diff --git a/tools/perf/.gitignore b/tools/perf/.gitignore
index a653311d9693..fd7a6ff9e7aa 100644
--- a/tools/perf/.gitignore
+++ b/tools/perf/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ PERF-GUI-VARS
 PERF-VERSION-FILE
 FEATURE-DUMP
 perf
+!include/perf/
 perf-read-vdso32
 perf-read-vdsox32
 perf-help