Solaris Patch Blog

Patching Resources. This section provides links to overview information about patching the Solaris OS. Contract Customer Patch Forums on forums.sun.com.

  • The following applies to core Solaris packages and patches. It does not necessarily apply to some applications embedded in Solaris, such as StarOffice.
  • Entry updated June 6, 2013, with new Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs, 150400-xx SPARC and 150401-xx x86 : Patch Rejuvenation. When a patch becomes complex and.
  • Solaris Blog. Tips and tricks on DTrace, ZFS, Zones and Solaris administration. Now that some of the systems I have to regularly patch are Solaris 10 ones.
  • Jeff Victor s Blog: Patching Zones Goes Zoom. Solaris Patch Presentation in Patch Corner Blog; Cannot patch Solaris 10 from Solaris 8 or 9 OS;.
  • Solaris news, tips and tutorials Blog about Solaris administration, network and security. Administration; Network; Security; Solaris 8 and 9 Patch Return Codes.

Feb 21, 2011  This is a blog posting with a bit of self-interest attached. The self interest being to try to save myself some unnecessary support call handling.

solaris patch blog

Posting updated June 6, 2013, with new Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs 150400-xx SPARC and 150401-xx x86 :

As usual, we ve released a patchset of all the patches contained in Solaris 10 1/13 Update 11 :

Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 Update 11 Patch Bundle for SPARC systems

Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 Update 11 Patch Bundle for x86 systems

We ve also included an important post-S10U11 patch - 150125-01 SPARC / 149637-02 x86 - in this patchset, which fixes ZFS Bug 15809921.  See Doc 1535270.1.

This patchset can be applied to any existing Solaris 10 system to bring all pre-existing packages up to the same software level as Solaris 10 1/13.

It is not the same as upgrading to Solaris 10 1/13 available here, as upgrading will additionally install any new packages delivered in the Update. 

I ve also updated my Solaris 10 Kernel PatchID sequence posting with the latest Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs, namely: 

The Solaris 10 1/13 Kernel patch, 147147-26 SPARC / 147148-26 x86

Post Solaris 10 1/13 Kernel patches have the PatchIDs 148888-xx SPARC / 148889-xx x86

Please note that there are no more planned updates to Solaris 10, so these latest Kernel PatchIDs - 148888-xx SPARC / 148889-xx x86 - will continue to be used for the foreseeable future.

Murphy s Law strikes again.

No sooner had I written that Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs 148888-xx SPARC and 148889-xx x86 were here to stay for the foreseeable future, than the integration of the SR-IOV feature into rev-04 of these patches made it prudent to rejuvenate them. 

So from July 2013, the Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs will change to be 150400-xx SPARC and 150401-xx x86.

Dare I tempt fate again by saying these Solaris 10 PatchIDs are likely to remain the same for the foreseeable future.

I ve also updated my Useful Patch Related Downloads posting with links to the Solaris 10 1/13, Jan 2013 CPU, and latest Recommended patchsets.

Dec 15, 2010  Associated Directory : /var/sadm/patch Contains the list of applied patches Commands : 1. To install a patch : patchadd 123456-78 2.

Entry updated June 6, 2013, with new Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs, 150400-xx SPARC and 150401-xx x86 :

Patch Rejuvenation

When a patch becomes complex and unwieldy, it is Rejuvenated.   That is, no more revisions of the patch are created.  Instead, further code changes to objects contained in the patch are delivered in a series of smaller, simpler, new child PatchIDs, each of which declares a dependency upon i.e. requires the parent Patch.

This process is known as Patch Rejuvenation and is typically performed on the Kernel patches associated with Solaris Update releases.

Customers still need to install the large parent patch once, but subsequent bug fixes are delivered in smaller, simpler patches.

The parent patches effectively provide stepping-stones to reach certain key functionality levels, with rejuvenation enabling smaller incremental change in between Update releases.

If a child patch itself becomes complex and unwieldy over time, it too may be Rejuvenated, so we end up with a family tree of PatchIDs providing a lineage of bug fixes for particular code areas such as the Kernel.

See https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article.cmd show type NOT id 1006717.1 for further information.

Effect of Solaris Update SplitGate process on PatchIDs

Starting in February 2007, a new, improved, source code Gate management process was introduced for core Solaris.  This is known as the SplitGate process.  This replaced the old Feature Foldback Gate management model. SplitGate provides much better separation during the development process between feature code destined for release as part of a Solaris Update release and sustaining bug fix patches.  This addresses the problem with earlier Solaris 10 Update releases where issues with features destined for an Update release was adversely impacting the releasability of sustaining bug fix patches for customers in production on earlier Solaris 10 releases.

