, that build-test all of a
sudden stopped working for me.

The first commit is also a cherry pick of an old commit that seemed to
have been accidentally reverted in the unrelated change linked in the
trailers.

---
James Clark (4):
      perf build: Do all non-distro feature checks in one go
      perf build: Remove unused libbfd-buildid feature test
      perf build: Feature test for libbfd thread safety API
      perf build: Skip nondistro build test if libbfd is old

Roberto Sassu (1):
      perf build: Remove FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-{four-args,init-styled} setting

 tools/build/Makefile.feature                 |  2 +-
 tools/build/feature/Makefile                 |  4 +--
 tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-buildid.c    |  8 -----
 tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-threadsafe.c | 18 ++++++++++
 tools/perf/Makefile.config                   | 54 ++++++++++------------------
 tools/perf/tests/make                        |  5 +++
 6 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 46 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: cbd41c6d4c26c161a2b0e70ad411d3885ff13507
change-id: 20251223-james-libbfd-feat-check-e0cd09d2c1e1

Best regards,
-- 
James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>

[PATCH 1/5] perf build: Remove FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-{four-args,init-styled} setting

[James Clark]

From: Roberto Sassu <roberto.sassu@huawei.com>

As the building mechanism is now able to retry detection with different
combinations of linking flags, setting
FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-four-args and
FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-init-styled is not necessary anymore,
so remove it.

Committer notes:

Use the same technique to find the set of bfd-related libraries to link as in:

  3308ffc5016e6136 ("tools, build: Retry detection of bfd-related features")

Signed-off-by: Roberto Sassu <roberto.sassu@huawei.com>
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Cc: Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>
Cc: Andrii Nakryiko <andrii@kernel.org>
Cc: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
Cc: John Fastabend <john.fastabend@gmail.com>
Cc: KP Singh <kpsingh@kernel.org>
Cc: Martin KaFai Lau <martin.lau@linux.dev>
Cc: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
Cc: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com>
Cc: Nick Terrell <terrelln@fb.com>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Quentin Monnet <quentin@isovalent.com>
Cc: Song Liu <song@kernel.org>
Cc: Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@google.com>
Cc: bpf@vger.kernel.org
Cc: llvm@lists.linux.dev
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220719170555.2576993-3-roberto.sassu@huawei.com
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
[Cherry pick to fix accidental removal in commit ad5f604e186a]
Signed-off-by: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>
---
 tools/perf/Makefile.config | 12 +++---------
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile.config b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
index bd9f4804d56b..ea6636a09a95 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile.config
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
@@ -379,8 +379,8 @@ ifneq ($(TCMALLOC),)
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(FEATURES_DUMP),)
-# We will display at the end of this Makefile.config, using $(call feature_display_entries)
-# As we may retry some feature detection here, see the disassembler-four-args case, for instance
+# We will display at the end of this Makefile.config, using $(call feature_display_entries),
+# as we may retry some feature detection here.
   FEATURE_DISPLAY_DEFERRED := 1
 include $(srctree)/tools/build/Makefile.feature
 else
@@ -927,8 +927,6 @@ ifdef BUILD_NONDISTRO
 
   ifeq ($(feature-libbfd), 1)
     EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes
-    FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-four-args = -lbfd -lopcodes -ldl
-    FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-init-styled = -lbfd -lopcodes -ldl
   else
     # we are on a system that requires -liberty and (maybe) -lz
     # to link against -lbfd; test each case individually here
@@ -940,13 +938,9 @@ ifdef BUILD_NONDISTRO
 
     ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-liberty), 1)
       EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes -liberty
-      FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-four-args += -liberty -ldl
-      FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-init-styled += -liberty -ldl
     else
       ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-liberty-z), 1)
         EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes -liberty -lz
-        FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-four-args += -liberty -lz -ldl
-        FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-init-styled += -liberty -lz -ldl
       endif
     endif
     $(call feature_check,disassembler-four-args)
@@ -1324,6 +1318,6 @@ endif
 
 # re-generate FEATURE-DUMP as we may have called feature_check, found out
 # extra libraries to add to LDFLAGS of some other test and then redo those
-# tests, see the block about libbfd, disassembler-four-args, for instance.
+# tests.
 $(shell rm -f $(FEATURE_DUMP_FILENAME))
 $(foreach feat,$(FEATURE_TESTS),$(shell echo "$(call feature_assign,$(feat))" >> $(FEATURE_DUMP_FILENAME)))

-- 
2.34.1

[PATCH 2/5] perf build: Do all non-distro feature checks in one go

[James Clark]

None of the if statements or variable assignments in the non-distro
block actually affect the feature checks. Just do them all in one place
so the flow isn't obscured.

