VM IPL PARM Support

This patch adds the ability to supply kernel command line parameters via the PARM parameter of the VM IPL command. It only allows 64 bytes so it may not be appropriate for all command lines. But, I've found that most command lines are fairly short and, at the vary least, can be made generic and supplemented with additional parms from the IPL command.

This one applies to kernel version 2.4.19 or 2.6.5 plus all IBM follow on patches. It includes support for s390 and s390x architectures.

Download:

linux-2.4.19.vmparms.diff

linux-2.6.5.vmparms.diff

And this one applies to the s390-tools-1.4.0 package. It's slightly more limited than the kernel patch as it won't work when IPLing from tape or the reader, but it's a heck of a lot easier to apply.

After running your patched zipl, specify "VM" for the LOADPARM keyword and the configuration number followed by andy additional parameters for the PARM keyword. The menu will not be displayed and no prompting will occur, so if the configuration number is missing or invalid a wait state will be loaded.

Example:

IPL 5000 LOADPARM vm PARM 1 dasd=0.0.5000-0.0.5009 single

This will IPL device 5000 and instructs (LOADPARM vm) the boot loader to use the parameters specified using the PARM keyword.

Download:

s390-tools-1.4.0.vmparms.diff

Change History:

Date	Change
2005-05-13	Added a new version that applies to zipl instead of the kernel.
2004-05-27	Added the version for the Linux kernel 2.6.5 + IBM follow on patches.
2004-05-27	Uploaded the correct patch this time...oopsie.
2004-05-26	Fixed IPLing from tape and the VM reader. (It only worked when IPLing from DASD.)
2003-03-04	Added support for shared segments and PARM eyecatcher
2003-02-19	Initial distribution