diff --git a/tools/perf/util/pmu.c b/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
index c6b16b1..7bcb8c3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
@@ -206,17 +206,12 @@
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int perf_pmu__new_alias(struct list_head *list, char *dir, char *name, FILE *file)
+static int __perf_pmu__new_alias(struct list_head *list, char *dir, char *name,
+				 char *desc __maybe_unused, char *val)
 {
 	struct perf_pmu_alias *alias;
-	char buf[256];
 	int ret;
 
-	ret = fread(buf, 1, sizeof(buf), file);
-	if (ret == 0)
-		return -EINVAL;
-	buf[ret] = 0;
-
 	alias = malloc(sizeof(*alias));
 	if (!alias)
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -226,26 +221,43 @@
 	alias->unit[0] = '\0';
 	alias->per_pkg = false;
 
-	ret = parse_events_terms(&alias->terms, buf);
+	ret = parse_events_terms(&alias->terms, val);
 	if (ret) {
+		pr_err("Cannot parse alias %s: %d\n", val, ret);
 		free(alias);
 		return ret;
 	}
 
 	alias->name = strdup(name);
-	/*
-	 * load unit name and scale if available
-	 */
-	perf_pmu__parse_unit(alias, dir, name);
-	perf_pmu__parse_scale(alias, dir, name);
-	perf_pmu__parse_per_pkg(alias, dir, name);
-	perf_pmu__parse_snapshot(alias, dir, name);
+	if (dir) {
+		/*
+		 * load unit name and scale if available
+		 */
+		perf_pmu__parse_unit(alias, dir, name);
+		perf_pmu__parse_scale(alias, dir, name);
+		perf_pmu__parse_per_pkg(alias, dir, name);
+		perf_pmu__parse_snapshot(alias, dir, name);
+	}
 
 	list_add_tail(&alias->list, list);
 
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int perf_pmu__new_alias(struct list_head *list, char *dir, char *name, FILE *file)
+{
+	char buf[256];
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = fread(buf, 1, sizeof(buf), file);
+	if (ret == 0)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	buf[ret] = 0;
+
+	return __perf_pmu__new_alias(list, dir, name, NULL, buf);
+}
+
 static inline bool pmu_alias_info_file(char *name)
 {
 	size_t len;