diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
index 36ccc2b8827fdd239b657e79b396ae013c318462..4d72359fd15ad00ca7397bb033e84b4f899546c2 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
@@ -1264,8 +1264,6 @@ int cmd_diff(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 	if (ret < 0)
 		return ret;
 
-	perf_config(perf_default_config, NULL);
-
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, options, diff_usage, 0);
 
 	if (symbol__init(NULL) < 0)
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-help.c b/tools/perf/builtin-help.c
index f4dd2b48f90fcd6d42fe7981c97de72a41bf6154..49d55e21b1b06dbecd9c6935a2e0f33550585514 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-help.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-help.c
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ static int perf_help_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	if (!prefixcmp(var, "man."))
 		return add_man_viewer_info(var, value);
 
-	return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static struct cmdnames main_cmds, other_cmds;
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
index 118010553d0cf0dca9de6f493a5c8e267b0fff48..4d3340cce9a0200b469fd61a563eee4cb7f48830 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
@@ -1834,7 +1834,7 @@ static int __cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv)
 	return cmd_record(i, rec_argv, NULL);
 }
 
-static int kmem_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
+static int kmem_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb __maybe_unused)
 {
 	if (!strcmp(var, "kmem.default")) {
 		if (!strcmp(value, "slab"))
@@ -1847,7 +1847,7 @@ static int kmem_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 int cmd_kmem(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
index f4d8244449ca429b5c15775eca15f4cdb3dc5470..7eea49f9ed46b520bdce56972379b76c14302c4b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ static int report__config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static int hist_iter__report_callback(struct hist_entry_iter *iter,
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
index b86b623e8799b46757c04e99f19615cc0307c4f3..94af190f6843d2c92e68b2dfef8dc51017c42079 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
@@ -1065,7 +1065,7 @@ parse_callchain_opt(const struct option *opt, const char *arg, int unset)
 	return parse_callchain_top_opt(arg);
 }
 
-static int perf_top_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
+static int perf_top_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb __maybe_unused)
 {
 	if (!strcmp(var, "top.call-graph"))
 		var = "call-graph.record-mode"; /* fall-through */
@@ -1074,7 +1074,7 @@ static int perf_top_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static int
diff --git a/tools/perf/perf.c b/tools/perf/perf.c
index f6321194937f8679d7f778f2fb64962dba78b535..aaee0a7827477810c5c0d2d82753545592d7f22f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/perf.c
+++ b/tools/perf/perf.c
@@ -548,6 +548,8 @@ int main(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	srandom(time(NULL));
 
+	perf_config(perf_default_config, NULL);
+
 	/* get debugfs/tracefs mount point from /proc/mounts */
 	tracing_path_mount();
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/llvm.c b/tools/perf/tests/llvm.c
index 70edcdfa5672434950a9bba66150d0e0db7a6a4e..cff564fb4b66761f7f7fdcd5ee10727ad3b08726 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/llvm.c
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/llvm.c
@@ -6,12 +6,6 @@
 #include "tests.h"
 #include "debug.h"
 
-static int perf_config_cb(const char *var, const char *val,
-			  void *arg __maybe_unused)
-{
-	return perf_default_config(var, val, arg);
-}
-
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBBPF_SUPPORT
 static int test__bpf_parsing(void *obj_buf, size_t obj_buf_sz)
 {
@@ -77,8 +71,6 @@ test_llvm__fetch_bpf_obj(void **p_obj_buf,
 	if (should_load_fail)
 		*should_load_fail = bpf_source_table[idx].should_load_fail;
 
-	perf_config(perf_config_cb, NULL);
-
 	/*
 	 * Skip this test if user's .perfconfig doesn't set [llvm] section
 	 * and clang is not found in $PATH, and this is not perf test -v
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/color.c b/tools/perf/util/color.c
index e5fb88bab9e1c416a3c53fe5036f8eb57f64a55d..43e84aa27e4a6489eafdebc3636d8bfb33334e3f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/color.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/color.c
@@ -32,14 +32,15 @@ int perf_config_colorbool(const char *var, const char *value, int stdout_is_tty)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-int perf_color_default_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
+int perf_color_default_config(const char *var, const char *value,
+			      void *cb __maybe_unused)
 {
 	if (!strcmp(var, "color.ui")) {
 		perf_use_color_default = perf_config_colorbool(var, value, -1);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static int __color_vsnprintf(char *bf, size_t size, const char *color,
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/data-convert-bt.c b/tools/perf/util/data-convert-bt.c
index b722e57d5a877131df36634d983eff7606b9a1f5..6729f4d9df7c3d888ef1701cdd65cb23e7bef410 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/data-convert-bt.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/data-convert-bt.c
@@ -1117,7 +1117,7 @@ static int convert__config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 int bt_convert__perf2ctf(const char *input, const char *path, bool force)
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/help-unknown-cmd.c b/tools/perf/util/help-unknown-cmd.c
index dc1e41c9b054b186c0d9349d97e9d0f467099ac0..43a98a4dc1e1e90c7079fba26929022ec0959a31 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/help-unknown-cmd.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/help-unknown-cmd.c
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 static int autocorrect;
 static struct cmdnames aliases;
 
-static int perf_unknown_cmd_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
+static int perf_unknown_cmd_config(const char *var, const char *value,
+				   void *cb __maybe_unused)
 {
 	if (!strcmp(var, "help.autocorrect"))
 		autocorrect = perf_config_int(var,value);
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ static int perf_unknown_cmd_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	if (!prefixcmp(var, "alias."))
 		add_cmdname(&aliases, var + 6, strlen(var + 6));
 
-	return perf_default_config(var, value, cb);
+	return 0;
 }
 
 static int levenshtein_compare(const void *p1, const void *p2)