Signed-off-by: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>
---
 tools/perf/Makefile.config | 32 ++++++++++++--------------------
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile.config b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
index ea6636a09a95..594fe3ecfee0 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile.config
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
@@ -923,36 +923,28 @@ ifneq ($(NO_JEVENTS),1)
 endif
 
 ifdef BUILD_NONDISTRO
+  # call all detections now so we get correct status in VF output
   $(call feature_check,libbfd)
+  $(call feature_check,disassembler-four-args)
+  $(call feature_check,disassembler-init-styled)
+  $(call feature_check,libbfd-buildid)
+  $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty)
+  $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty-z)
 
+  # we may be on a system that requires -liberty and (maybe) -lz
+  # to link against -lbfd; test each case individually here
   ifeq ($(feature-libbfd), 1)
     EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes
-  else
-    # we are on a system that requires -liberty and (maybe) -lz
-    # to link against -lbfd; test each case individually here
-
-    # call all detections now so we get correct
-    # status in VF output
-    $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty)
-    $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty-z)
-
-    ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-liberty), 1)
-      EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes -liberty
-    else
-      ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-liberty-z), 1)
-        EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes -liberty -lz
-      endif
-    endif
-    $(call feature_check,disassembler-four-args)
-    $(call feature_check,disassembler-init-styled)
+  else ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-liberty), 1)
+    EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes -liberty
+  else ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-liberty-z), 1)
+    EXTLIBS += -lbfd -lopcodes -liberty -lz
   endif
 
   CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBBFD_SUPPORT
   CXXFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBBFD_SUPPORT
   $(call detected,CONFIG_LIBBFD)
 
-  $(call feature_check,libbfd-buildid)
-
   ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-buildid), 1)
     CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBBFD_BUILDID_SUPPORT
   else

-- 
2.34.1

[PATCH 3/5] perf build: Remove unused libbfd-buildid feature test

[James Clark]

HAVE_LIBBFD_BUILDID_SUPPORT isn't used in the codebase so remove the
feature test that sets it.

Signed-off-by: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>
---
 tools/build/Makefile.feature              | 1 -
 tools/build/feature/Makefile              | 4 ----
 tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-buildid.c | 8 --------
 tools/perf/Makefile.config                | 7 -------
 4 files changed, 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/build/Makefile.feature b/tools/build/Makefile.feature
index a7f030fc5e83..20422853d1ac 100644
--- a/tools/build/Makefile.feature
+++ b/tools/build/Makefile.feature
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@ FEATURE_TESTS_BASIC :=                  \
         gettid				\
         glibc                           \
         libbfd                          \
-        libbfd-buildid			\
         libelf                          \
         libelf-getphdrnum               \
         libelf-gelf_getnote             \
diff --git a/tools/build/feature/Makefile b/tools/build/feature/Makefile
index 87a5a908d6fa..63a97cdf78a3 100644
--- a/tools/build/feature/Makefile
+++ b/tools/build/feature/Makefile
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ FILES=                                          \
          test-gtk2-infobar.bin                  \
          test-hello.bin                         \
          test-libbfd.bin                        \
-         test-libbfd-buildid.bin		\
          test-disassembler-four-args.bin        \
          test-disassembler-init-styled.bin	\
          test-reallocarray.bin			\
@@ -267,9 +266,6 @@ $(OUTPUT)test-libpython.bin:
 $(OUTPUT)test-libbfd.bin:
 	$(BUILD_BFD)
 
