Oracle ® Linux

Release Notes for Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64)

Oracle Legal Notices

Copyright © 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

This software and related documentation are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are protected by intellectual property laws. Except as expressly permitted in your license agreement or allowed by law, you may not use, copy, reproduce, translate, broadcast, modify, license, transmit, distribute, exhibit, perform, publish, or display any part, in any form, or by any means. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of this software, unless required by law for interoperability, is prohibited.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice and is not warranted to be error-free. If you find any errors, please report them to us in writing.

If this is software or related documentation that is delivered to the U.S. Government or anyone licensing it on behalf of the U.S. Government, then the following notice is applicable:

U.S. GOVERNMENT END USERS: Oracle programs, including any operating system, integrated software, any programs installed on the hardware, and/or documentation, delivered to U.S. Government end users are "commercial computer software" pursuant to the applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation and agency-specific supplemental regulations. As such, use, duplication, disclosure, modification, and adaptation of the programs, including any operating system, integrated software, any programs installed on the hardware, and/or documentation, shall be subject to license terms and license restrictions applicable to the programs. No other rights are granted to the U.S. Government.

This software or hardware is developed for general use in a variety of information management applications. It is not developed or intended for use in any inherently dangerous applications, including applications that may create a risk of personal injury. If you use this software or hardware in dangerous applications, then you shall be responsible to take all appropriate fail-safe, backup, redundancy, and other measures to ensure its safe use. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates disclaim any liability for any damages caused by use of this software or hardware in dangerous applications.

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, and the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

This software or hardware and documentation may provide access to or information about content, products, and services from third parties. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates are not responsible for and expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind with respect to third-party content, products, and services unless otherwise set forth in an applicable agreement between you and Oracle. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates will not be responsible for any loss, costs, or damages incurred due to your access to or use of third-party content, products, or services, except as set forth in an applicable agreement between you and Oracle.

E97565-01

June 2018


Table of Contents

Preface
1 System Requirements and Limits
1.1 File System, Storage, and Address Space Limitations
2 Shipped Kernels
3 New Features and Changes
3.1 MySQL Community Packages
3.2 Packaging
3.3 DTrace
3.4 Developer Toolchain
3.5 Virtualization
3.6 Technology Preview
4 Known Issues
4.1 Support limited to text-mode environments and server software
4.2 Installation Issues
4.2.1 Alternate installation options
4.2.2 Installation on an iSCSI disk
4.2.3 Kernel panic for QLogic cnic module on ThunderX2 during installation
4.3 File System Bugs
4.3.1 btrfs : Convert operation results in a file system that cannot be mounted
4.3.2 btrfs : Send operation causes soft lockup on large deduped file
4.3.3 btrfs , ext4 and xfs : Kernel panic when freeze and unfreeze operations are performed in multiple threads
4.3.4 btrfs : qgroup reserve space leaks
4.3.5 btrfs : Incorrect exclusive reference count after cloning file between subvolumes
4.3.6 btrfs : Kernel oops when unmounting during a quota rescan or disable
4.3.7 btrfs : Kernel oops when removing shared extents using qgroup accounting
4.3.8 ext4 : System hangs on unmount after an append to a file with negative i_size
4.3.9 ext4 : hang occurs during dynamic expansion of inode size
4.3.10 ext4 : System hang when processing corrupted orphaned inode list
4.3.11 xfs : System hangs on unmount after a buffered append to a file with negative i_size
4.3.12 xfs : System hangs during xfs_fsr on two-extent files with speculative preallocation
4.4 Automatic Bug Reporting Tool
4.5 Manual execution of the shim first-stage bootloader may fail in the UEFI shell
4.6 Kdump tools fail to create vmcore-dmesg.txt on systems with 64 or more CPUs
4.7 Snapshots of KVM guests using UEFI fail and are unsupported
4.8 Virtual machine with copied disk fails to boot
4.9 grubby fatal error during kernel upgrade when /boot is on a btrfs subvolume
4.10 Hebrew LaTeX fonts
4.11 Unable to create LXC containers on btrfs
4.12 Unable to create Oracle Linux 7 LXC containers on NFS
4.13 isql unable to connect via unixODBC
4.14 Segmentation fault when running bluedevil-wizard
4.15 dsktune command fails with an unsupported error message
5 Installation and Availability
5.1 Installation of ISO
5.2 Installation of Raspberry Pi 3 Image
A Package Changes from the x86_64 Release
A.1 Additional packages not available for x86_64
A.2 Modified Packages
A.3 Removed Packages
A.4 Moved Packages

Preface

The Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) Release Notes provides a summary of the new features and known issues in Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64). This document may be updated after it is released.

