ZIPL failure with grub2-install command

This document (000019893) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 15 SP2
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 15 SP1
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 15
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 12 SP5
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 12 SP4
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 12 SP3
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 12 SP2
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 12 SP1
SUSE Linux Eterprise Server 12

Situation

When upgrading the kernel or recreating the initrd on s390x using grub2-install command,
following error might appear:

Using config file '/boot/zipl/config' (from command line)
Error: The length of the parameters line (1755 bytes) exceeds the allowed maximum (896 bytes)
/sbin/zipl: Failed
grub2-install: error: `grub2-zipl-setup' failed.

The first size inside the brackets can be anything over 896 bytes .
The second size inside the brackets is always 896 bytes .

Resolution

Edit /etc/default/grub file .
There is GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT definition that is unreasonably long.
Could be that the same parameter is repeated.
Clean the definition and leave the only bare minimum required.
Retry kernel update / grub2-install command .

Cause

Grub2-install command uses /etc/default/grub file for template information to generate /boot/zipl/config file,
and then uses zipl using that file.
If the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT definition is too long that fouls up the command.

Disclaimer

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