diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/Build b/tools/perf/lib/Build
index c31f1c111f8f1..2ef9a4ec6d998 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/Build
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/Build
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ libperf-y += cpumap.o
 libperf-y += threadmap.o
 libperf-y += evsel.o
 libperf-y += evlist.o
+libperf-y += mmap.o
 libperf-y += zalloc.o
 libperf-y += xyarray.o
 libperf-y += lib.o
diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/mmap.h b/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/mmap.h
index ba1e519c15b91..e25890de6a55d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/mmap.h
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/include/internal/mmap.h
@@ -29,4 +29,6 @@ struct perf_mmap {
 	char		 event_copy[PERF_SAMPLE_MAX_SIZE] __aligned(8);
 };
 
+void perf_mmap__init(struct perf_mmap *map, bool overwrite);
+
 #endif /* __LIBPERF_INTERNAL_MMAP_H */
diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/mmap.c b/tools/perf/lib/mmap.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..3da6177510e6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/mmap.c
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+#include <internal/mmap.h>
+
+void perf_mmap__init(struct perf_mmap *map, bool overwrite)
+{
+	map->fd = -1;
+	map->overwrite = overwrite;
+	refcount_set(&map->refcnt, 0);
+}
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index e33b46aca5cbd..6c8de08656708 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -629,8 +629,6 @@ static struct mmap *evlist__alloc_mmap(struct evlist *evlist,
 		return NULL;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < evlist->core.nr_mmaps; i++) {
-		map[i].core.fd = -1;
-		map[i].core.overwrite = overwrite;
 		/*
 		 * When the perf_mmap() call is made we grab one refcount, plus
 		 * one extra to let perf_mmap__consume() get the last
@@ -640,8 +638,9 @@ static struct mmap *evlist__alloc_mmap(struct evlist *evlist,
 		 * Each PERF_EVENT_IOC_SET_OUTPUT points to this mmap and
 		 * thus does perf_mmap__get() on it.
 		 */
-		refcount_set(&map[i].core.refcnt, 0);
+		perf_mmap__init(&map[i].core, overwrite);
 	}
+
 	return map;
 }