diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/Makefile b/Documentation/perf_counter/Makefile
index 5b99f04df81..32c0bb21a32 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/Makefile
@@ -328,6 +328,7 @@ BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin-record.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin-report.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin-stat.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin-top.o
+BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin-list.o
 
 PERFLIBS = $(LIB_FILE)
 EXTLIBS =
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-list.c b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-list.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fe60e37c96e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-list.c
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/*
+ * builtin-list.c
+ *
+ * Builtin list command: list all event types
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2009, Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
+ * Copyright (C) 2008-2009, Red Hat Inc, Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
+ */
+#include "builtin.h"
+
+#include "perf.h"
+
+#include "util/parse-options.h"
+#include "util/parse-events.h"
+
+int cmd_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
+{
+	print_events();
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-record.c b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-record.c
index 130fd88266b..aeab9c4b15e 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-record.c
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-record.c
@@ -495,11 +495,10 @@ static const char * const record_usage[] = {
 	NULL
 };
 
-static char events_help_msg[EVENTS_HELP_MAX];
-
 static const struct option options[] = {
 	OPT_CALLBACK('e', "event", NULL, "event",
-		     events_help_msg, parse_events),
+		     "event selector. use 'perf list' to list available events",
+		     parse_events),
 	OPT_INTEGER('p', "pid", &target_pid,
 		    "record events on existing pid"),
 	OPT_INTEGER('r', "realtime", &realtime_prio,
@@ -527,8 +526,6 @@ int cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	int counter;
 
-	create_events_help(events_help_msg);
-
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, options, record_usage, 0);
 	if (!argc && target_pid == -1 && !system_wide)
 		usage_with_options(record_usage, options);
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-stat.c b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-stat.c
index 9711e552423..2cbf5a18958 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-stat.c
@@ -293,18 +293,17 @@ static const char * const stat_usage[] = {
 	NULL
 };
 
-static char events_help_msg[EVENTS_HELP_MAX];
-
 static const struct option options[] = {
 	OPT_CALLBACK('e', "event", NULL, "event",
-		     events_help_msg, parse_events),
+		     "event selector. use 'perf list' to list available events",
+		     parse_events),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('i', "inherit", &inherit,
 		    "child tasks inherit counters"),
 	OPT_INTEGER('p', "pid", &target_pid,
 		    "stat events on existing pid"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('a', "all-cpus", &system_wide,
 			    "system-wide collection from all CPUs"),
-	OPT_BOOLEAN('l', "scale", &scale,
+	OPT_BOOLEAN('S', "scale", &scale,
 			    "scale/normalize counters"),
 	OPT_END()
 };
@@ -313,8 +312,6 @@ int cmd_stat(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	page_size = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
 
-	create_events_help(events_help_msg);
-
 	memcpy(attrs, default_attrs, sizeof(attrs));
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, options, stat_usage, 0);
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-top.c b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-top.c
index 98a6d53e17b..f2e7312f85c 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-top.c
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin-top.c
@@ -606,11 +606,10 @@ static const char * const top_usage[] = {
 	NULL
 };
 
-static char events_help_msg[EVENTS_HELP_MAX];
-
 static const struct option options[] = {
 	OPT_CALLBACK('e', "event", NULL, "event",
-		     events_help_msg, parse_events),
+		     "event selector. use 'perf list' to list available events",
+		     parse_events),
 	OPT_INTEGER('c', "count", &default_interval,
 		    "event period to sample"),
 	OPT_INTEGER('p', "pid", &target_pid,
@@ -648,8 +647,6 @@ int cmd_top(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	page_size = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
 
-	create_events_help(events_help_msg);
-
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, options, top_usage, 0);
 	if (argc)
 		usage_with_options(top_usage, options);
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin.h b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin.h
index 5bfea57d33f..e7de47da858 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin.h
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/builtin.h
@@ -20,4 +20,6 @@ extern int cmd_report(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 extern int cmd_stat(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 extern int cmd_top(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 extern int cmd_version(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
+extern int cmd_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/perf.c b/Documentation/perf_counter/perf.c
index ec7edb7fbe2..9ac75657a18 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/perf.c
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/perf.c
@@ -258,6 +258,7 @@ static void handle_internal_command(int argc, const char **argv)
 	const char *cmd = argv[0];
 	static struct cmd_struct commands[] = {
 		{ "help", cmd_help, 0 },
+		{ "list", cmd_list, 0 },
 		{ "record", cmd_record, 0 },
 		{ "report", cmd_report, 0 },
 		{ "stat", cmd_stat, 0 },
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.c b/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.c
index de9a77c4715..150fbd26271 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.c
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.c
@@ -274,31 +274,43 @@ again:
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static const char * const event_type_descriptors[] = {
+	"",
+	"Hardware event",
+	"Software event",
+	"Tracepoint event",
+	"Hardware cache event",
+};
+
 /*
- * Create the help text for the event symbols:
+ * Print the help text for the event symbols:
  */
-void create_events_help(char *events_help_msg)
+void print_events(void)
 {
-	unsigned int i;
-	char *str;
+	struct event_symbol *syms = event_symbols;
+	unsigned int i, type, prev_type = -1;
 
-	str = events_help_msg;
+	fprintf(stderr, "\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "List of pre-defined events (to be used in -e):\n");
 
-	str += sprintf(str,
-	"event name: [");
+	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(event_symbols); i++, syms++) {
+		type = syms->type + 1;
+		if (type > ARRAY_SIZE(event_type_descriptors))
+			type = 0;
 
-	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(event_symbols); i++) {
-		int type, id;
+		if (type != prev_type)
+			fprintf(stderr, "\n");
 
-		type = event_symbols[i].type;
-		id = event_symbols[i].config;
+		fprintf(stderr, "  %-30s [%s]\n", syms->symbol,
+			event_type_descriptors[type]);
 
-		if (i)
-			str += sprintf(str, "|");
-
-		str += sprintf(str, "%s",
-				event_symbols[i].symbol);
+		prev_type = type;
 	}
 
-	str += sprintf(str, "|rNNN]");
+	fprintf(stderr, "\n");
+	fprintf(stderr, "  %-30s [raw hardware event descriptor]\n",
+		"rNNN");
+	fprintf(stderr, "\n");
+
+	exit(129);
 }
diff --git a/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.h b/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.h
index 542971c495b..e3d552908e6 100644
--- a/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.h
+++ b/Documentation/perf_counter/util/parse-events.h
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@ extern int parse_events(const struct option *opt, const char *str, int unset);
 
 #define EVENTS_HELP_MAX (128*1024)
 
-extern void create_events_help(char *help_msg);
+extern void print_events(void);