struct msm_gpu { // [...snip...] const struct msm_gpu_perfcntr *perfcntrs; // [...snip...] }; struct msm_gpu_perfcntr { // [...snip...] const char *name; }; static const struct msm_gpu_perfcntr perfcntrs[] = {}; struct msm_gpu *test(struct msm_gpu *gpu) { // [...snip...] gpu->perfcntrs = perfcntrs; // [...snip...] return gpu; }