1 files changed, 20 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index 82260c56db3d..0e519c667e3a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -307,6 +307,12 @@ try_again:
 		printf("\n");
 		error("perfcounter syscall returned with %d (%s)\n",
 			fd[nr_cpu][counter], strerror(err));
+
+#if defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__)
+		if (attr->type == PERF_TYPE_HARDWARE && err == EOPNOTSUPP)
+			die("No hardware sampling interrupt available. No APIC? If so then you can boot the kernel with the \"lapic\" boot parameter to force-enable it.\n");
+#endif
+
 		die("No CONFIG_PERF_EVENTS=y kernel support configured?\n");
 		exit(-1);
 	}
@@ -400,7 +406,7 @@ static int __cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv)
 	struct stat st;
 	pid_t pid = 0;
 	int flags;
-	int ret;
+	int err;
 	unsigned long waking = 0;
 
 	page_size = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
@@ -434,16 +440,18 @@ static int __cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv)
 		exit(-1);
 	}
 
-	if (!file_new)
-		header = perf_header__read(output);
-	else
-		header = perf_header__new();
-
+	header = perf_header__new();
 	if (header == NULL) {
 		pr_err("Not enough memory for reading perf file header\n");
 		return -1;
 	}
 
+	if (!file_new) {
+		err = perf_header__read(header, output);
+		if (err < 0)
+			return err;
+	}
+
 	if (raw_samples) {
 		perf_header__set_feat(header, HEADER_TRACE_INFO);
 	} else {
@@ -472,8 +480,11 @@ static int __cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv)
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (file_new)
-		perf_header__write(header, output, false);
+	if (file_new) {
+		err = perf_header__write(header, output, false);
+		if (err < 0)
+			return err;
+	}
 
 	if (!system_wide)
 		event__synthesize_thread(pid, process_synthesized_event);
@@ -527,7 +538,7 @@ static int __cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv)
 		if (hits == samples) {
 			if (done)
 				break;
-			ret = poll(event_array, nr_poll, -1);
+			err = poll(event_array, nr_poll, -1);
 			waking++;
 		}