diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
index 3c997d7265..d01d504ec5 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.d/buildtest-template.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
   image: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/qemu/$IMAGE:latest
   script:
     - scripts/git-submodule.sh update
-        $(sed -n '/GIT_SUBMODULES=/ s/.*=// p' build/config-host.mak)
+        roms/SLOF $(sed -n '/GIT_SUBMODULES=/ s/.*=// p' build/config-host.mak)
     - meson subprojects download $(cd build/subprojects && echo *)
     - cd build
     - find . -type f -exec touch {} +
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 45d43ddbd9..de3904fb59 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1662,7 +1662,8 @@ fi
 
 # Only build s390-ccw bios if the compiler has -march=z900 or -march=z10
 # (which is the lowest architecture level that Clang supports)
-if have_target s390x-softmmu && probe_target_compiler s390x-softmmu; then
+if have_target s390x-softmmu && probe_target_compiler s390x-softmmu && \
+    GIT=git "$source_path/scripts/git-submodule.sh" "$git_submodules_action" roms/SLOF >> config.log 2>&1; then
   write_c_skeleton
   do_compiler "$target_cc" $target_cc_cflags -march=z900 -o $TMPO -c $TMPC
   has_z900=$?
@@ -1675,10 +1676,8 @@ if have_target s390x-softmmu && probe_target_compiler s390x-softmmu; then
     config_mak=pc-bios/s390-ccw/config-host.mak
     echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak
     echo "SRC_PATH=$source_path/pc-bios/s390-ccw" >> $config_mak
+    echo "GIT_SUBMODULES_ACTION=$git_submodules_action" >> $config_mak
     write_target_makefile >> $config_mak
-    # SLOF is required for building the s390-ccw firmware on s390x,
-    # since it is using the libnet code from SLOF for network booting.
-    git_submodules="${git_submodules} roms/SLOF"
   fi
 fi
 
diff --git a/pc-bios/s390-ccw/Makefile b/pc-bios/s390-ccw/Makefile
index 10e8f5cb63..9c5276f8ad 100644
--- a/pc-bios/s390-ccw/Makefile
+++ b/pc-bios/s390-ccw/Makefile
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ include config-host.mak
 CFLAGS = -O2 -g
 MAKEFLAGS += -rR
 
+GIT_SUBMODULES = roms/SLOF
+
 NULL :=
 SPACE := $(NULL) #
 TARGET_PREFIX := $(patsubst %/,%:$(SPACE),$(TARGET_DIR))
@@ -80,3 +82,12 @@ clean:
 
 distclean:
 	rm -f config-cc.mak
+
+.PHONY: git-submodule-update
+$(SRC_PATH)/../../.git-submodule-status: git-submodule-update config-host.mak
+Makefile: $(SRC_PATH)/../../.git-submodule-status
+
+git-submodule-update:
+ifneq ($(GIT_SUBMODULES_ACTION),ignore)
+	$(quiet-@)GIT=git "$(SRC_PATH)/../../scripts/git-submodule.sh" $(GIT_SUBMODULES_ACTION) $(GIT_SUBMODULES)
+endif