Oracle Data Server Interim Patch Installation

Interim (One-Off) Patches

An Interim Patch (formerly known as a “one-off” patch) is a bug fix (or set of fixes) made available to customers who for business reasons cannot wait until the next Patch Set or new product release to get a fix. Oracle may also recommend interim patches (such as  security patches) to be applied to your systems. Interim patches can only be applied to a particular product version (base release  or patch set). For example, an interim patch created for 8.1.7.3 should NOT be installed on 8.1.7.2 or 8.1.7.4.  All Interim Patches  are included in a future (usually next) Patch Set as well as the next product release. 

An Interim Patch is tested by itself but no system regression testing is done until it is included in the next Patch Set.  Because of this, it is highly recommended that all customers needing bug fixes wait for a Patch Set or product release that includes the fix unless you are already  on a terminal patch set (such as 8.1.7.4). 

By default, an Interim Patch does not include any other bug fixes made since the previous Patch Set.  Because of this, users installing multiple Interim Patches compound risks to system stability with each additional Interim Patch installed.  For long term reliability customers should install the next Patch Set that includes an Interim Patch as soon as it becomes available.

Interim Patches are not cumulative. The fix in each Interim Patch is a separate and unique branch off the base code line and does not automatically include other fixes made since the last baseline.  Oracle does this to minimize the risk that a patch will have unexpected side effects. Because of this it is possible that a particular Interim Patch could cancel out a previously installed Interim Patch. Customers who have already installed one or more Interim Patches who are requesting a new Interim Patch must give Oracle Support a complete list of all Interim Patches installed so that an Interim Merged Patch (a merge of all relevant fixes installed by a customer) may be created if required.  Customers running Oracle Data Server release 9.2 or later can use the OPatch utility to get the list of patches installed.

Before applying any patch to your system, please read the accompanying patch README file. Follow any instructions  appropriate for your environment.

The Interim Patch Installer

The Interim Patch Installer, OPatch, is an Oracle supplied utility to assist with the process of applying interim patches to Oracle's database software. It can only be used with Data Server Interim patches for Oracle9i Release 2 (version 9.2) or greater.

OPatch currently supports Data Server Interim patches for Unix and Windows platforms only. Data Server Interim patches for the IBM OS/390 platform will not use the Interim Patch Installer in Oracle9i Release 2.  In this case, you must still manually apply the Interim patch.

OPatch supports:

• Applying an interim patch 
• Rolling back the application of an interim patch 
• Conflict resolution when applying an interim patch after previous interim patches have been applied 
• Reporting on installed products and Interim (One-Off) patch

Patches for Oracle9i Release 2 Data Server Interim patches include Opatch  with the interim patch.  Patches for Oracle 9i Release 2 Patchset 1 (and beyond) do not include OPatch. Currently, OPatch can be downloaded from MetaLink  (http://metalink.oracle.com) as patch 6880880. Even if you have already  installed OPatch on your system, before applying any patches, check if newer  versions of OPatch are available (as of July 2004 use the 10g version).

OPatch is a perl-based utility which uses Java Application Programming  Interfaces. OPatch was written based on perl 5.6, and while it can successfully run with earlier versions, perl 5.6 is recommended. If you do not currently  have Perl on your system, please use one of the following methods to obtain it:

• Perl is included in the Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2.0.1) CD distribution,  under APACHE. If you performed a 'Typical' installation of the Enterprise Server, perl was automatically installed under the Apache directory. If you have not  performed a Typical installation, perl may be added by running the installer  and selecting HTTP Server under the 'Custom' installation. 
• Download a script from MetaLink to install perl from the Oracle Server CD.  This script can be downloaded from MetaLink as patch 2417872.  (NOTE: this patch on NT/2000 includes all of Perl, whereas on other platforms it does not)
• Download a self-contained version of perl available on MetaLink under patch 2646235. 
• Freeware versions of perl are available for download at http://www.sunfreeware.com/programlistsparc8.html#perl (Solaris only)  or http://www.perl.com (all platforms). 

Oracle recommends that you take the time now to prepare for any future Interim patch installations. Please ensure that you have an  appropriate version of perl available on your system, either by installing it from the Oracle9i Release 2 CD, or downloading it from  one of the websites mentioned above.

The OPatch scripts are idempotent, that is running the scripts once will have the same effect as running them many times.  You can therefore rerun the script if the initial run is interrupted.  However, a partially installed interim patch cannot be removed - the patch process must finish successfully first.

Patch Conflict Detection and Resolution

The Interim Patch Installer will detect and report any conflicts found when an attempt is made to apply an Interim patch that conflicts with a previously applied interim patch. If such a conflict is found, the patch application will fail.  The –force option of opatch can be used to override this failure.  If –force is specified, the install will first rollback any conflicting patches and then proceed with the installation of the desired interim patch.

