diff --git a/src/core.cc b/src/core.cc
index 0b4717af..41b6c094 100644
--- a/src/core.cc
+++ b/src/core.cc
@@ -849,6 +849,9 @@ struct text_object *construct_text_object(char *s, const char *arg, long
 	 * nothing else than just that, using an ugly switch(). */
 	if (strncmp(s, "top", 3) == EQUAL) {
 		if (parse_top_args(s, arg, obj)) {
+#ifdef __linux__
+			determine_longstat_file();
+#endif
 			add_update_callback(&update_top);
 		} else {
 			free(obj);
diff --git a/src/linux.cc b/src/linux.cc
index 34774e4c..d25dff82 100644
--- a/src/linux.cc
+++ b/src/linux.cc
@@ -661,6 +661,23 @@ void determine_longstat(char *buf)
 	}
 }
 
+void determine_longstat_file(void) {
+#define MAX_PROCSTAT_LINELEN 255
+	FILE *stat_fp;
+	static int rep = 0;
+	char buf[MAX_PROCSTAT_LINELEN + 1];
+
+	if ( not (stat_fp = open_file("/proc/stat", &rep))) return;
+	while ( not feof(stat_fp)) {
+		if (fgets(buf, MAX_PROCSTAT_LINELEN, stat_fp) == NULL) break;
+		if (strncmp(buf, "cpu", 3) == 0) {
+			determine_longstat(buf);
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	fclose(stat_fp);
+}
+
 void get_cpu_count(void)
 {
 	FILE *stat_fp;
diff --git a/src/linux.h b/src/linux.h
index 982647ac..fb87d171 100644
--- a/src/linux.h
+++ b/src/linux.h
@@ -55,4 +55,5 @@ int update_stat(void);
 
 void print_distribution(struct text_object *, char *, int);
 
+void determine_longstat_file(void);
 #endif /* _LINUX_H */