-$(OUTPUT)test-libbfd-buildid.bin:
-	$(BUILD_BFD) || $(BUILD_BFD) -liberty || $(BUILD_BFD) -liberty -lz
-
 $(OUTPUT)test-disassembler-four-args.bin:
 	$(BUILD_BFD) -lopcodes || $(BUILD_BFD) -lopcodes -liberty || \
 	$(BUILD_BFD) -lopcodes -liberty -lz
diff --git a/tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-buildid.c b/tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-buildid.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 157644b04c05..000000000000
--- a/tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-buildid.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
-#include <bfd.h>
-
-int main(void)
-{
-	bfd *abfd = bfd_openr("Pedro", 0);
-	return abfd && (!abfd->build_id || abfd->build_id->size > 0x506564726f);
-}
diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile.config b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
index 594fe3ecfee0..5ff98b89c39a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile.config
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
@@ -927,7 +927,6 @@ ifdef BUILD_NONDISTRO
   $(call feature_check,libbfd)
   $(call feature_check,disassembler-four-args)
   $(call feature_check,disassembler-init-styled)
-  $(call feature_check,libbfd-buildid)
   $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty)
   $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty-z)
 
@@ -945,12 +944,6 @@ ifdef BUILD_NONDISTRO
   CXXFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBBFD_SUPPORT
   $(call detected,CONFIG_LIBBFD)
 
-  ifeq ($(feature-libbfd-buildid), 1)
-    CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBBFD_BUILDID_SUPPORT
-  else
-    $(warning Old version of libbfd/binutils things like PE executable profiling will not be available)
-  endif
-
   ifeq ($(feature-disassembler-four-args), 1)
     CFLAGS += -DDISASM_FOUR_ARGS_SIGNATURE
   endif

-- 
2.34.1

[PATCH 4/5] perf build: Feature test for libbfd thread safety API

[James Clark]

The non-distro build requires libbfd 2.42 since commit b72b8132d8fd
("perf libbfd: Ensure libbfd is initialized prior to use"). Add a
feature test so that it's obvious why the build fails if this criteria
isn't met.

Signed-off-by: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>
---
 tools/build/Makefile.feature                 |  1 +
 tools/build/feature/Makefile                 |  4 ++++
 tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-threadsafe.c | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 tools/perf/Makefile.config                   |  5 +++++
 4 files changed, 28 insertions(+)

diff --git a/tools/build/Makefile.feature b/tools/build/Makefile.feature
index 20422853d1ac..d94548fff489 100644
--- a/tools/build/Makefile.feature
+++ b/tools/build/Makefile.feature
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ FEATURE_TESTS_BASIC :=                  \
         gettid				\
         glibc                           \
         libbfd                          \
+	libbfd-threadsafe		\
         libelf                          \
         libelf-getphdrnum               \
         libelf-gelf_getnote             \
diff --git a/tools/build/feature/Makefile b/tools/build/feature/Makefile
index 63a97cdf78a3..731b19b84f4f 100644
--- a/tools/build/feature/Makefile
+++ b/tools/build/feature/Makefile
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ FILES=                                          \
          test-gtk2-infobar.bin                  \
          test-hello.bin                         \
          test-libbfd.bin                        \
+	 test-libbfd-threadsafe.bin      	\
          test-disassembler-four-args.bin        \
          test-disassembler-init-styled.bin	\
          test-reallocarray.bin			\
@@ -266,6 +267,9 @@ $(OUTPUT)test-libpython.bin:
 $(OUTPUT)test-libbfd.bin:
 	$(BUILD_BFD)
 
+$(OUTPUT)test-libbfd-threadsafe.bin:
+	$(BUILD_BFD) || $(BUILD_BFD) -liberty || $(BUILD_BFD) -liberty -lz
+
 $(OUTPUT)test-disassembler-four-args.bin:
 	$(BUILD_BFD) -lopcodes || $(BUILD_BFD) -lopcodes -liberty || \
 	$(BUILD_BFD) -lopcodes -liberty -lz
diff --git a/tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-threadsafe.c b/tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-threadsafe.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fe97f95f6f06
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-threadsafe.c
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+#include <bfd.h>
+
+static bool lock(void *unused)
+{
+	return true;
+}
+
+static bool unlock(void *unused)
+{
+	return true;
+}
+
+int main(void)
+{
+       /* Check for presence of new thread safety API (version 2.42) */
+       return !bfd_thread_init(lock, unlock, NULL);
+}
diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile.config b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
index 5ff98b89c39a..1e35fbb5215d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile.config
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile.config
@@ -927,9 +927,14 @@ ifdef BUILD_NONDISTRO
   $(call feature_check,libbfd)
   $(call feature_check,disassembler-four-args)
   $(call feature_check,disassembler-init-styled)
+  $(call feature_check,libbfd-threadsafe)
   $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty)
   $(call feature_check,libbfd-liberty-z)
 
