diff --git a/bpf_perf_event_arm64.h b/bpf_perf_event_arm64.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e1e648
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bpf_perf_event_arm64.h
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 WITH Linux-syscall-note */
+#ifndef _UAPI__ASM_BPF_PERF_EVENT_H__
+#define _UAPI__ASM_BPF_PERF_EVENT_H__
+
+#include <asm/ptrace.h>
+
+typedef struct user_pt_regs bpf_user_pt_regs_t;
+
+#endif /* _UAPI__ASM_BPF_PERF_EVENT_H__ */
diff --git a/perf.spec b/perf.spec
index 0a52beb..cae7726 100644
--- a/perf.spec
+++ b/perf.spec
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 
 %bcond_without manpages
 
+# requires missing header to be patched in
+%bcond_without libbpf
+
 %if 0%{?facebook}
 %bcond_with perl
 %else
@@ -20,6 +23,7 @@ Summary:        Performance monitoring for the Linux kernel
 License:        GPL-2.0-only
 URL:            https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/
 Source:         https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/tools/perf/v%{version}/perf-%{version}.tar.xz 
+Source1:        https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/plain/arch/arm64/include/uapi/asm/bpf_perf_event.h?h=v6.9#/bpf_perf_event_arm64.h
 
 BuildRequires:  make
 BuildRequires:  bison
@@ -86,9 +90,24 @@ The python3-perf package contains a module that permits applications
 written in the Python programming language to use the interface
 to manipulate perf events.
 
+# technically Makefile.config checks for lib64 but it seems to not work
+# ifeq ($(SRCARCH)$(IS_64_BIT), x861)
+%global perf_flags VF=1 prefix=%{_prefix} lib=%{_lib}
+%if %{without libbpf}
+%global perf_flags %perf_flags NO_LIBBPF=1
+%endif
+%global perf_make %make_build %{perf_flags}
+%global perf_make_install %make_install %{perf_flags}
+
 
 %prep
-%autosetup
+%autosetup -p1
+%if %{with libbpf}
+# copy in missing files
+UAPI_ASM_ARM_DIR=arch/arm64/include/uapi/asm
+mkdir -p $UAPI_ASM_ARM_DIR
+cp -p %{SOURCE1} $UAPI_ASM_ARM_DIR/bpf_perf_event.h
+%endif
 
 
 %build
@@ -98,24 +117,20 @@ unset LDFLAGS
 # /usr/bin/ld: perf-in.o: relocation R_X86_64_32 against `.rodata.str1.1' can not be used when making a PIE object; recompile with -fPIE
 #global optflags %{optflags} -fPIE
 
-%make_build -C tools/perf
+%perf_make -C tools/perf
+
+%perf_make -C tools/lib/perf
 
-%make_build -C tools/lib/perf
 
 %install
 unset CXXFLAGS
 unset LDFLAGS
 
-%make_install -C tools/perf \
-  prefix=%{_prefix}
-
-%make_install -C tools/lib/perf \
-  prefix=%{_prefix}
+%perf_make_install -C tools/perf
+%perf_make_install -C tools/lib/perf
 
 # python-perf extension
-%make_install -C tools/perf \
-  prefix=%{_prefix} \
-  install-python_ext
+%perf_make_install install-python_ext -C tools/perf
 
 # remove the 'trace' symlink.
 rm %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/trace