Upgrade SuSE 7.0 GA to 2.4.7

Many have asked how to upgrade an existing SuSE 7.0 installation to a Linux 2.4.7 kernel. A real upgrade of your system would not just be the kernel, but also all the packages at proper levels.

If you just replace the kernel (and the bare minimum of other items) your files will not match the rpm database anymore, you may end up with all kind of trouble. However, if you really want to try the Linux 2.4.7 kernel now on some test system, then you should be able to get it done.
If you are currently using LVM, then do not follow this recipe since the LVM code for 2.2.16 does not run with this kernel. You would probably need to get the new LVM utilities for it.

So the moral of this is: Don't, but this is how...

Notes

  1. The URLs in this document point to ftp.kernel.org. This may not be the fastest site for you to find the files. A local mirror of kernel.org (like ftp.de.kernel.org) may give you better results.
  2. Instead of downloading the files to a PC first and then upload to the mainframe, you could save yourself a lot of trouble by downloading to your Linux for S/390 system directly. If your S/390 is separated from the Internet through a firewall with socks servers, you may consider to install a socks client (like Dante, available on the SuSE CDs). If you have proxy servers you can use wget to download the tar files by setting the http_proxy environment variable.
  3. The commands to rebuild the components tend to produce a lot of output. This can be intimidating when you are not used to it. In the sections below the last part of that output is shown to give you the warm feeling of recognition.

Upgrade modutils

Download modutils-2.4.7.tar.gz and get the patch for the ELF magic number modutils-2.4.7-s390magic.diff. This patch will make binutils accept both the old and the new ELF magic code, even when you have not upgraded your glibc yet. tar xzf modutils-2.4.7.tar.gz cd modutils-2.4.7 patch -p1 -i ../modutils-2.4.7-s390magic.diff ./configure --enable-insmod-static --prefix=/usr \ --exec-prefix=/ --mandir=/usr/share/man \ --disable-compat-2-0 --disable-kerneld s390-suse-linux make make install make clean cd .. Verify with depmod -V that you have the correct modutils (and get rid of the old /etc/conf.modules link as suggested).

Upgrade binutils

Download binutils-2.11.90.0.27.tar.gz and the two patches from the DeveloperWorks web site.
Also get the patch to modify the ELF magic number binutils-2.11.90.0.27-s390magic.diff. tar xzf binutils-2.11.90.0.27.tar.gz</b> tar xzf binutils-2.11.90.0.27-s390.tar.gz</b> tar xzf binutils-2.11.90.0.27-brxlg.tar.gz</b> cd binutils-2.11.90.0.27</b> patch -p1 -i ../binutils-2.11.90.0.27-s390.diff</b> patch -p1 -i ../binutils-2.11.90.0.27-brxlg.diff</b> patch -p1 -i ../binutils-2.11.90.0.27-s390magic.diff</b> ./configure --prefix=/usr s390-suse-linux make ... rm -f ld.pod make[3]: Leaving directory `/root/binutils-2.11.90.0.27/ld' make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/binutils-2.11.90.0.27/ld' make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/binutils-2.11.90.0.27/ld' make install ... mv -f /usr/lib/libiberty.an /usr/lib/libiberty.a make[2]: Entering directory `/root/binutils-2.11.90.0.27/libiberty/testsuite' make[2]: Nothing to be done for install'. make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/binutils-2.11.90.0.27/libiberty/testsuite' make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/binutils-2.11.90.0.27/libiberty' make clean ... rm -f configdev.txt configbuild.txt configdev.eps configbuild.eps rm -f configdev.jpg configbuild.jpg make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/binutils-2.11.90.0.27/etc' rm -f *.a TEMP errs core *.o *~\#* TAGS *.E *.log cd .. You have now an upgraded assembler and linker. as -version GNU assembler 2.11.90.0.27 Copyright 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This program is free software; you may redistribute it under the terms of the GNU General Public License. This program has absolutely no warranty. This assembler was configured for a target of `s390-suse-linux'.

Upgrade gcc

Download gcc-2.95.3.tar.gz and the patches from DeveloperWorks.

tar xzf gcc-2.95.3.tar.gz tar xzf gcc-2.95.3-s390.tar.gz tar xzf gcc-2.95.3-s390-1.tar.gz cd gcc-2.95.3 patch -p1 -i ../gcc-2.95.3-s390.diff patch -p1 -i ../gcc-2.95.3-s390-1.diff ./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-languages="C,C++" s390-suse-linux ... Configuring etc... loading cache ../config.cache checking for a BSD compatible install... (cached) /usr/bin/ginstall -c creating ./config.status creating Makefile make ... thr-vxworks.c ..linked thr-win32.c ..linked thr.c ..linked creating cache ./config.cache checking if compiler cc1obj has been built... no rmdir: libobjc: Directory not empty make install ... make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install'. make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/gcc-2.95.3/s390-ibm-linux-gnu/libiberty/testsuite' make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/gcc-2.95.3/s390-ibm-linux-gnu/libiberty' make clean ... make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/gcc-2.95.3/s390-ibm-linux-gnu/libiberty' make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/gcc-2.95.3/s390-ibm-linux-gnu/libiberty' rm -f *.a TEMP errs core *.o *~ \#* TAGS *.E *.log The new gcc compiler is now installed, verify this with gcc -v

