diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-diff.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-diff.txt
index 6a9ec2b..74d7481 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-diff.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-diff.txt
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@
 --force::
        Don't complain, do it.
 
+--symfs=<directory>::
+        Look for files with symbols relative to this directory.
 
 SEE ALSO
 --------
diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-report.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-report.txt
index fefea77..8ba03d6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-report.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-report.txt
@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@
 --force::
         Don't complain, do it.
 
+--symfs=<directory>::
+        Look for files with symbols relative to this directory.
+
 SEE ALSO
 --------
 linkperf:perf-stat[1]
diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-timechart.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-timechart.txt
index 4b17883..d7b79e2 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-timechart.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-timechart.txt
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
 --process::
         Select the processes to display, by name or PID
 
+--symfs=<directory>::
+        Look for files with symbols relative to this directory.
 
 SEE ALSO
 --------
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
index 97846dc..3153e49 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
@@ -194,6 +194,8 @@
 	OPT_STRING('t', "field-separator", &symbol_conf.field_sep, "separator",
 		   "separator for columns, no spaces will be added between "
 		   "columns '.' is reserved."),
+	OPT_STRING(0, "symfs", &symbol_conf.symfs, "directory",
+		    "Look for files with symbols relative to this directory"),
 	OPT_END()
 };
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
index 4af7ce6..75183a4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-report.c
@@ -483,6 +483,8 @@
 		   "columns '.' is reserved."),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('U', "hide-unresolved", &hide_unresolved,
 		    "Only display entries resolved to a symbol"),
+	OPT_STRING(0, "symfs", &symbol_conf.symfs, "directory",
+		    "Look for files with symbols relative to this directory"),
 	OPT_END()
 };
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c b/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c
index 459b5e3..d75084b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-timechart.c
@@ -1022,6 +1022,8 @@
 	OPT_CALLBACK('p', "process", NULL, "process",
 		      "process selector. Pass a pid or process name.",
 		       parse_process),
+	OPT_STRING(0, "symfs", &symbol_conf.symfs, "directory",
+		    "Look for files with symbols relative to this directory"),
 	OPT_END()
 };
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/hist.c b/tools/perf/util/hist.c
index a3b8416..d503670 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/hist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/hist.c
@@ -1092,6 +1092,12 @@
 	FILE *file;
 	int err = 0;
 	u64 len;
+	char symfs_filename[PATH_MAX];
+
+	if (filename) {
+		snprintf(symfs_filename, sizeof(symfs_filename), "%s%s",
+			 symbol_conf.symfs, filename);
+	}
 
 	if (filename == NULL) {
 		if (dso->has_build_id) {
@@ -1100,9 +1106,9 @@
 			return -ENOMEM;
 		}
 		goto fallback;
-	} else if (readlink(filename, command, sizeof(command)) < 0 ||
+	} else if (readlink(symfs_filename, command, sizeof(command)) < 0 ||
 		   strstr(command, "[kernel.kallsyms]") ||
-		   access(filename, R_OK)) {
+		   access(symfs_filename, R_OK)) {
 		free(filename);
 fallback:
 		/*
@@ -1111,6 +1117,8 @@
 		 * DSO is the same as when 'perf record' ran.
 		 */
 		filename = dso->long_name;
+		snprintf(symfs_filename, sizeof(symfs_filename), "%s%s",
+			 symbol_conf.symfs, filename);
 		free_filename = false;
 	}
 
@@ -1137,7 +1145,7 @@
 		 "objdump --start-address=0x%016Lx --stop-address=0x%016Lx -dS -C %s|grep -v %s|expand",
 		 map__rip_2objdump(map, sym->start),
 		 map__rip_2objdump(map, sym->end),
-		 filename, filename);
+		 symfs_filename, filename);
 
 	pr_debug("Executing: %s\n", command);
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/symbol.c b/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
index ceefa65..561db63 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 	.exclude_other	  = true,
 	.use_modules	  = true,
 	.try_vmlinux_path = true,
+	.symfs            = "",
 };
 
 int dso__name_len(const struct dso *self)
@@ -839,8 +840,11 @@
 	char sympltname[1024];
 	Elf *elf;
 	int nr = 0, symidx, fd, err = 0;
+	char name[PATH_MAX];
 
-	fd = open(self->long_name, O_RDONLY);
+	snprintf(name, sizeof(name), "%s%s",
+		 symbol_conf.symfs, self->long_name);
+	fd = open(name, O_RDONLY);
 	if (fd < 0)
 		goto out;
 
