diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-map.rst b/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-map.rst
index 3221be1b9cccd18319b8586e87554bd57f2d46dc..64b001b4f777812c2e87083c0117bedad2a5561d 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-map.rst
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-map.rst
@@ -128,6 +128,10 @@ OPTIONS
 	-f, --bpffs
 		  Show file names of pinned maps.
 
+	-n, --nomount
+		  Do not automatically attempt to mount any virtual file system
+		  (such as tracefs or BPF virtual file system) when necessary.
+
 EXAMPLES
 ========
 **# bpftool map show**
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-prog.rst b/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-prog.rst
index 53920ffc48dd444ae8093bf9ef05338d63d2c057..58c8369b77dd556f59c10f8f3266b97cbb671c57 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-prog.rst
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool-prog.rst
@@ -161,6 +161,10 @@ OPTIONS
 	-m, --mapcompat
 		  Allow loading maps with unknown map definitions.
 
+	-n, --nomount
+		  Do not automatically attempt to mount any virtual file system
+		  (such as tracefs or BPF virtual file system) when necessary.
+
 EXAMPLES
 ========
 **# bpftool prog show**
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool.rst b/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool.rst
index 129b7a9c0f9bce5ac78f49d6678e39c8c6fbaa8b..e1677e81ed594a81d9bf8330e46b1d860038f663 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool.rst
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/Documentation/bpftool.rst
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ OPTIONS
 	-m, --mapcompat
 		  Allow loading maps with unknown map definitions.
 
+	-n, --nomount
+		  Do not automatically attempt to mount any virtual file system
+		  (such as tracefs or BPF virtual file system) when necessary.
+
 
 SEE ALSO
 ========
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c
index 24582e8a96fb8edbbcb1962e4141c0d45d37a7cd..897483457bf0306b9831e3dae4f63d4643c2555e 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@ void set_max_rlimit(void)
 	setrlimit(RLIMIT_MEMLOCK, &rinf);
 }
 
-static int mnt_bpffs(const char *target, char *buff, size_t bufflen)
+static int
+mnt_fs(const char *target, const char *type, char *buff, size_t bufflen)
 {
 	bool bind_done = false;
 
@@ -98,15 +99,29 @@ static int mnt_bpffs(const char *target, char *buff, size_t bufflen)
 		bind_done = true;
 	}
 
-	if (mount("bpf", target, "bpf", 0, "mode=0700")) {
-		snprintf(buff, bufflen, "mount -t bpf bpf %s failed: %s",
-			 target, strerror(errno));
+	if (mount(type, target, type, 0, "mode=0700")) {
+		snprintf(buff, bufflen, "mount -t %s %s %s failed: %s",
+			 type, type, target, strerror(errno));
 		return -1;
 	}
 
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int mount_tracefs(const char *target)
+{
+	char err_str[ERR_MAX_LEN];
+	int err;
+
+	err = mnt_fs(target, "tracefs", err_str, ERR_MAX_LEN);
+	if (err) {
+		err_str[ERR_MAX_LEN - 1] = '\0';
+		p_err("can't mount tracefs: %s", err_str);
+	}
+
+	return err;
+}
+
 int open_obj_pinned(char *path, bool quiet)
 {
 	int fd;
@@ -162,7 +177,13 @@ int mount_bpffs_for_pin(const char *name)
 		/* nothing to do if already mounted */
 		goto out_free;
 
-	err = mnt_bpffs(dir, err_str, ERR_MAX_LEN);
+	if (block_mount) {
+		p_err("no BPF file system found, not mounting it due to --nomount option");
+		err = -1;
+		goto out_free;
+	}
+
+	err = mnt_fs(dir, "bpf", err_str, ERR_MAX_LEN);
 	if (err) {
 		err_str[ERR_MAX_LEN - 1] = '\0';
 		p_err("can't mount BPF file system to pin the object (%s): %s",
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.c
index 9e657e7d5172c3e0d5096976d4597db419c52e97..f44a1c2c4ea06f5ff4793e93bdcff344092c8871 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ json_writer_t *json_wtr;
 bool pretty_output;
 bool json_output;
 bool show_pinned;
+bool block_mount;
 int bpf_flags;
 struct pinned_obj_table prog_table;
 struct pinned_obj_table map_table;
@@ -313,6 +314,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		{ "version",	no_argument,	NULL,	'V' },
 		{ "bpffs",	no_argument,	NULL,	'f' },
 		{ "mapcompat",	no_argument,	NULL,	'm' },
+		{ "nomount",	no_argument,	NULL,	'n' },
 		{ 0 }
 	};
 	int opt, ret;
@@ -321,13 +323,14 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	pretty_output = false;
 	json_output = false;
 	show_pinned = false;
+	block_mount = false;
 	bin_name = argv[0];
 