Document generated on: 2018-06-19 (revision: 5640)

Audience

This document is intended for users and administrators of Oracle Linux 7. It describes potential issues and the corresponding workarounds you may encounter while using Oracle Linux 7. Oracle recommends that you read this document before installing Oracle Linux 7. It is assumed that readers have a general understanding of the Linux operating system.

Related Documents

The latest version of this document and other documentation for this product are available at:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/linux/documentation/index.html

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention

Meaning

boldface

Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.

italic

Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.

monospace

Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.

Documentation Accessibility

For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc .

For information on documentation accessibility features specific to this document, please refer to the Oracle Linux 7 Accessibility User's Guide at: https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E92218/html/index.html .

Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Chapter 1 System Requirements and Limits

System requirements and limitations for 64-bit ARM architecture are under review. You can check whether your hardware is supported on Oracle Linux 7 by checking the Hardware Certification List at https://linux.oracle.com/hardware-certifications . Hardware is listed as it becomes available and is validated.

1.1 File System, Storage, and Address Space Limitations

The following table describes the maximum file size and maximum file system size for the btrfs , ext4 , and XFS file systems. File system limitations are affected by kernel versions and features, and by the architecture of the system where Oracle Linux is installed. The values depicted here are estimates based on the known variables that might affect the maximum theoretical value that can be achieved. The theoretical values might be higher than those depicted here, and the actual achievable values might be below the values that are shown, depending on hardware and the kernel version used.

File System Type

Maximum File Size

Maximum File System Size

btrfs

8 EiB

8 EiB

ext4

16 TiB

1 EiB

XFS

8 EiB

8 EiB

The limits for the ext4 file system that are described here are higher than recommended and might prove unstable. If you plan to work with systems where you are intend to work towards using higher file system sizes or file sizes, it is recommended that you use either the btrfs or XFS file system.

The maximum supported size for a bootable logical unit number (LUN) is 50 TB. GPT and UEFI support are required for LUNs that are larger than 2 TB.

The maximum size of the address space that is available to each process is 128 TB.

Chapter 2 Shipped Kernels

Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) ships with the following kernel packages:

kernel-uek-4.14.35-1818.0.9.el7uek

Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 (UEK R5), which is the default kernel.

Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) is only shipped with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 and only this kernel is supported at this time.

The Oracle Linux release is tested as a bundle as shipped on the installation media image. When installed from the installation media image, the minimum kernel version supported is the one included in the image. Downgrading kernel packages is not supported, unless recommended by Oracle Support.

The kernel source code for the shipped kernel is available after the initial release through a public git source code repository at https://github.com/oracle/linux-uek .

Chapter 3 New Features and Changes

This section describes new features and changes in Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64). For details of the new features and changes in the initial release of Oracle Linux 7, see the Oracle Linux 7 Release Notes . Note that Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) is the first release of Oracle Linux 7 that is supported for ARM architecture platforms.

3.1 MySQL Community Packages

The MySQL Community 8.0.11 packages are available for ARM on the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server.

You can install MySQL Community packages directly from ULN or the Oracle Linux yum server by enabling the appropriate channel or repository. For example, you would enable the ol7_MySQL80 repository on the Oracle yum server to install the MySQL Community 8.0 packages as follows:

# yum-config-manager --enable ol7_MySQL80

To enable the channel on ULN, you can run the following command:

# # uln-channel -a -c ol7_aarch64_MySQL80_community
Note

ARM support is limited to MySQL Community 8.0.11. Channels for prior MySQL Community releases are not available for aarch64.

3.2 Packaging

Starting with Oracle Linux 7 Update 5, the setup package provides and sources environment settings in a defined order that overrides any unpredictable environment settings. This change is especially useful in situations where multiple scripts changed the same environment setting.

3.3 DTrace

DTrace has been enabled for ARM platforms and ports of the DTrace code are available in UEK R5. Please refer to the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 Release Notes at https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E93554_01/E95779/html/ for more information.

The DTrace user space code in the dtrace-utils package has also all been ported to run on 64-bit ARM platforms to fully enable DTrace for Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64)

3.4 Developer Toolchain

The Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) release includes a toolchain that provides a solid developer toolset to build code for 64-bit ARM platforms and to compile modules against the provided kernel. This includes the same version of the gcc compiler used to build the aarch64 version of UEK R5.