Upgrade the kernel

Download the two linux-2.4.7 patches from DeveloperWorks and the linux-2.4.7.tar.gz cd tar xzf linux-2.4.7-s390.tar.gz tar xzf linux-2.4.7-s390-1.tar.gz cd /usr/src rm linux tar xzf /root/linux-2.4.7.tar.gz mv linux linux-2.4.7 ln -s linux-2.4.7 linux cd linux patch -p1 -i /root/linux-2.4.7-s390.diff patch -p1 -i /root/linux-2.4.7-s390-1.diff cp /boot/image.config .config make menuconfig Some of the new features in the linux-2.4.7 kernel for S/390 are not compatible with what you have in 2.2.16, in that they require additional configuration changes.
devfs
The Device Filesystem is a replacement for the static entries in the /dev directory. While this is goodness to have, it does require some extra work, including the installation and setup of the devfsd deamon. If you do not need this new function, you can just disable it in your kernel configuration (in FileSystems, "Dev file system support")
chandev
The Channel Device Configuration is the new infrastructure for the ctc, lcs and qeth drivers. If you currently use the ctc driver you can disable this new feature (in "Network Device Drivers") and continue to use the ctc driver as you did before. The IBM supplied lcs and qeth drivers require the new Channel Device Configuration to be active, so in that case you will have to review the documentation and do the necessary updates.
# exit and save your configuration make dep ... make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux/arch/s390/math-emu' make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux' make image objcopy -O binary ipldump.lnk ipldump.boot objcopy -O binary /usr/src/linux/vmlinux image nm /usr/src/linux/vmlinux | grep -v '\(compiled\)\|\( [aUw] \)\|\(\.\)\|\(LASH[RL]DI\)' | sort > /usr/src/linux/System.map rm iplfba.lnk ipleckd.o ipldump.o ipleckd.lnk ipldump.lnk iplfba.o make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux/arch/s390/boot' make modules ... make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux/arch/s390/math-emu' make[1]: Nothing to be done for `modules'. make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux/arch/s390/math-emu' make modules_install mkdir -p pcmcia; \ find kernel -path '*/pcmcia/*' -name '*.o' | xargs -i -r ln -sf ../{} pcmcia if [ -r System.map ]; then /sbin/depmod -ae -F System.map 2.4.7; fi

Install s390-tools

The s390-tools package contains the new dasdfmt and fdasd utilities and zipl, which replaces silo. Since your 2.2.16 silo does not work on the new kernel, and zipl does not work on the old one, you have to be a bit careful here. You need to download the base package and the patch from the DeveloperWorks web site. Note: Before you overwrite your current dasdfmt program you may want to rename that to dasdfmt-2.2.16 so that you could still get it when you backout the new kernel.

You may also want to get the s390-tools-sbin.diff patch to install the tools in /sbin (where the current dasdfmt also is).

cd tar xzf s390-tools.tar.gz tar xzf s390-tools.tgz tar xzf s390-tools-1.tar.gz cd s390-tools patch -p1 -i ../s390-tools-1.diff patch -p1 -i ../s390-tools-sbin.diff make make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/s390-tools/fdasd' make[1]: Entering directory `/root/s390-tools/dasdfmt' gcc -O2 -I/usr/src/linux/include -L../fdasd -lvtoc -o dasdfmt dasdfmt.c make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/s390-tools/dasdfmt' make install strip dasdfmt install -d -m 755 /sbin /usr/man/man8 install -g root -o root -m 700 dasdfmt /sbin install -g root -o root -m 644 dasdfmt.8 /usr/man/man8 make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/s390-tools/dasdfmt' make clean

Download network drivers

Download any network drivers you need and install them in /lib/modules/2.4.7/misc/. After you copied them, run a depmod -a -F /usr/src/linux/System.map

Activate the new kernel

You are now about to write the new kernel on disk. I very strongly recommend to create an "Alternate boot disk" as outlined in the latest Linux for S/390 Redpiece. Another option would be to configure the kernel for booting from your virtual reader and use that approach.

Now you can copy the kernel to the boot directory and run silo. Following assumes your /boot directory is on /dev/dasdb (verify with 'df /boot')

cd /boot cp /usr/src/linux/System.map System.map-2.4.7 cp /usr/src/linux/arch/s390/boot/image image-2.4.7 silo -d /dev/dasdb -f image-2.4.7 Now shutdown your Linux image and IPL from the device that holds the new kernel.

Further experiments

One thing you may want to do is undo the patches for the ELF magic number. Your new kernel now runs both types, so you could undo that patch as follows. cd binutils-2.11.90.0.27 patch -p1 -R -i ../binutils-2.11.90.0.27-s390magic.diff The first time you then rebuild binutils you get an assembler and a loader that produce binaries with the new ELF architecture number, but the assembler and loader itself is still the old one. So using these new tools you rebuild binutils again, and now you have new binaries that produce new binaries. Next would be to rebuild gcc, etc. But if you are doing this just for your own system and do not share things with others, I don't see a pressing reason to do so.

If you need to rebuild your kernel again you would need to use zipl to activate that kernel. After you copy the new kernel and System.map to the /boot directory, it goes like this.

zipl -i image-2.4.7 -t . building bootmap : ./bootmap adding Kernel Image : image-2.4.7 located at 0x00010000 adding Parmline : parmfile located at 0x00001000 Bootloader for ECKD type devices with classic layout installed. Syncing disks.... ...done