JEP 294: Linux/s390x Port
Owner | Volker Simonis |
Type | Feature |
Scope | Implementation |
Status | Closed / Delivered |
Release | 9 |
Component | hotspot / compiler |
Discussion | s390x dash port dash dev at openjdk dot java dot net |
Effort | M |
Duration | M |
Reviewed by | Alan Bateman |
Endorsed by | Vladimir Kozlov |
Created | 2016/09/26 17:48 |
Updated | 2019/08/13 10:36 |
Issue | 8166730 |
Summary
Port JDK 9 to Linux/s390x.
Motivation
s390x (also known under the names "System z" or "z/Architecture") is a mainframe architecture developed and supported by IBM. Several Linux distributions including Ubuntu, RHEL/Fedora and SuSE run on s390x.
Current cloud deployments with packages like TomEE, Cassandra, Spark, Hadoop and Neo4j, to name just a few, rely heavily on Java. Because most of these packages are open source they run best on OpenJDK, which is currently not available for Linux/s390x.
The reason for this JEP is to resolve this deficiency.
Description
SAP has a complete (i.e., template interpreter, C1, and C2 JIT) and certified (Java SE 1.4-8) s390x port which has been used in production for years. In the s390x Port Project we have already contributed this port, which runs on IBM System z models z10 or newer (64-bit only).
The focus of this JEP is not the porting effort itself, which has been mostly completed, but rather the integration of the port into the JDK 9 master repository.
Currently we have a patch queue with less than 10 changesets and
with very few shared changes which shouldn't affect current platforms
at all. Besides two minimal build changes in the top-level and jdk
repositories, all the other changes are in the hotspot
repository only.
We have already started opening JBS issues for the shared changes and some of them are already under review.
Alternatives
Currently, the Zero port can be used to run the JDK on Linux/s390x but it is quite slow (because it only uses the old, deprecated C++ interpreter) and is not very well tested. It is no real alternative for running workloads like application servers or database applications written in Java.
IBM's Developer Kit for Linux is also available for Linux/s390x but it is currently not open source and Java applications usually require some configuration/tuning in order to run with it. Also, it can not be used for testing new features of upcoming Java versions because it is only released after the JDK itself is GA.
Testing
This port has been used in production for years within our
commercial SAP JVM offering. We are already building and testing
the OpenJDK version of the port daily (by running jtreg
and JCK tests, SPEC
benchmarks, and several SAP applications), and are committed to do so in
the future. Of course we will also maintain the port in the future and
update it conforming to all upcoming requirements.
Risks and Assumptions
Unlike our previous PowerPC/AIX Port, this port requires only minimal changes to the existing code base, because:
- s390x is a CISC architecture with a strong memory model
- no OS-relevant changes are required because we only target Linux
We don't foresee any impact on the existing platforms at all.