Note, as described in earlier blog postings, any change to pre-existing packages, whether as the result of new feature code or bug fixes, is always delivered in a patch.  Therefore, the Kernel patches released at the end of each Update do contain a mixture of feature and bug fix code.  What SplitGate provides is better separation of the feature code from bug fix patches until the Update is ready for release.

The improvement in Solaris 10 Kernel patch releasability has been dramatic:

Releasable Solaris 10 Kernel Patches using Feature Foldback model:

    SPARC:      21 out of 66 32     from March 2005 to February 2007

    x86:            12 out of 66 18     from March 2005 to February 2007

Releasable Solaris 10 Kernel Patches using SplitGate model:

    SPARC:      105 out of 121   87     from February 2007 to current Sept 10th, 2013

    x86:            108 out of 120   90     from February 2007 to current Sept 10th, 2013

A side effect of the SplitGate process, is that each Solaris 10 Update release, starting with Solaris 10 8/07 Update 4 introduces a new set of PatchIDs which accumulate and obsolete the preceding set of PatchIDs. 

So, for example, a single new Kernel PatchID revision will appear at the end of each Solaris 10 Update release. For instance, 120011-14 SPARC and 120012-14 x86 is the Kernel PatchID associated with Solaris 10 8/07 Update 4.   Revisions -01 to -13 of this patch are not released to customers as these are purely for the interim internal builds of the Update.  Therefore, 120011-14 SPARC and 120012-14 x86 are the only revisions of these PatchIDs to be released to customers.  This Kernel patch associated with the Update release is then Rejuvenated, so subsequent bug fixes will appear in a new set of PatchIDs, each of which will depend upon i.e. require the parent PatchID from which they were rejuvenated.

Solaris 10 Kernel Patch Lineage 

The impact of Patch Rejuvenation and the SplitGate process results in the following sequence of Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs, starting with the youngest newest child PatchID.  The install order of Kernel patches is starting from the bottom of the table upwards:

Solaris 10 SPARC Kernel PatchIDs

Description

Solaris 10 x86 Kernel PatchIDs

150400-01 to 150400-xx

Kernel Bug Fixes

from July 2013

 150401-01 to 150401-xx

  148888-01 to 148888-05

post Solaris 10 1/13 Update 11

to June 2013

 148889-01 to 148889-05

  147147-26 only

Solaris 10 1/13 Update 11 Kernel PatchID

 147148-26 only

  147440-01 to 147440-27

post Solaris 10 8/11 Update 10

 147441-01 to 147441-27

  144500-19 only

Solaris 10 8/11 Update 10 Kernel PatchID

 144501-19 only

 144488-01 to 144488-17

post Solaris 10 9/10 Update 9

 144489-01 to 144489-17

  142909-17 only

Solaris 10 9/10 Update 9 Kernel PatchID

 142910-17 only

 142900-01 to 142900-15

post Solaris 10 10/09 Update 8

 142901-01 to 142901-15

 141444-09 only

Solaris 10 10/09 Update 8 Kernel PatchID 

 141445-09 only

 141414-01 to 141414-10

post Solaris 10 5/09 Update 7

 141415-01 to 141415-10

139555-08 only

Solaris 10 5/09 Update 7 Kernel PatchID

139556-08 only

138888-01 to 138888-08

post Solaris 10 10/08 Update 6

138889-01 to 138889-08

 137137-09 only

Solaris 10 10/08 Update 6 Kernel PatchID

 137138-09 only

137111-01 to 137111-08

post Solaris 10 5/08 Update 5

137112-01 to 137112-08

 127127-11 only

Solaris 10 5/08 Update 5 Kernel PatchID

 127128-11 only

 127111-01 to 127111-11

post Solaris 10 8/07 Update 4

 127112-01 to 127112-11

 120011-14 only

Solaris 10 8/07 Update 4 Kernel PatchID

 120012-14 only

 125100-04 to 125100-10

post Solaris 10 11/06 Update 3

125101-01 to 125101-10

118833-02 to 118833-36

118833-33 SPARC / 118855-33 x86 is the Kernel patch included in Solaris 10 11/06 Update 3 but these patches were not releasable as standalone patches to SunSolve.

118833-17 SPARC / 118855-14 x86 is the Kernel patch included in Solaris 10 6/06 Update 2. 118855-14 was not releasable as a standalone patch to SunSolve.

118855-01 to 118855-36

118822-01 to 118822-30

118822-25 SPARC / 118844-26 x86 is the Kernel patch included in Solaris 10 1/06 Update 1. 118844-26 was not releasable as a standalone patch to SunSolve.

118844-01 to 118844-30.

Solaris 10 Kernel PatchID Sequence

Solaris 10 1/13 patchset released and latest Solaris 10 Kernel PatchIDs