Developer tools are released as a software collection that can be found in the /addons/Oscl directory repository on the provided ISO. You can install the oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection using yum:

# yum install scl-utils oracle-armtoolset-1

Once the oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is installed, you can enable it by running the following command:

# scl enable oracle-armtoolset-1 bash

The oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is released as an addition to the Software Collection Library for Oracle Linux and is only available on aarch64 platforms.

Note

The oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is required if you need to build kernel modules from source.

3.5 Virtualization

The following virtualization features, bug fixes, and enhancements are included in this update:

  • KASLR for KVM guests added.  Capability for Kernel address-space layout randomization (KASLR) for KVM guests has been added in this update.

  • libvirt updated to version 4.0.0.  This version of the libvirt utility includes bug fixes and improvements from the previous version.

  • QEMU updated to version 2.11.1.  This version of QEMU includes several bug fixes, including important security fixes and a large number of KVM integration improvements.

3.6 Technology Preview

Features that are currently under technology preview when using UEK R5 are described in Oracle Linux Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 .

This section specifies items specific to the ARM architecture and Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) that are not supported but which may be made available under technology preview.

Oracle makes available a disk image of Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) for use on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ hardware. This disk image is available as a technology preview for developer use only and Oracle does not provide support for the disk image or the hardware. Oracle recommends that developers assist each other on the Oracle Linux for ARM community forum at https://community.oracle.com/community/server_%26_storage_systems/linux/oracle-linux-for-arm

Linux Containers (LXC) are available as a technology preview and functionality may be limited.

Chapter 4 Known Issues

Table of Contents

4.1 Support limited to text-mode environments and server software
4.2 Installation Issues
4.2.1 Alternate installation options
4.2.2 Installation on an iSCSI disk
4.2.3 Kernel panic for QLogic cnic module on ThunderX2 during installation
4.3 File System Bugs
4.3.1 btrfs : Convert operation results in a file system that cannot be mounted
4.3.2 btrfs : Send operation causes soft lockup on large deduped file
4.3.3 btrfs , ext4 and xfs : Kernel panic when freeze and unfreeze operations are performed in multiple threads
4.3.4 btrfs : qgroup reserve space leaks
4.3.5 btrfs : Incorrect exclusive reference count after cloning file between subvolumes
4.3.6 btrfs : Kernel oops when unmounting during a quota rescan or disable
4.3.7 btrfs : Kernel oops when removing shared extents using qgroup accounting
4.3.8 ext4 : System hangs on unmount after an append to a file with negative i_size
4.3.9 ext4 : hang occurs during dynamic expansion of inode size
4.3.10 ext4 : System hang when processing corrupted orphaned inode list
4.3.11 xfs : System hangs on unmount after a buffered append to a file with negative i_size
4.3.12 xfs : System hangs during xfs_fsr on two-extent files with speculative preallocation
4.4 Automatic Bug Reporting Tool
4.5 Manual execution of the shim first-stage bootloader may fail in the UEFI shell
4.6 Kdump tools fail to create vmcore-dmesg.txt on systems with 64 or more CPUs
4.7 Snapshots of KVM guests using UEFI fail and are unsupported
4.8 Virtual machine with copied disk fails to boot
4.9 grubby fatal error during kernel upgrade when /boot is on a btrfs subvolume
4.10 Hebrew LaTeX fonts
4.11 Unable to create LXC containers on btrfs
4.12 Unable to create Oracle Linux 7 LXC containers on NFS
4.13 isql unable to connect via unixODBC
4.14 Segmentation fault when running bluedevil-wizard
4.15 dsktune command fails with an unsupported error message

This chapter describes the known issues for Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64).

Note that additional issues specific to the kernel that you are using might also be present. Please see the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 Release Notes . available as part of the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Documentation Library , for issues specific to the kernel.

4.1 Support limited to text-mode environments and server software

Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) is engineered and tested for server-related usage only. Although packages for desktop and productivity features are built and provided, testing of these packages is limited and support for graphical mode packages is not provided in this release. You can install any of these packages on your platform, but it is possible that some of these applications may not work or may have issues that are not documented here.

Oracle does not provide support for these packages, and any assistance is community-based. If you choose to run a desktop environment or any desktop applications, you should direct any questions to the Oracle Linux for ARM community forum at https://community.oracle.com/community/server_%26_storage_systems/linux/oracle-linux-for-arm .

