diff --git a/tools/perf/Makefile b/tools/perf/Makefile
index 3b925ad0d5f5..6f6f13a13bb6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/perf/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+
+#
+# Clear out the built-in rules GNU make defines by default (such as .o targets),
+# so that we pass through all targets to Makefile.perf:
+#
+.SUFFIXES:
+
 #
 # Do a parallel build with multiple jobs, based on the number of CPUs online
 # in this system: 'make -j8' on a 8-CPU system, etc.