struct perf_evlist *evlist __maybe_unused)
 {
        struct perf_pmu *pmu = NULL;
-       off_t offset = lseek(ff->fd, 0, SEEK_CUR);
-       __u32 pmu_num = 0;
+       u32 pmu_num = 0;
        int ret;
 
-       /* write real pmu_num later */
+       /*
+        * Do a first pass to count number of pmu to avoid lseek so this
+        * works in pipe mode as well.
+        */
+       while ((pmu = perf_pmu__scan(pmu))) {
+               if (!pmu->name)
+                       continue;
+               pmu_num++;
+       }
+
        ret = do_write(ff, &pmu_num, sizeof(pmu_num));
        if (ret < 0)
                return ret;
        while ((pmu = perf_pmu__scan(pmu))) {
                if (!pmu->name)
                        continue;
-               pmu_num++;
 
                ret = do_write(ff, &pmu->type, sizeof(pmu->type));
                if (ret < 0)
                        return ret;
        }
 
-       if (pwrite(ff->fd, &pmu_num, sizeof(pmu_num), offset) != sizeof(pmu_num)) {
-               /* discard all */
-               lseek(ff->fd, offset, SEEK_SET);
-               return -1;
-       }
-
        return 0;
 }