4.2 Installation Issues

The following issues that might be encountered during installation.

4.2.1 Alternate installation options

When performing a text based installation, the installer detects the video controller and offers a graphical installation on the system video console by default. The boot menu may not offer options to perform text-based or VNC-based installation.

To perform a text-based installation you must specify the inst.text option on the boot command line. If you intend to perform a remote graphical installation over VNC, you must use the inst.vnc option, but you must also specify boot options to configure the network. Typically ip=dhcp is used for this purpose.

For more information on boot options, see the Oracle Linux Installation Guide for Release 7 at https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E54695/html/ol7-install-boot-options.html . (Bug ID 27581120)

4.2.2 Installation on an iSCSI disk

When installing on an iSCSI disk, add either ip=ibft or rd.iscsi.ibft=1 to the boot command line and specify at least one MBR or GPT-formatted disk as an installation target. Otherwise, the installation fails with the error message No valid boot loader target device found . (Bug ID 22076589)

4.2.3 Kernel panic for QLogic cnic module on ThunderX2 during installation

The QLogic cnic driver module is unsupported for 64-bit ARM platforms. The Cavium ThunderX2 servers include hardware that can cause the cnic driver module to load, triggering a kernel panic.

To work around the issue, blacklist the cnic module at boot using the boot option module_blacklist=cnic in the kernel command line for the installer. To prevent the module from installing or loading in the future, create the file /etc/modprobe.d/cnic.conf and ensure that it contains the following lines:

blacklist cnic
install cnic /bin/true

(Bug IDs 27011806, 28109733)

4.3 File System Bugs

The following file systems related issues pertain to Oracle Linux 7 Update 5.

4.3.1  btrfs : Convert operation results in a file system that cannot be mounted

The btrfs-convert tool can be used to convert an ext4 file system to btrfs . However, if the tool attempts to convert a file system that has not been created with a sector block size that matches the system default page size, which is set to 64 KB for aarch64, the resulting file system cannot be mounted. This issue may result if the original ext4 file system is not created using the -b 65536 option, to specify a 64 KB block size. (Bug ID 28200561)

4.3.2  btrfs : Send operation causes soft lockup on large deduped file

Using btrfs send on a large deduped file results in a soft lockup or out-of-memory issue. This problem occurs because the btrfs send operation cannot handle a large deduped file containing file extents that all point to one extent, as these types of file structures create tremendous pressure for the btrfs send operation.

To prevent this issue from occurring, do not use btrfs send on systems with less than 4 GB of memory. (Bug ID 25306023)

4.3.3  btrfs , ext4 and xfs : Kernel panic when freeze and unfreeze operations are performed in multiple threads

Freeze and unfreeze operations that are performed across multiple threads on any supported file system can cause the system to hang and the kernel to panic. This issue is the result of a race condition that occurs when the unfreeze operation is triggered before it is actually frozen. The resulting unlock operation attempts a write operation on a non-existent lock, which results in a kernel panic. (Bug ID 25321899)

4.3.4  btrfs : qgroup reserve space leaks

The way in which quota groups ( qgroups ) reserve space can result in issues with leaks. Some of these leaks are caused by rewriting to dirty ranges, resulting in a "pwrite64: Disk quota exceeded" error. (Bug ID 22483655)

4.3.5  btrfs : Incorrect exclusive reference count after cloning file between subvolumes

The count for exclusive references is incorrect after cloning a file between two subvolumes. This issue is related to quota groups and the way in which some code is implemented. (Bug ID 22456419)

4.3.6  btrfs : Kernel oops when unmounting during a quota rescan or disable

Operations that trigger a quota rescan or those that disable the quota on a mounted file system cause a kernel oops message when attempting to unmount the file system. This issue can cause the system to hang. (Bug ID 22377928)

4.3.7  btrfs : Kernel oops when removing shared extents using qgroup accounting

The removal of shared extents, where quota group ( qgroup ) accounting is used, can result in a kernel oops message. This issue occurs when inaccurate results are obtained during a back reference walk, due to missing records when adding delayed references. (Bug ID 21554517)

4.3.8  ext4 : System hangs on unmount after an append to a file with negative i_size

While it is invalid for a file system to load an inode with a negative i_size , it is possible to create a file with a negative i_size and append to it. However, doing so causes an integer overflow in the routines underlying writeback, which results in the kernel locking up. (Bug ID 25565527)

