return evsel->fd != NULL ? 0 : -ENOMEM;
 }
 
-int perf_evsel__set_filter(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
-                          const char *filter)
+static int perf_evsel__run_ioctl(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
+                         int ioc,  void *arg)
 {
        int cpu, thread;
 
        for (cpu = 0; cpu < ncpus; cpu++) {
                for (thread = 0; thread < nthreads; thread++) {
                        int fd = FD(evsel, cpu, thread),
-                           err = ioctl(fd, PERF_EVENT_IOC_SET_FILTER, filter);
+                           err = ioctl(fd, ioc, arg);
 
                        if (err)
                                return err;
        return 0;
 }
 
+int perf_evsel__set_filter(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
+                          const char *filter)
+{
+       return perf_evsel__run_ioctl(evsel, ncpus, nthreads,
+                                    PERF_EVENT_IOC_SET_FILTER,
+                                    (void *)filter);
+}
+
+int perf_evsel__enable(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads)
+{
+       return perf_evsel__run_ioctl(evsel, ncpus, nthreads,
+                                    PERF_EVENT_IOC_ENABLE,
+                                    0);
+}
+
 int perf_evsel__alloc_id(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads)
 {
        evsel->sample_id = xyarray__new(ncpus, nthreads, sizeof(struct perf_sample_id));
 
 
 int perf_evsel__set_filter(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads,
                           const char *filter);
+int perf_evsel__enable(struct perf_evsel *evsel, int ncpus, int nthreads);
 
 int perf_evsel__open_per_cpu(struct perf_evsel *evsel,
                             struct cpu_map *cpus);