static int trace__run(struct trace *trace, int argc, const char **argv)
 {
        struct perf_evlist *evlist = trace->evlist;
+       struct perf_evsel *evsel;
        int err = -1, i;
        unsigned long before;
        const bool forks = argc > 0;
        else if (thread_map__pid(evlist->threads, 0) == -1)
                err = perf_evlist__set_filter_pid(evlist, getpid());
 
-       if (err < 0) {
-               printf("err=%d,%s\n", -err, strerror(-err));
-               exit(1);
-       }
+       if (err < 0)
+               goto out_error_mem;
+
+       err = perf_evlist__apply_filters(evlist, &evsel);
+       if (err < 0)
+               goto out_error_apply_filters;
 
        err = perf_evlist__mmap(evlist, trace->opts.mmap_pages, false);
        if (err < 0)
 out_error:
        fprintf(trace->output, "%s\n", errbuf);
        goto out_delete_evlist;
+
+out_error_apply_filters:
+       fprintf(trace->output,
+               "Failed to set filter \"%s\" on event %s with %d (%s)\n",
+               evsel->filter, perf_evsel__name(evsel), errno,
+               strerror_r(errno, errbuf, sizeof(errbuf)));
+       goto out_delete_evlist;
 }
 out_error_mem:
        fprintf(trace->output, "Not enough memory to run!\n");
 
 {
        struct perf_evsel *evsel;
        int err = 0;
-       const int ncpus = cpu_map__nr(evlist->cpus),
-                 nthreads = thread_map__nr(evlist->threads);
 
        evlist__for_each(evlist, evsel) {
-               err = perf_evsel__apply_filter(evsel, ncpus, nthreads, filter);
+               err = perf_evsel__set_filter(evsel, filter);
                if (err)
                        break;
        }