diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/ftracetest b/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/ftracetest
index 8ec1922e974e..c3311c8c4089 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/ftracetest
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/ftracetest
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ for t in $TEST_CASES; do
     exit 1
   fi
 done
-(cd $TRACING_DIR; initialize_ftrace) # for cleanup
+(cd $TRACING_DIR; finish_ftrace) # for cleanup
 
 prlog ""
 prlog "# of passed: " `echo $PASSED_CASES | wc -w`
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/test.d/functions b/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/test.d/functions
index 000fd05e84b1..5f6cbec847fc 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/test.d/functions
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/ftrace/test.d/functions
@@ -124,10 +124,22 @@ initialize_ftrace() { # Reset ftrace to initial-state
     [ -f uprobe_events ] && echo > uprobe_events
     [ -f synthetic_events ] && echo > synthetic_events
     [ -f snapshot ] && echo 0 > snapshot
+
+# Stop tracing while reading the trace file by default, to prevent
+# the test results while checking it and to avoid taking a long time
+# to check the result.
+    [ -f options/pause-on-trace ] && echo 1 > options/pause-on-trace
+
     clear_trace
     enable_tracing
 }
 
+finish_ftrace() {
+    initialize_ftrace
+# And recover it to default.
+    [ -f options/pause-on-trace ] && echo 0 > options/pause-on-trace
+}
+
 check_requires() { # Check required files and tracers
     for i in "$@" ; do
         r=${i%:README}