diff -ur perf-3.9.4-orig/builtin-top.c perf-3.9.4/builtin-top.c
--- perf-3.9.4-orig/builtin-top.c	2013-05-25 20:02:49.000000000 +0200
+++ perf-3.9.4/builtin-top.c	2013-06-05 17:08:59.028950951 +0200
@@ -1059,6 +1059,8 @@
 		    "list of cpus to monitor"),
 	OPT_STRING('k', "vmlinux", &symbol_conf.vmlinux_name,
 		   "file", "vmlinux pathname"),
+	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "ignore-vmlinux", &symbol_conf.ignore_vmlinux,
+		    "don't load vmlinux even if found"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('K', "hide_kernel_symbols", &top.hide_kernel_symbols,
 		    "hide kernel symbols"),
 	OPT_UINTEGER('m', "mmap-pages", &opts->mmap_pages,
diff -ur perf-3.9.4-orig/util/symbol.c perf-3.9.4/util/symbol.c
--- perf-3.9.4-orig/util/symbol.c	2013-05-25 20:02:49.000000000 +0200
+++ perf-3.9.4/util/symbol.c	2013-06-05 17:08:59.032950668 +0200
@@ -968,7 +968,7 @@
 		goto do_kallsyms;
 	}
 
-	if (symbol_conf.vmlinux_name != NULL) {
+	if (!symbol_conf.ignore_vmlinux && symbol_conf.vmlinux_name != NULL) {
 		err = dso__load_vmlinux(dso, map,
 					symbol_conf.vmlinux_name, filter);
 		if (err > 0) {
@@ -980,7 +980,7 @@
 		return err;
 	}
 
-	if (vmlinux_path != NULL) {
+	if (!symbol_conf.ignore_vmlinux && vmlinux_path != NULL) {
 		err = dso__load_vmlinux_path(dso, map, filter);
 		if (err > 0)
 			goto out_fixup;
diff -ur perf-3.9.4-orig/util/symbol.h perf-3.9.4/util/symbol.h
--- perf-3.9.4-orig/util/symbol.h	2013-05-26 11:30:18.000000000 +0200
+++ perf-3.9.4/util/symbol.h	2013-06-05 17:08:59.041950570 +0200
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@
 	unsigned short	priv_size;
 	unsigned short	nr_events;
 	bool		try_vmlinux_path,
+			ignore_vmlinux,
 			show_kernel_path,
 			use_modules,
 			sort_by_name,