Re: [PATCH 1/1] perf build: fix "argument list too long" in second location

James Clark
2026-04-10T09:25:03Z

On 09/04/2026 11:14 pm, Markus Mayer wrote:
> Turns out that displaying "RM $^" via quiet_cmd_rm can also upset the
> shell and cause it to display "argument list too long".
>
> Trying to quote $^ doesn't help.
>
> In the end, *not* displaying the (potentially long) list of files is
> probably the right thing to do for a "quiet" message, anyway. Instead,
> let's display a count of how many files were removed. There is always
> V=1 if more detail is required.
>
> TEST linux/tools/perf/pmu-events/metric_test.log
> RM ...634 orphan file(s)...
> LD linux/tools/perf/util/perf-util-in.o
>
> Also move the comment regarding xargs before the rule, so it doesn't
> show up in the build output.
>

I'm assuming this is just a cosmetic issue so it doesn't need a fixes
tag? And "upsetting the shell" doesn't cause a build failure?

Otherwise looks good to me.

Reviewed-by: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>

> Signed-off-by: Markus Mayer <mmayer@broadcom.com>
> ---
> tools/perf/pmu-events/Build | 4 ++--
> 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build b/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build
> index dc5f94862a3b..dc1df2d57ddc 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build
> +++ b/tools/perf/pmu-events/Build
> @@ -211,10 +211,10 @@ ifneq ($(strip $(ORPHAN_FILES)),)
>
> # Message for $(call echo-cmd,rm). Generally cleaning files isn't part
> # of a build step.
> -quiet_cmd_rm = RM $^
> +quiet_cmd_rm = RM ...$(words $^) orphan file(s)...
>
> +# The list of files can be long. Use xargs to prevent issues.
> prune_orphans: $(ORPHAN_FILES)
> - # The list of files can be long. Use xargs to prevent issues.
> $(Q)$(call echo-cmd,rm)echo "$^" | xargs rm -f
>
> JEVENTS_DEPS += prune_orphans