Linux 6.9 To Allow Building s390 Kernel With The Full LLVM/Clang Compiler
![LINUX KERNEL](/assets/categories/linuxkernel.webp)
The Linux kernel code for IBM s390 / zSeries hardware can now be built with LLVM/Clang in addition to the long-used GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). The s390 merge back during the v6.9 merge window has changes to allow the s390 kernel to be compiled using the "LLVM=1" option. This does require the very latest LLVM compiler code though as ld.lld and llvm-objcopy are only seeing proper s390 / SystemZ support with the brand new LLVM/Clang 18.1 compiler version.
The Linux kernel build with LLVM=1 allows for using not only the Clang compiler but also the ld.lld linker and various other LLVM utilities (CC=clang LD=ld.lld AR=llvm-ar NM=llvm-nm STRIP=llvm-strip OBJCOPY=llvm-objcopy OBJDUMP=llvm-objdump READELF=llvm-readelf HOSTCC=clang HOSTCXX=clang++ HOSTAR=llvm-ar HOSTLD=ld.lld). Previously the IBM s390/SystemZ Linux kernel could build with Clang but keeping to the rest of the GNU utilities.
A documentation update merged to Linux 6.9 on Sunday outlines that full "LLVM=1" kernel build support when using LLVM 18.1+.
4 Comments