4.3.9  ext4 : hang occurs during dynamic expansion of inode size

A hang occurs with the ext4 file system during the dynamic expansion of an inode's size when using the inode's i_extra_size field. (Bug ID 25718971)

4.3.10  ext4 : System hang when processing corrupted orphaned inode list

If the orphaned inode list is corrupted, the inode might be processed repeatedly, which results in a system hang. For example, if the orphaned inode list contains a reference to the bootloader inode, ext4_iget() , returns a bad inode, it results in a processing loop that can hang the system. (Bug ID 24433290)

4.3.11  xfs : System hangs on unmount after a buffered append to a file with negative i_size

While it is invalid for a file system to load an inode with a negative i_size , it is possible to create a file in this manner. In the case where a buffer appends to the file, an integer overflow in the routines underlying writeback result in the kernel locking up. Note that a direct append does not cause this behavior. (Bug ID 25565490)

4.3.12  xfs : System hangs during xfs_fsr on two-extent files with speculative preallocation

During an xfs_fsr process on extents that are generated by speculative preallocation, the code that determines whether all of the extents fit inline miscalculates because the di_nextents call that is used does not account for these extents. This results in corruption of the in-memory inode, and ultimately the code attempts to move memory structures using incorrectly calculated ranges. This causes a kernel panic. (Bug ID 25333211)

4.4 Automatic Bug Reporting Tool

The daemons and features provided by the Red Hat Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (ABRT) are not supported in Oracle Linux. ABRT packages and associated files, such as libreport , are included in the distribution to satisfy package dependencies, but the features within these packages are not supported. For technical assistance, contact Oracle Support by accessing the My Oracle Support portal or by telephone.

4.5 Manual execution of the shim first-stage bootloader may fail in the UEFI shell

Manually loading shim binaries from the UEFI shell may fail in some scenarios. The following cases are known to fail:

  • FS0:\EFI\redhat\shimaa64.efi

  • FS0:\EFI\redhat\> shimaa64.efi

FS0:\> \EFI\redhat\shimaa64.efi is known to work correctly.

A standard installation is unaffected by this bug and the problem is limited to the manual execution of shim in the UEFI shell. (Bug ID 27962691)

4.6 Kdump tools fail to create vmcore-dmesg.txt on systems with 64 or more CPUs

On systems with 64 or more CPUs, the crash dump tools, included with Kdump, fail to create the vmcore-dmesg.txt file which is created with the vmcore file. This may result in a segmentation fault:

...
kdump: saving to /sysroot//var/crash/127.0.0.1-2018-05-22-12:34:45/
kdump: saving vmcore-dmesg.txt
/lib/kdump-lib-initramfs.sh: line 118:   459 Segmentation fault      
$_dmesg_collector /proc/vmcore > ${_path}/vmcore-dmesg-incomplete.txt
kdump: saving vmcore-dmesg.txt failed
kdump: saving vmcore
Copying data                                      : [100.0 %] \          
eta: 0s
kdump: saving vmcore complete 

The dmesg output can be retrieved manually by running crash against the vmcore and using the dmesg command once in the crash shell. (Bug ID 28064675)

4.7 Snapshots of KVM guests using UEFI fail and are unsupported

You cannot do snapshots of KVM guests if they use UEFI. In older versions of QEMU and libvirt, the tools may allow you to create the snapshot without an error or warning, but the snapshot could be corrupted. More recent versions of these tools prevent snapshot creation with an error. For example:

virsh # snapshot-create-as OL7-seboot
error: Operation not supported: internal snapshots of a VM with pflash based
firmware are not supported

(Bug ID 26826800)

4.8 Virtual machine with copied disk fails to boot

Attempting to start a virtual machine that has been created to use a copied virtual machine hard disk can fail with the messages:

Section 0 has negative size
Failed to load image: Unsupported
start_image() returned Unsupported
Error: Image at 002384AD000 start failed: Unsupported
Unloading driver at 0x002384AD000

The bootloader drops back into the UEFI Interactive Shell after it fails.

The issue is caused by a problem with the default EFI boot option that is used by the aarch64 virtual machine firmware when it attempts to boot the disk.

