static int                     system_wide                     =  0;
 static int                     inherit                         =  1;
+static int                     verbose                         =  0;
 
 static int                     fd[MAX_NR_CPUS][MAX_COUNTERS];
 
 static __u64                   runtime_nsecs;
 static __u64                   walltime_nsecs;
 
-static void create_perfstat_counter(int counter)
+static void create_perf_stat_counter(int counter)
 {
        struct perf_counter_attr *attr = attrs + counter;
 
                int cpu;
                for (cpu = 0; cpu < nr_cpus; cpu ++) {
                        fd[cpu][counter] = sys_perf_counter_open(attr, -1, cpu, -1, 0);
-                       if (fd[cpu][counter] < 0) {
-                               printf("perfstat error: syscall returned with %d (%s)\n",
-                                               fd[cpu][counter], strerror(errno));
-                               exit(-1);
+                       if (fd[cpu][counter] < 0 && verbose) {
+                               printf("Error: counter %d, sys_perf_counter_open() syscall returned with %d (%s)\n", counter, fd[cpu][counter], strerror(errno));
                        }
                }
        } else {
                attr->disabled  = 1;
 
                fd[0][counter] = sys_perf_counter_open(attr, 0, -1, -1, 0);
-               if (fd[0][counter] < 0) {
-                       printf("perfstat error: syscall returned with %d (%s)\n",
-                                       fd[0][counter], strerror(errno));
-                       exit(-1);
+               if (fd[0][counter] < 0 && verbose) {
+                       printf("Error: counter %d, sys_perf_counter_open() syscall returned with %d (%s)\n", counter, fd[0][counter], strerror(errno));
                }
        }
 }
 
        nv = scale ? 3 : 1;
        for (cpu = 0; cpu < nr_cpus; cpu ++) {
+               if (fd[cpu][counter] < 0)
+                       continue;
+
                res = read(fd[cpu][counter], single_count, nv * sizeof(__u64));
                assert(res == nv * sizeof(__u64));
 
                if (attrs[counter].type == PERF_TYPE_SOFTWARE &&
                        attrs[counter].config == PERF_COUNT_TASK_CLOCK) {
 
-                       fprintf(stderr, " # %11.3f CPU utilization factor",
-                               (double)count[0] / (double)walltime_nsecs);
+                       if (walltime_nsecs)
+                               fprintf(stderr, " # %11.3f CPU utilization factor",
+                                       (double)count[0] / (double)walltime_nsecs);
                }
        } else {
                fprintf(stderr, " %14Ld  %-20s",
        fprintf(stderr, "\n");
 }
 
-static int do_perfstat(int argc, const char **argv)
+static int do_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv)
 {
        unsigned long long t0, t1;
        int counter;
                nr_cpus = 1;
 
        for (counter = 0; counter < nr_counters; counter++)
-               create_perfstat_counter(counter);
+               create_perf_stat_counter(counter);
 
        /*
         * Enable counters and exec the command:
                            "system-wide collection from all CPUs"),
        OPT_BOOLEAN('S', "scale", &scale,
                            "scale/normalize counters"),
+       OPT_BOOLEAN('v', "verbose", &verbose,
+                   "be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc)"),
        OPT_END()
 };
 
        signal(SIGALRM, skip_signal);
        signal(SIGABRT, skip_signal);
 
-       return do_perfstat(argc, argv);
+       return do_perf_stat(argc, argv);
 }