@@ -1452,16 +1456,19 @@
 	     self->origin++) {
 		switch (self->origin) {
 		case DSO__ORIG_BUILD_ID_CACHE:
-			if (dso__build_id_filename(self, name, size) == NULL)
+			/* skip the locally configured cache if a symfs is given */
+			if (symbol_conf.symfs[0] ||
+			    (dso__build_id_filename(self, name, size) == NULL)) {
 				continue;
+			}
 			break;
 		case DSO__ORIG_FEDORA:
-			snprintf(name, size, "/usr/lib/debug%s.debug",
-				 self->long_name);
+			snprintf(name, size, "%s/usr/lib/debug%s.debug",
+				 symbol_conf.symfs, self->long_name);
 			break;
 		case DSO__ORIG_UBUNTU:
-			snprintf(name, size, "/usr/lib/debug%s",
-				 self->long_name);
+			snprintf(name, size, "%s/usr/lib/debug%s",
+				 symbol_conf.symfs, self->long_name);
 			break;
 		case DSO__ORIG_BUILDID: {
 			char build_id_hex[BUILD_ID_SIZE * 2 + 1];
@@ -1473,19 +1480,26 @@
 					  sizeof(self->build_id),
 					  build_id_hex);
 			snprintf(name, size,
-				 "/usr/lib/debug/.build-id/%.2s/%s.debug",
-				 build_id_hex, build_id_hex + 2);
+				 "%s/usr/lib/debug/.build-id/%.2s/%s.debug",
+				 symbol_conf.symfs, build_id_hex, build_id_hex + 2);
 			}
 			break;
 		case DSO__ORIG_DSO:
-			snprintf(name, size, "%s", self->long_name);
+			snprintf(name, size, "%s%s",
+			     symbol_conf.symfs, self->long_name);
 			break;
 		case DSO__ORIG_GUEST_KMODULE:
 			if (map->groups && map->groups->machine)
 				root_dir = map->groups->machine->root_dir;
 			else
 				root_dir = "";
-			snprintf(name, size, "%s%s", root_dir, self->long_name);
+			snprintf(name, size, "%s%s%s", symbol_conf.symfs,
+				 root_dir, self->long_name);
+			break;
+
+		case DSO__ORIG_KMODULE:
+			snprintf(name, size, "%s%s", symbol_conf.symfs,
+				 self->long_name);
 			break;
 
 		default:
@@ -1784,17 +1798,20 @@
 			     const char *vmlinux, symbol_filter_t filter)
 {
 	int err = -1, fd;
+	char symfs_vmlinux[PATH_MAX];
 
-	fd = open(vmlinux, O_RDONLY);
+	snprintf(symfs_vmlinux, sizeof(symfs_vmlinux), "%s/%s",
+		 symbol_conf.symfs, vmlinux);
+	fd = open(symfs_vmlinux, O_RDONLY);
 	if (fd < 0)
 		return -1;
 
 	dso__set_loaded(self, map->type);
-	err = dso__load_sym(self, map, vmlinux, fd, filter, 0, 0);
+	err = dso__load_sym(self, map, symfs_vmlinux, fd, filter, 0, 0);
 	close(fd);
 
 	if (err > 0)
-		pr_debug("Using %s for symbols\n", vmlinux);
+		pr_debug("Using %s for symbols\n", symfs_vmlinux);
 
 	return err;
 }
@@ -1872,6 +1889,10 @@
 			goto out_fixup;
 	}
 
+	/* do not try local files if a symfs was given */
+	if (symbol_conf.symfs[0] != 0)
+		return -1;
+
 	/*
 	 * Say the kernel DSO was created when processing the build-id header table,
 	 * we have a build-id, so check if it is the same as the running kernel,
@@ -2262,9 +2283,6 @@
 	struct utsname uts;
 	char bf[PATH_MAX];
 
-	if (uname(&uts) < 0)
-		return -1;
-
 	vmlinux_path = malloc(sizeof(char *) * 5);
 	if (vmlinux_path == NULL)
 		return -1;
@@ -2277,6 +2295,14 @@
 	if (vmlinux_path[vmlinux_path__nr_entries] == NULL)
 		goto out_fail;
 	++vmlinux_path__nr_entries;
+
+	/* only try running kernel version if no symfs was given */
+	if (symbol_conf.symfs[0] != 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	if (uname(&uts) < 0)
+		return -1;
+
 	snprintf(bf, sizeof(bf), "/boot/vmlinux-%s", uts.release);
 	vmlinux_path[vmlinux_path__nr_entries] = strdup(bf);
 	if (vmlinux_path[vmlinux_path__nr_entries] == NULL)
@@ -2336,6 +2362,8 @@
 
 int symbol__init(void)
 {
+	const char *symfs;
+
 	if (symbol_conf.initialized)
 		return 0;
 
@@ -2364,6 +2392,18 @@
 		       symbol_conf.sym_list_str, "symbol") < 0)
 		goto out_free_comm_list;
 
+	/*
+	 * A path to symbols of "/" is identical to ""
+	 * reset here for simplicity.
+	 */
+	symfs = realpath(symbol_conf.symfs, NULL);
+	if (symfs == NULL)
+		symfs = symbol_conf.symfs;
+	if (strcmp(symfs, "/") == 0)
+		symbol_conf.symfs = "";
+	if (symfs != symbol_conf.symfs)
+		free((void *)symfs);
+
 	symbol_conf.initialized = true;
 	return 0;
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/symbol.h b/tools/perf/util/symbol.h
index 12defbe..bcd2f98 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/symbol.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/symbol.h
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@
        struct strlist	*dso_list,
 			*comm_list,
 			*sym_list;
+	const char	*symfs;
 };
 
 extern struct symbol_conf symbol_conf;