To work around the issue, when the virtual machine drops to the UEFI shell after it fails to boot, you can enter the following to manually load the appropriate shim binary:

Shell> FS0:\EFI\BOOT\fbaa64.efi

This is a one-time requirement and future reboots of the same virtual machine do not require manual intervention. (Bug ID 27972230)

4.9  grubby fatal error during kernel upgrade when /boot is on a btrfs subvolume

If /boot is hosted on a btrfs subvolume, GRUB 2 is unable to correctly process the initramfs and vmlinuz pathnames. This problem occurs when you update or install a new kernel and grubby attempts to update the GRUB 2 configuration. In the case where you are running a fresh installation of Oracle Linux 7 Update 5, and you upgrade the UEK kernel, the following error is displayed:

grubby fatal error: unable to find a suitable template

When the system is rebooted after the kernel update, the system boots to the old kernel.

The workaround for this problem is to use grub2-mkconfig to regenerate the /etc/grub2/grub.cfg file immediately after the kernel has been installed or upgraded, for example:

# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

Obtain a listing of the kernel menu entries in the generated configuration as follows:

# grep -P "submenu|^menuentry" /boot/grub2/grub.cfg | cut -d "'" -f2

From the listing, select the kernel entry that you want to run as the default kernel and set this entry as the default using the following command, substituting menu entry title with the title of the kernel entry that you identified in the listing:

# grub2-set-default "menu entry title"

You can use the grub2-editenv list command to check that the saved_entry has been updated with the selected kernel menu title.

Reboot and use uname -a to check that the correct kernel is now running.

(Bug ID 22750169)

4.10 Hebrew LaTeX fonts

Installing the tex-fonts-hebrew package fails unless you first install all texlive* packages. (Bug ID 19059949)

4.11 Unable to create LXC containers on btrfs

The creation of a Linux container (LXC) may fail when the container file system is specified as btrfs. For example:

lxc-create -B btrfs --template=oracle --name=test
-- --release=7.4
lxc-create: lxccontainer.c: do_bdev_create: 936 Failed to create backing
store type btrfs
lxc-create: lxccontainer.c: do_lxcapi_create: 1419 Error creating backing
store type btrfs for test
lxc-create: lxc_create.c: main: 274 Error creating container test

LXC is available as a technology preview in this release and some functionality may not work correctly. (Bug ID 27823142)

4.12 Unable to create Oracle Linux 7 LXC containers on NFS

The creation of Oracle Linux 7 containers fails when the root file system ( /container ) is hosted on an NFS share. The problem occurs because the iputils package in Oracle Linux 7 releases, (Updates 4 and 5) is built to use the Linux file extended attributes [xattr(7)] security capabilities(7) . The NFS protocol does not support these file capabilities, so the iputils package might not be installed into an NFS files system. For example, when attempting to create an Oracle Linux 7 Update 4 container, the installation fails while installing the iputils package, producing the following error:

Error unpacking rpm package iputils-20121221-7.el7.x86_64
error: unpacking of archive failed on file /usr/bin/ping: cpio: cap_set_file
error: iputils-20121221-7.el7.x86_64: install failed

Similar issues are seen when attempting to install the initscripts and systemd packages while creating an Oracle Linux 7 Update 3 container.

This issue occurs on both NFSv3 and NFSv4.

Oracle Linux 6 containers are not affected. LXC is available as a technology preview in this release and some functionality may not work correctly. (Bug ID 25024258)

4.13  isql unable to connect via unixODBC

The isql command shipped in the unixODBC package fails to connect to the database and returns the error:

[ISQL]ERROR: Could not SQLConnect

This issue is related to an unsolved dynamic library requirement for unixODBC . The requirement also affects the ODBC driver for MySQL shipped in the mysql-connector-odbc package. (Bug ID 26861190)

4.14 Segmentation fault when running bluedevil-wizard

The bluedevil-wizard , available in the bluedevil package, is unable to connect or locate bluetooth devices and fails with a segmentation fault when it is run. (Bug ID 27101618)

4.15  dsktune command fails with an unsupported error message

The dsktune command included with the 389 Directory Server base package, 389-ds-base , fails with an error message notifying that the system does not have support for cx16 , a feature commonly available on x86 platforms:

ERROR: This system does not support CMPXCHG16B instruction (cpuflag cx16).
nsslapd-enable-nunc-stans must be set to "off" on this system.
In a future release of Directory Server this platform will NOT be
supported.

ERROR  : The above errors MUST be corrected before proceeding.