 	hash_init(prog_table.table);
 	hash_init(map_table.table);
 
 	opterr = 0;
-	while ((opt = getopt_long(argc, argv, "Vhpjfm",
+	while ((opt = getopt_long(argc, argv, "Vhpjfmn",
 				  options, NULL)) >= 0) {
 		switch (opt) {
 		case 'V':
@@ -354,6 +357,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		case 'm':
 			bpf_flags = MAPS_RELAX_COMPAT;
 			break;
+		case 'n':
+			block_mount = true;
+			break;
 		default:
 			p_err("unrecognized option '%s'", argv[optind - 1]);
 			if (json_output)
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h b/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h
index 9487345b04a79c1b0677b3bae158530c669596dc..052c91d4dc5585b46f420da26498e6808695401f 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@
 #define HELP_SPEC_PROGRAM						\
 	"PROG := { id PROG_ID | pinned FILE | tag PROG_TAG }"
 #define HELP_SPEC_OPTIONS						\
-	"OPTIONS := { {-j|--json} [{-p|--pretty}] | {-f|--bpffs} | {-m|--mapcompat}"
+	"OPTIONS := { {-j|--json} [{-p|--pretty}] | {-f|--bpffs} |\n"	\
+	"\t            {-m|--mapcompat} | {-n|--nomount} }"
 #define HELP_SPEC_MAP							\
 	"MAP := { id MAP_ID | pinned FILE }"
 
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ extern const char *bin_name;
 extern json_writer_t *json_wtr;
 extern bool json_output;
 extern bool show_pinned;
+extern bool block_mount;
 extern int bpf_flags;
 extern struct pinned_obj_table prog_table;
 extern struct pinned_obj_table map_table;
@@ -98,6 +100,8 @@ void usage(void) __noreturn;
 
 void set_max_rlimit(void);
 
+int mount_tracefs(const char *target);
+
 struct pinned_obj_table {
 	DECLARE_HASHTABLE(table, 16);
 };
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c
index 1fa8e513f5906315986874655c8f267da90cafda..e80a5c79b38f0ba2a35425d2cdcea806d0616b22 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ find_tracefs_mnt_single(unsigned long magic, char *mnt, const char *mntpt)
 	return true;
 }
 
-static bool find_tracefs_pipe(char *mnt)
+static bool get_tracefs_pipe(char *mnt)
 {
 	static const char * const known_mnts[] = {
 		"/sys/kernel/debug/tracing",
@@ -88,7 +88,20 @@ static bool find_tracefs_pipe(char *mnt)
 	fclose(fp);
 
 	/* The string from fscanf() might be truncated, check mnt is valid */
-	if (!found || validate_tracefs_mnt(mnt, TRACEFS_MAGIC))
+	if (found && validate_tracefs_mnt(mnt, TRACEFS_MAGIC))
+		goto exit_found;
+
+	if (block_mount)
+		return false;
+
+	p_info("could not find tracefs, attempting to mount it now");
+	/* Most of the time, tracefs is automatically mounted by debugfs at
+	 * /sys/kernel/debug/tracing when we try to access it. If we could not
+	 * find it, it is likely that debugfs is not mounted. Let's give one
+	 * attempt at mounting just tracefs at /sys/kernel/tracing.
+	 */
+	strcpy(mnt, known_mnts[1]);
+	if (mount_tracefs(mnt))
 		return false;
 
 exit_found:
@@ -115,17 +128,13 @@ int do_tracelog(int argc, char **argv)
 		.sa_handler = exit_tracelog
 	};
 	char trace_pipe[PATH_MAX];
-	bool found_trace_pipe;
 	size_t buff_len = 0;
 
 	if (json_output)
 		jsonw_start_array(json_wtr);
 
-	found_trace_pipe = find_tracefs_pipe(trace_pipe);
-	if (!found_trace_pipe) {
-		p_err("could not find trace pipe, tracefs not mounted?");
+	if (!get_tracefs_pipe(trace_pipe))
 		return -1;
-	}
 
 	trace_pipe_fd = fopen(trace_pipe, "r");
 	if (!trace_pipe_fd) {