diff --git a/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.c b/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.c
index 4f8ec7d476b892b230ed64f92e4d8cd229169886..6f5fe942eff46ddd190de13c63a03bd2882834fc 100644
--- a/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.c
+++ b/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.c
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 #include "tracing_path.h"
 
 static char tracing_mnt[PATH_MAX]  = "/sys/kernel/debug";
-char tracing_path[PATH_MAX]        = "/sys/kernel/debug/tracing";
+static char tracing_path[PATH_MAX]        = "/sys/kernel/debug/tracing";
 char tracing_events_path[PATH_MAX] = "/sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events";
 
 
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ char *get_tracing_file(const char *name)
 {
 	char *file;
 
-	if (asprintf(&file, "%s/%s", tracing_path, name) < 0)
+	if (asprintf(&file, "%s/%s", tracing_path_mount(), name) < 0)
 		return NULL;
 
 	return file;
diff --git a/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.h b/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.h
index 0066f06cc3817c1a45e85385449902e0d68571f8..1b65decedfc07fc8d543789532e0c1cb74372cfe 100644
--- a/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.h
+++ b/tools/lib/api/fs/tracing_path.h
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 
 #include <linux/types.h>
 
-extern char tracing_path[];
 extern char tracing_events_path[];
 
 void tracing_path_set(const char *mountpoint);
diff --git a/tools/perf/perf.c b/tools/perf/perf.c
index cd6ea55d4b0c64b46b0e8070b844fca1258fda17..d5a0878de816060e91c7bed0e86e7d74c8153f49 100644
--- a/tools/perf/perf.c
+++ b/tools/perf/perf.c
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ static int handle_options(const char ***argv, int *argc, int *envchanged)
 			(*argc)--;
 		} else if (strstarts(cmd, CMD_DEBUGFS_DIR)) {
 			tracing_path_set(cmd + strlen(CMD_DEBUGFS_DIR));
-			fprintf(stderr, "dir: %s\n", tracing_path);
+			fprintf(stderr, "dir: %s\n", tracing_path_mount());
 			if (envchanged)
 				*envchanged = 1;
 		} else if (!strcmp(cmd, "--list-cmds")) {
@@ -463,9 +463,6 @@ int main(int argc, const char **argv)
 		return err;
 	set_buildid_dir(NULL);
 
-	/* get debugfs/tracefs mount point from /proc/mounts */
-	tracing_path_mount();
-
 	/*
 	 * "perf-xxxx" is the same as "perf xxxx", but we obviously:
 	 *
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/probe-file.c b/tools/perf/util/probe-file.c
index 4ae1123c67949a01cadc1f4080728b038e15b88b..b76088fadf3d02476fec0270870d8f4cfb9a84ca 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/probe-file.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/probe-file.c
@@ -84,8 +84,7 @@ int open_trace_file(const char *trace_file, bool readwrite)
 	char buf[PATH_MAX];
 	int ret;
 
-	ret = e_snprintf(buf, PATH_MAX, "%s/%s",
-			 tracing_path, trace_file);
+	ret = e_snprintf(buf, PATH_MAX, "%s/%s", tracing_path_mount(), trace_file);
 	if (ret >= 0) {
 		pr_debug("Opening %s write=%d\n", buf, readwrite);
 		if (readwrite && !probe_event_dry_run)