The dsktune command helps to check that a system meets requirements and can provide information that helps with the configuration, but is not required to run the 389 Directory Server. (Bug ID 26861135)

Chapter 5 Installation and Availability

You can download a full Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) installation media image from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud at http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux . You can also obtain the latest Oracle Linux 7 packages from the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server.

Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) is made available in two forms:

  • rpi3-ol7.5-image.img.xz : A disk image that can be installed onto an SD Card and used on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B or Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ single-board computer. This image includes the necessary firmware to boot the Raspberry Pi 3 directly into Oracle Linux 7. This image is made available for developers who may not have access to alternate ARM hardware.

    Note

    The disk image for the Raspberry Pi is available as a technology preview for developer use only. Oracle does not provide support for Oracle Linux on Raspberry Pi systems. Oracle recommends that developers assist each other on the Oracle Linux for ARM community forum at https://community.oracle.com/community/server_%26_storage_systems/linux/oracle-linux-for-arm

  • OracleLinux-R7-U5-Server-aarch64-dvd.iso : An ISO image that can be used for a standard installation on generic 64-bit ARMv8 hardware. This ISO has been tested on ARM hardware and is engineered for use with Ampere ™ eMAG ™-based EVK platform and the Cavium ThunderX2® processor. For the latest hardware validated for Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) please refer to the Hardware Certification List at https://linux.oracle.com/hardware-certifications . Hardware is listed as it becomes available.

    This ISO image can be loaded from local media, such as DVD-ROM or USB flash drive, or can be used to perform a network-based kickstart installation via PXE. If you perform a network-based installation and you wish to access the graphical interface for the installer, you must change kernel boot parameters to enable VNC and to set the network address at boot.

You can install additional software for Oracle Linux 7 by subscribing to the different channels on ULN or by enabling the required repositories within your yum configuration. To explore the channels that are available to you on ULN, log in to http://uln.oracle.com/ and view the Channels option. To view the Oracle Linux yum repositories that are available for Oracle Linux 7, visit http://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-7.html .

Note

The Oracle Linux yum server does not provide equivalent repositories for some channels that are available on ULN. These channels provide non-open source packages.

UEK R5 is the default boot kernel for fresh installations of Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64). UEK R5 is the only supported kernel available for the aarch64 platform. For more information, see the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 Release Notes .

5.1 Installation of ISO

The installation process to install Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) does not differ substantially from the installation process to install Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 on an x86 platform. The instructions and information provided in the Oracle Linux Installation Guide for Release 7 , apply and can be viewed at:

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E54695/html/index.html

The recommended installation process is as follows:

  1. Obtain the ISO image from the Oracle Technology Network ( https://www.oracle.com/linux/products.html )

  2. Configure a Network Installation Server to perform the installation. See https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E54695/html/ol7-install-network-server.html for more information.

  3. Create a kickstart file to automate your installation. See https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E54695/html/ol7-install-kickstart.html for more information on the contents of this file and how to use it when booting the installer.

  4. Connect your target ARM hardware to the network and configure the firmware to network boot or to boot from PXE. Refer to your hardware documentation for instructions.

  5. Boot the target hardware and wait for the installation to complete.

Exceptions and additional information that may be required to complete the installation are provided in this section.

Graphical network-based installation

If you are performing a manual installation over the network and intend to use the remote graphical installer over VNC by setting the inst.vnc boot option, you must also set the boot options to configure the network, or the graphical installer fails to load and the installation reverts to text mode.

To ensure that the VNC server starts at boot, append the appropriate ip option to your kernel boot command. Typically, for a DHCP configuration, this may look similar to the following: ip=eth0:dhcp .

Software Selection Groups

Note that the available Software Selection Groups in the installer may differ slightly from the groups available in the x86 installer.

Software Sources

Note that unlike the x86 installer, there are no alternate Software Source repositories provided on this ISO.

5.2 Installation of Raspberry Pi 3 Image

Note

The disk image for the Raspberry Pi is available as a technology preview for developer use only. Oracle does not provide support for Oracle Linux on Raspberry Pi systems. Oracle recommends that developers assist each other on the Oracle Linux for ARM community forum at https://community.oracle.com/community/server_%26_storage_systems/linux/oracle-linux-for-arm

Oracle provides an installation image of Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) specifically designed to run on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B or Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ hardware. The provided installation image is a default installation of Oracle Linux 7 Update 5 (aarch64) into a raw disk image that can be cloned block-by-block to an SD Card for immediate boot. The default file system used in the image is Btrfs. Raspberry Pi is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. More information on installing a Linux image onto the Raspberry Pi is available at:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/linux.md

In summary, the recommended installation process is as follows:

  1. Obtain the Raspberry Pi 3 disk image from the Oracle Technology Network ( https://www.oracle.com/linux/products.html ). You should unzip the disk image once you have downloaded it.

