diff --git a/tools/perf/util/util.c b/tools/perf/util/util.c
index bf29aed16bd6..d8b45cea54d0 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/util.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/util.c
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ int mkdir_p(char *path, mode_t mode)
 	return (stat(path, &st) && mkdir(path, mode)) ? -1 : 0;
 }
 
-int rm_rf(char *path)
+int rm_rf(const char *path)
 {
 	DIR *dir;
 	int ret = 0;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/util.h b/tools/perf/util/util.h
index 6e8be174ec0b..c74708da8571 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/util.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/util.h
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ static inline int sane_case(int x, int high)
 }
 
 int mkdir_p(char *path, mode_t mode);
-int rm_rf(char *path);
+int rm_rf(const char *path);
 struct strlist *lsdir(const char *name, bool (*filter)(const char *, struct dirent *));
 bool lsdir_no_dot_filter(const char *name, struct dirent *d);
 int copyfile(const char *from, const char *to);