diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-config.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-config.txt
index 15949e2a7805cc6e7d848ddbf2f99b249e332f3b..68c89190e79ce7d521d4275caca3bafb68ead2be 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-config.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-config.txt
@@ -382,6 +382,10 @@ call-graph.*::
 		histogram entry. Default is 0 which means no limitation.
 
 report.*::
+	report.sort_order::
+		Allows changing the default sort order from "comm,dso,symbol" to
+		some other default, for instance "sym,dso" may be more fitting for
+		kernel developers.
 	report.percent-limit::
 		This one is mostly the same as call-graph.threshold but works for
 		histogram entries. Entries having an overhead lower than this
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
index 949e5a15c960e2ef190cc97217df29d561c73777..b9e046baa5fc2e09488bafb60eacecd21f4e478c 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
@@ -89,6 +89,10 @@ static int report__config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		rep->queue_size = perf_config_u64(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
+	if (!strcmp(var, "report.sort_order")) {
+		default_sort_order = strdup(value);
+		return 0;
+	}
 
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/sort.c b/tools/perf/util/sort.c
index 5ae3d32a21d66d6ebbefed0ff5ed896a70d232e0..1884d7f9b9d2abc516653c479ab3dfb85ecf8a70 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/sort.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/sort.c
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 regex_t		parent_regex;
 const char	default_parent_pattern[] = "^sys_|^do_page_fault";
 const char	*parent_pattern = default_parent_pattern;
-const char	default_sort_order[] = "comm,dso,symbol";
+const char	*default_sort_order = "comm,dso,symbol";
 const char	default_branch_sort_order[] = "comm,dso_from,symbol_from,symbol_to,cycles";
 const char	default_mem_sort_order[] = "local_weight,mem,sym,dso,symbol_daddr,dso_daddr,snoop,tlb,locked";
 const char	default_top_sort_order[] = "dso,symbol";
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/sort.h b/tools/perf/util/sort.h
index 7ca37ea1739559e1e3f064c9260d5d078cb5b84f..28c0524c87026a213f6f2af95cc71bb6d30f251d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/sort.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/sort.h
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ extern const char *sort_order;
 extern const char *field_order;
 extern const char default_parent_pattern[];
 extern const char *parent_pattern;
-extern const char default_sort_order[];
+extern const char *default_sort_order;
 extern regex_t ignore_callees_regex;
 extern int have_ignore_callees;
 extern enum sort_mode sort__mode;