OPatch Syntax

OPatch can be invoked directly as:

       []  [ -h[elp] ]  [ -n[o_op] ] 

or if you are on a Unix system you can use the supplied wrapper script. In order to use the wrapper script you must set ORACLE_HOME appropriately for your operating system, as the wrapper script will use the version of perl installed in that ORACLE_HOME. You use the wrapper script to invoke OPatch as follows:

    opatch   []  [ -h[elp] ]  

where:

• is the perl binary with a version of 5.6.0 or greater
•   is the patch perl script
• is one of the following:
              apply
              lsinventory
              rollback
              version
• are any options supported by
• -help displays the help message for the command

Examples:  

Unix:  /usr/local/bin/perl5.6 opatch.pl apply /patches/133469

       opatch apply /patches/133469

NT:    C:\Perl\bin\perl5.6.0 opatch.pl apply F:\patches\133469

Applying an Interim Patch

The OPatch apply command is used to apply a patch to a specified $ORACLE_HOME on Unix and to a specified %ORACLE_HOME% on NT. OPatch  installs the patch into the user’s $ORACLE_HOME by default on Unix and %ORACLE_HOME% on NT, but this can be changed to another location using the –oh argument. Apply uses the following syntax:

    apply [  ] [-force] [-oh ] 

where:

• is the location of the patch. If this is not supplied, the patch is assumed to be in the current location.
• -oh is the directory to apply the interim patch to instead of the default $ORACLE_HOME directory on Unix and %ORACLE_HOME% on NT.
• -force causes a rollback of any conflicting patches before applying the desired patch

The –force option should be used with care.  If a conflict exists which prevents the patch from being applied, it will remove any conflicting patches before installing the current patch.  This argument is needed however if you are reinstalling the current patch.

The apply command tries to resolve any missing command line options. For example on Unix, if $ORACLE_HOME is set but –oh is not supplied and /patches/133469 is the directory where the patch resides, then the command:

    /usr/local/bin/perl5.6 opatch.pl apply /patches/133469

will test /patches/133469 to see if it is a valid patch area.  If it is valid, the patch will be applied to the $ORACLE_HOME in the user’s
environment.

On NT, if %ORACLE_HOME% is set but -oh is not supplied and F:\patches\133469 is the directory where the patch resides, then the command:

    C:\Perl\bin\Perl5.6.0 opatch.pl apply F:\patches\133469

will test F:\patches\133469 to see if it is a valid patch area. If it is valid, the patch will be applied to the %ORACLE_HOME% in the user's environment.

Removing a Previously Applied Interim Patch

The OPatch rollback command is used to remove an existing interim patch from the appropriate ORACLE_HOME. It uses the following syntax:

    rollback [ -id patch id ] [ -oh  ] [ -ph patch dir ] 

where:

• -id patch id is the reference id for the patch to be rolled back. The    OPatch lsinventory command will detail the patch id.
• -oh flags the directory to use instead of the default of ORACLE_HOME.
• -ph specfies the directory that is a valid patch area.  The rollback command will use the command types found in this directory to    identify what commands are to be used for the current operating system.

By default, the rollback command will remove the specified interim patch from the user’s ORACLE_HOME unless the –oh flag is used. 
The patch id and the patch directory must always be supplied.

Listing What is Currently Installed on a System, Including Interim Patch Id Numbers

The OPatch lsinventory command will list the inventory for a particular ORACLE_HOME or display all installations that can be found. It uses the syntax:

    lsinventory [-detail] [-all] [-oh ] 

where:

• -detail reports all installed items in alphabetical order
• -all reports the name and installation directory for each ORACLE_HOME found
• -oh specifies a directory to use instead of the default ORACLE_HOME

The 'lsinventory -detail' will list all installed items in alphabetical order, along with the corresponding version number.  The installed interim patches and their associated base-bug will be listed at the end of the report.  For example:

      PRODUCT NAME                            VERSION
      ============                            =======
      Advanced Queueing (AQ) API              9.2.0.1.0
      Advanced Replication                    9.2.0.1.0
      Agent Required Support Files            9.2.0.1.0
      .
      .
      .
      XML Transx                              9.2.0.1.0
      XSQL Servlet                            9.2.0.1.0
       
      Installed Patch List:
      1313986 [ Base Bug(s): 762114  ]

Listing Which Version of OPatch is Being Used

The OPatch version command will report the version of OPatch being used.  This command does not have additional arguments. 

OPatch Online Help

All OPatch commands have a –help option that will display the usage details for that command. The help syntax is:

    opatch.pl [ -h[elp] { [ apply | lsinventory | rollback | version ] }

Troubleshooting

A log of all OPatch actions and results is stored in the file:

    Unix:  $ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage//

    NT:    %ORACLE_HOME%\.patch_storage\\

where:

• patch_id is the id of the interim patch 
• logfile is the name of the file being used and is created with name of: 
              __.log 
      where action is "Apply" or "Rollback".
  

References

References

Related …

Products …

• Oracle Database Products > Oracle Database Suite > Oracle Database > Oracle Database - Enterprise Edition > RDBMS

Keywords …

ADVANCED QUEUEING;OPATCH