diff --git a/tools/perf/util/llvm-utils.c b/tools/perf/util/llvm-utils.c
index 62f6d7dc2dda..9d02aa93ef90 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/llvm-utils.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/llvm-utils.c
@@ -214,14 +214,14 @@ static int detect_kbuild_dir(char **kbuild_dir)
 	const char *prefix_dir = "";
 	const char *suffix_dir = "";
 
+	/* _UTSNAME_LENGTH is 65 */
+	char release[128];
+
 	char *autoconf_path;
 
 	int err;
 
 	if (!test_dir) {
-		/* _UTSNAME_LENGTH is 65 */
-		char release[128];
-
 		err = fetch_kernel_version(NULL, release,
 					   sizeof(release));
 		if (err)