[PATCH v6.19-rc1 1/1] libperf: Compile using -std=gnu17 to deal with visibility attribute issues

Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
2025-12-03T21:20:11Z

We seem to need a more invasive patch using 'extern' on all LIBPERF_API
prefixed functions to be future proof, so use -std=gnu17 which is the
one in gcc 14, present in the distro generation before ubuntu 25.10 (gcc
15).

But to make progress and avoid this on Ubuntu 25.10/gcc 15, lets to with
the easy workaround:

evlist.c: In function 'perf_evlist__purge':
evlist.c:202:17: error: implicit declaration of function 'perf_evsel__delete'; did you mean 'perf_evsel__exit'? [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
202 | perf_evsel__delete(pos);
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| perf_evsel__exit
evlist.c:202:17: error: nested extern declaration of 'perf_evsel__delete' [-Werror=nested-externs]
evlist.c: In function 'perf_evlist__open':
evlist.c:261:23: error: implicit declaration of function 'perf_evsel__open'; did you mean 'perf_evsel__exit'? [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
261 | err = perf_evsel__open(evsel, evsel->cpus, evsel->threads);
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| perf_evsel__exit
evlist.c:261:23: error: nested extern declaration of 'perf_evsel__open' [-Werror=nested-externs]

libbpf doesn't experience this because for some other reason it already
has this line:

override CFLAGS += -std=gnu89

Cc: Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@intel.com>
Cc: Ian Rogers <irogers@google.com>
Cc: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@kernel.org>
Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
---
tools/lib/perf/Makefile | 1 +
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/tools/lib/perf/Makefile b/tools/lib/perf/Makefile
index 7fbb50b74c00b3b9..5e12fd97f50c1efb 100644
--- a/tools/lib/perf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/lib/perf/Makefile
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ INCLUDES = \
-I$(srctree)/tools/include/uapi

# Append required CFLAGS
+override CFLAGS += -std=gnu17
override CFLAGS += -g -Werror -Wall
override CFLAGS += -fPIC
override CFLAGS += $(INCLUDES)
--
2.52.0