  2. On an existing Oracle Linux system, insert the SD Card into an SD Card reader connected to the system. The image is 5 GB in size, so your SD Card must have the capacity to store this image at minimum. An 8 GB SD Card is the recommended minimum.

  3. Identify the device name for the SD Card. You can use this using the output from dmesg when you connect the device, using the lsblk or by using fdisk -l to list device names and device information.

  4. Use the dd command to perform a block copy of the image file to the SD Card device. For example:

    # dd if=/path/to/img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M

    Replace /path/to/img with the relative path to the image file, and replace /dev/mmcblk0 with the device name for the SD Card. This operation is destructive and will overwrite any data on the device that you have specified. Ensure that you have specified the correct device name. The operation may take some time to complete.

  5. When the operation is complete, eject the SD Card from the reader, insert it into the SD Card reader on the Raspberry Pi and boot into Oracle Linux 7.

  6. Log into the image as the root user with the password oracle . Change the password immediately after you login.

Appendix A Package Changes from the x86_64 Release

The following sections lists the differences between packages provided on the x86_64 architecture ISO and the ISO that is shipped for aarch64.

A.1 Additional packages not available for x86_64

The following packages are available on the aarch64 ISO, but are not available on the x86_64 ISO:

  • bcache-tools

  • dtc

  • gtest

  • isl

  • oracle-armtoolset-1

  • oracle-armtoolset-1-binutils

  • oracle-armtoolset-1-gcc

  • oracle-armtoolset-1-gdb

  • oracle-armtoolset-1-golang

  • qemu

  • zstd

A.2 Modified Packages

The following packages included on the ISO are modified specifically for this release. Changes may include patches or changes to versioning to resolve build issues, changes to apply Oracle-specific modifications and improvements, or changes to resolve bugs when running the application on ARM architecture:

  • anaconda

  • binutils

  • booth

  • btrfs-progs

  • clufter

  • corosync

  • dlm

  • dnssec-trigger

  • dtrace-utils

  • dyninst

  • fence-virt

  • fuse

  • gfs2-utils

  • glibc

  • gnome-boxes

  • java-atk-wrapper

  • junit

  • kexec-tools

  • libdtrace-ctf

  • libvirt

  • libvirt-python

  • ndctl

  • net-tools

  • ocfs2-tools

  • oraclelinux-release

  • pacemaker

  • pcs

  • postfix

  • ppp

  • qemu

  • reflink

  • rhn-client-tools

  • rsyslog

  • sbd

  • shim-signed

  • spice

  • tpm2-abrmd

  • tpm2-tools

  • tpm2-tss

  • virt-manager

  • xfsprogs

A.3 Removed Packages

The following packages have been removed from the ISO because they are either not ARM compatible, are unable to be built for dependency reasons or are architecture specific:

  • biosdevname

  • compat-dapl

  • compat-gcc-32

  • compat-gcc-34

  • compat-gcc-44

  • compat-glibc

  • compat-libgfortran-41

  • cpuid

  • crash-ptdump-command

  • hyperv-daemons

  • infinipath-psm

  • intel-cmt-cat

  • ixpdimm_sw

  • java-1.6.0-openjdk

  • kabi-yum-plugins

  • kernel

  • kmod-kvdo

  • ksc

  • libinvm-cim

  • libinvm-cli

  • libinvm-i18n

  • libpsm2

  • libsmbios

  • mcelog

  • memkind

  • memtest86+

  • microcode_ctl

  • mkbootdisk

  • nvml

  • opa-ff

  • opa-fm

  • openssl098e

  • open-vm-tools

  • oracleasm

  • oracleasm-support

  • oracle-database-server-12cR2-preinstall

  • prelink

  • qemu-kvm

  • seabios

  • sgabios

  • syslinux

  • tboot

  • vdo

  • x86info

  • xorg-x11-drv-intel

  • xorg-x11-drv-openchrome

  • xorg-x11-drv-vesa

  • xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse

  • xorg-x11-drv-vmware

A.4 Moved Packages

The following packages were moved from the optional package list onto the ISO package list due to dependency requirements for ARM architecture builds:

  • libmpc-devel