IBM z Systems Processor Optimization Primer

For z Systems optimizations are essential to keep the consolidation ratio high and make the best use of the hardware. As more and more open source software is ported to Linux on z / LinuxONE Kevin Shum has posted his excellent "BM z Systems Processor Optimization Primer" on developerworks.

There is a long version with all the details and a shorter summary presented at last SHARE.

This is a "must read" for everyone working on compilers and inline assembly on z.

SLES 12 toolchain module available for Linux on z

SUSE has released the toolchain module for Linux on System z. This is the first officially supported gcc compiler that supports the z13.
To install you need to add the product and update repository with "yast2 repositories" and then you can install it with

# zypper install sle-module-toolchain-release
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

The following 10 NEW packages are going to be installed:
  cpp5 gcc5 gcc5-c++ gcc5-fortran gcc5-locale libgfortran3 libstdc++6-devel-gcc5 patterns-toolchain-gcc5
  sle-module-toolchain-release sle-module-toolchain-release-POOL

The following NEW pattern is going to be installed:
  gcc5

The following NEW product is going to be installed:
  "Toolchain Module"

The following 6 recommended packages were automatically selected:
  cpp5 gcc5-c++ gcc5-fortran gcc5-locale libstdc++6-devel-gcc5 patterns-toolchain-gcc5

10 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 26.2 MiB. Already cached: 0 B  After the operation, additional 136.1 MiB will be
used.
Continue? [y/n/? shows all options] (y): y
.....


As you see you get C, C++ and Fortran. To enable z13 instructions use the -march=z13 option.

IBM XL C/C++ for Linux on System z beta program

IBM has launched a beta program for a new compiler for Linux on System z. If you've been working with IBM platforms you may already know the xlc compiler. This compiler is now also available as a beta for Linux on System z as well.
Interested customers and software vendors should register for it at this registration link (free IBM ID required).

The key difference to the gcc included in the distributions is that this compiler is independent of the distribution. So as a software developer you can use this compiler and more important the generated binaries on all the supported Linux distribution. By that you can get improvements like zEC12 exploitation earlier than waiting for the next gcc in a distribution.

And my personal hope is that the performance will also be good as well. We will know this when the compiler is generally available.