+  ifneq ($(feature-libbfd-threadsafe), 1)
+    $(error binutils 2.42 or later is required for non-distro builds)
+  endif
+
   # we may be on a system that requires -liberty and (maybe) -lz
   # to link against -lbfd; test each case individually here
   ifeq ($(feature-libbfd), 1)

-- 
2.34.1

[PATCH 5/5] perf build: Skip nondistro build test if libbfd is old

[James Clark]

Non distro builds now require a new version of libbfd, so skip the test
if the library is too old.

The grep test isn't a strong as the feature test in
test-libbfd-threadsafe.c, but there seems to be precedent for feature
testing this way here and it's good enough for the build-test rule. If
the function exists but returns an error it will be picked up by the
feature test when attempting the build.

Signed-off-by: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>
---
 tools/perf/tests/make | 5 +++++
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/make b/tools/perf/tests/make
index 6641701e4828..36411b4b6d2b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/make
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/make
@@ -124,6 +124,9 @@ make_minimal        += NO_LIBDW_DWARF_UNWIND=1 NO_LIBBPF=1
 make_minimal        += NO_SDT=1 NO_JVMTI=1 NO_LIBZSTD=1
 make_minimal        += NO_LIBCAP=1 NO_CAPSTONE=1
 
+# binutils 2_42 and newer have bfd_thread_init()
+new_libbfd := $(shell echo '#include <bfd.h>' | $(CC) -E -x c - | grep bfd_thread_init)
+
 # $(run) contains all available tests
 run := make_pure
 # Targets 'clean all' can be run together only through top level
@@ -137,7 +140,9 @@ MAKE_F := $(MAKE) -f $(MK)
 endif
 run += make_python_perf_so
 run += make_debug
+ifneq ($(new_libbfd),)
 run += make_nondistro
+endif
 run += make_extra_tests
 run += make_jevents_all
 run += make_no_bpf_skel

-- 
2.34.1

Re: [PATCH 0/5] perf build: nondistro build tidyups

[Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo]

On Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 05:00:23PM +0000, James Clark wrote:
> nondistro builds now require a specific version of libbfd, so this adds
> an error when doing an explicit BUILD_NONDISTRO build and some other
> related tidyups.
> 
> I'm not sure if the intention is to skip build-tests if something is
> missing, but I see it was done for libbpf versions, so I added the same
> for libbfd. This is the main thing that I hit, that build-test all of a
> sudden stopped working for me.
> 
> The first commit is also a cherry pick of an old commit that seemed to
> have been accidentally reverted in the unrelated change linked in the
> trailers.

Thanks, applied to perf-tools-next,

- Arnaldo
 
> ---
> James Clark (4):
>       perf build: Do all non-distro feature checks in one go
>       perf build: Remove unused libbfd-buildid feature test
>       perf build: Feature test for libbfd thread safety API
>       perf build: Skip nondistro build test if libbfd is old
> 
> Roberto Sassu (1):
>       perf build: Remove FEATURE_CHECK_LDFLAGS-disassembler-{four-args,init-styled} setting
> 
>  tools/build/Makefile.feature                 |  2 +-
>  tools/build/feature/Makefile                 |  4 +--
>  tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-buildid.c    |  8 -----
>  tools/build/feature/test-libbfd-threadsafe.c | 18 ++++++++++
>  tools/perf/Makefile.config                   | 54 ++++++++++------------------
>  tools/perf/tests/make                        |  5 +++
>  6 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 46 deletions(-)
> ---
> base-commit: cbd41c6d4c26c161a2b0e70ad411d3885ff13507
> change-id: 20251223-james-libbfd-feat-check-e0cd09d2c1e1
> 
> Best regards,
> -- 
> James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>