diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c b/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c
index 646bdd518793..fdc8c1894b37 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/evlist.c
@@ -2,3 +2,8 @@
 #include <perf/evlist.h>
 #include <linux/list.h>
 #include <internal/evlist.h>
+
+void perf_evlist__init(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
+{
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&evlist->entries);
+}
diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/include/perf/evlist.h b/tools/perf/lib/include/perf/evlist.h
index 92b0eb39caec..1ddfcca0bd01 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/include/perf/evlist.h
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/include/perf/evlist.h
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 #ifndef __LIBPERF_EVLIST_H
 #define __LIBPERF_EVLIST_H
 
+#include <perf/core.h>
+
 struct perf_evlist;
 
+LIBPERF_API void perf_evlist__init(struct perf_evlist *evlist);
+
 #endif /* __LIBPERF_EVLIST_H */
diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/libperf.map b/tools/perf/lib/libperf.map
index 54f8503c6d82..5ca6ff6fcdfa 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/libperf.map
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/libperf.map
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ LIBPERF_0.0.1 {
 		perf_thread_map__get;
 		perf_thread_map__put;
 		perf_evsel__init;
+		perf_evlist__init;
 	local:
 		*;
 };
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index faf3ffd81d4c..f4aa6cf80559 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include <linux/log2.h>
 #include <linux/err.h>
 #include <linux/zalloc.h>
+#include <perf/evlist.h>
 
 #ifdef LACKS_SIGQUEUE_PROTOTYPE
 int sigqueue(pid_t pid, int sig, const union sigval value);
@@ -48,7 +49,7 @@ void evlist__init(struct evlist *evlist, struct perf_cpu_map *cpus,
 
 	for (i = 0; i < PERF_EVLIST__HLIST_SIZE; ++i)
 		INIT_HLIST_HEAD(&evlist->heads[i]);
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&evlist->core.entries);
+	perf_evlist__init(&evlist->core);
 	perf_evlist__set_maps(evlist, cpus, threads);
 	fdarray__init(&evlist->pollfd, 64);
 	evlist->workload.pid = -1;