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WSL update clobbers perf with an inferior version #41934

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WSL update clobbers perf with an inferior version#41934
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needs-author-feedbackwsl2Issue/feature applies to WSL 2

Description

@macdew
macdew
opened on Oct 15, 2026

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.9448]

WSL Version

3.0.3.0

Are you using WSL 1, WSL 2, or WSLC?

  • WSL 2
  • WSL 1
  • WSLC

Kernel Version

6.18.54.1-1

Distro Version

Ubuntu 26.04

Other Software

Ubuntu package: linux-perf

Repro Steps

This morning I updated my wsl to the latest version, which clobbered my installed perf binary (v7.0.14). The version you installed is missing ELF/DWARF support so you have broken my development pipeline. Furthermore, your installation is done through mounting your binary directly over the top over the package manager's file, which is quite evil. I would like to see this behaviour fixed/reverted, or else please have a perf binary with decent capabilities.

Expected Behavior

My perf sessions should support the necessary symbols for ELF and DWARF format binaries.
Ubuntu package manager should not end up in an invalid state for the linux-perf package

Actual Behavior

Perf is completely broken, package manager files are shadowed with your mounted version

Diagnostic Logs

No response

Activity

  1. github-actions commented on Oct 15, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Oct 15, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    Logs are required for review from WSL team

    If this a feature request, please reply with '/feature'. If this is a question, reply with '/question'.
    Otherwise, please attach logs by following the instructions below, your issue will not be reviewed unless they are added. These logs will help us understand what is going on in your machine.

    How to collect WSL logs

    Download and execute collect-wsl-logs.ps1 in an administrative powershell prompt:

    Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/WSL/master/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1" -OutFile collect-wsl-logs.ps1
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
.\collect-wsl-logs.ps1

    The script will output the path of the log file once done.

    If this is a networking issue, please use .\collect-wsl-logs.ps1 -LogProfile networking instead, following the instructions in Collect WSL logs for networking issues

    Once completed please upload the output files to this GitHub issue.

    See Collect WSL logs (recommended method).

    If you choose to email these logs instead of attaching them to the bug, please send them to [email protected] with the GitHub issue number in the subject, and include a link to your GitHub issue comment in the message body, and reply with '/emailed-logs'.

  2. github-actions
    added
    needs-author-feedback
    on Oct 15, 2026

  3. kilobytelogic commented on Oct 15, 2026

    @kilobytelogic
    Mikael Karlsson (kilobytelogic)
    on Oct 15, 2026

    I can reproduce a package management failure caused by the perf mount on:

    WSL version: 3.0.3.0
    Kernel version: 6.18.54.1-1
    Distributor ID: Ubuntu
    Description: Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS
    Release: 24.04
    Codename: noble

    Symptoms:

    sudo apt upgrade fails with:

    dpkg: error processing archive
    linux-tools-common_6.8.0-147.147_all.deb (--unpack):
    unable to make backup link of './usr/bin/perf'
    before installing new version: Invalid cross-device link

    Investigation:

    df -T /usr/bin/perf
    => /dev/sdb mounted on /usr/bin/perf

    findmnt /usr/bin/perf
    => /dev/sdb[/6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2/perf/bin/perf]

    The mounted perf binary appears to shadow the file owned by
    linux-tools-common, causing dpkg hard-link creation to fail.

  4. Ben Hillis (benhillis)
    assigned
    Copilot
    and
    Ben Hillis (benhillis)
    on Oct 15, 2026
  5. Copilot
    linked a pull request that will close this issuePreserve distro perf when exposing bundled WSL tooling #41944on Oct 15, 2026
  6. David Bennett (dkbennett)
    added
    wsl2Issue/feature applies to WSL 2
    on Oct 15, 2026
  7. microsoft-github-policy-service
    closed this as completedon Oct 23, 2026

  8. microsoft-github-policy-service commented on Oct 23, 2026

    @microsoft-github-policy-service
    microsoft-github-policy-serviceBot
    on Oct 23, 2026 – with Microsoft GitHub Policy Service
    Contributor

    This issue has been automatically closed since it has not had any author activity for the past 7 days. If you're still experiencing this issue please re-file it as a new issue.

    Thank you!

  9. RaceFPV commented on Oct 24, 2026

    @RaceFPV
    RaceFPV (RaceFPV)
    on Oct 24, 2026

    Unpacking linux-tools-common (6.8.0-147.147) over (6.8.0-142.142) ...
    dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-tools-common_6.8.0-147.147_all.deb (--unpack):
    unable to make backup link of './usr/bin/perf' before installing new version: Invalid cross-device link
    dpkg-deb: error: paste subprocess was killed by signal (Broken pipe)

    still broken as of today, with latest update etc.

  10. shaneknapp commented on Oct 25, 2026

    @shaneknapp
    shane (shaneknapp)
    on Oct 25, 2026

    yep, still broken. i ran in to this today after a failed run of sudo apt-get upgrade, and tried to apt remove and apt-get install --reinstall:

    $ ~ sudo apt-get install --reinstall linux-tools-common
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be upgraded:
  linux-tools-common
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
56 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/434 kB of archives.
After this operation, 54.3 kB of additional disk space will be used.
(Reading database ... 266477 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../linux-tools-common_6.8.0-147.147_all.deb ...
Unpacking linux-tools-common (6.8.0-147.147) over (6.8.0-146.146) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-tools-common_6.8.0-147.147_all.deb (--unpack):
 unable to make backup link of './usr/bin/perf' before installing new version: Invalid cross-device link
dpkg-deb: error: paste subprocess was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-tools-common_6.8.0-147.147_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

    any attempts at rm/unlink give the Device or resource busy error.

  11. kilobytelogic commented on Nov 10, 2026

    @kilobytelogic
    Mikael Karlsson (kilobytelogic)
    on Nov 10, 2026

    My Windows machine just updated wsl to 3.0.5.0 and the problem is no longer present for me.

  12. shaneknapp commented on Nov 10, 2026

    @shaneknapp
    shane (shaneknapp)
    on Nov 10, 2026

    My Windows machine just updated wsl to 3.0.5.0 and the problem is no longer present for me.

    woohoo! same here!

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