diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c b/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c
index 38fcbb5ddce895e01a83194e8b2a13110e3f8b48..a827919c626308beefdf2eb1f2d1b6f69c30edcd 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c
@@ -533,11 +533,8 @@ static const char *cat_backtrace(union perf_event *event,
 		}
 
 		tal.filtered = 0;
-		thread__find_symbol(al.thread, cpumode, ip, &tal);
-
-		if (tal.sym)
-			fprintf(f, "..... %016" PRIx64 " %s\n", ip,
-				tal.sym->name);
+		if (thread__find_symbol(al.thread, cpumode, ip, &tal))
+			fprintf(f, "..... %016" PRIx64 " %s\n", ip, tal.sym->name);
 		else
 			fprintf(f, "..... %016" PRIx64 "\n", ip);
 	}
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/event.c b/tools/perf/util/event.c
index 48e4b252f6ff8fba7ac9fbd2dffdbb2b26aef757..9d94c59046d13b905038db4ef5a7ea8520435204 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/event.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/event.c
@@ -1566,14 +1566,14 @@ struct map *__thread__find_map(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode, enum map_type
 	return al->map;
 }
 
-void __thread__find_symbol(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode,
-			   enum map_type type, u64 addr,
-			   struct addr_location *al)
+struct symbol *__thread__find_symbol(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode,
+				     enum map_type type, u64 addr,
+				     struct addr_location *al)
 {
+	al->sym = NULL;
 	if (__thread__find_map(thread, cpumode, type, addr, al))
 		al->sym = map__find_symbol(al->map, al->addr);
-	else
-		al->sym = NULL;
+	return al->sym;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/thread.h b/tools/perf/util/thread.h
index 1961e4bc1c2c5c95c2a4df00c1f194424e38e20c..1b130b0a4a48187e92b0992b947fae3fd485587b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/thread.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/thread.h
@@ -101,11 +101,11 @@ static inline struct map *thread__find_map(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode,
 	return __thread__find_map(thread, cpumode, MAP__FUNCTION, addr, al);
 }
 
-void __thread__find_symbol(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode, enum map_type type,
-			   u64 addr, struct addr_location *al);
+struct symbol *__thread__find_symbol(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode, enum map_type type,
+				     u64 addr, struct addr_location *al);
 
-static inline void thread__find_symbol(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode,
-				       u64 addr, struct addr_location *al)
+static inline struct symbol *thread__find_symbol(struct thread *thread, u8 cpumode,
+						 u64 addr, struct addr_location *al)
 {
 	return __thread__find_symbol(thread, cpumode, MAP__FUNCTION, addr, al);
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/unwind-libunwind-local.c b/tools/perf/util/unwind-libunwind-local.c
index 4662590ef09152c998f24f479e3ab9efc316f8ac..2afb22b0a1a9bd11dc189a333b8ef11adc889dfb 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/unwind-libunwind-local.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/unwind-libunwind-local.c
@@ -584,11 +584,9 @@ static int entry(u64 ip, struct thread *thread,
 	struct unwind_entry e;
 	struct addr_location al;
 
-	thread__find_symbol(thread, PERF_RECORD_MISC_USER, ip, &al);
-
+	e.sym = thread__find_symbol(thread, PERF_RECORD_MISC_USER, ip, &al);
 	e.ip = al.addr;
 	e.map = al.map;
-	e.sym = al.sym;
 
 	pr_debug("unwind: %s:ip = 0x%" PRIx64 " (0x%" PRIx64 ")\n",
 		 al.sym ? al.sym->name : "''",