About This Manual

This manual provides instructions for installing and removing patches that are provided by Hewlett-Packard Company in its Tru64 UNIX and TruCluster software products patch kits. It also describes baselining techniques and provides other information for working with patches.

The information in this guide provides examples and descriptions for the Inclusive patch kit structure, which was introduced with Version 5.1B-2. If you are working with earlier patch kits, we recommend using the instructions that came with your patch kit. We also provide a guide named Installation Instructions for Pre-Inclusive Patch Kits on the patch documentation Web site. See Patch Process Resources for information.

Audience

This manual is for those who install and remove patch kits and manage patches after they are installed.

Changes to This Manual

The revision of the dupatch utility that is installed with Tru64 UNIX Version 5.1B-3 makes it easier to use with the Inclusive-style patch kits that were introduced in Version 5.1B-2.

Although you can use this dupatch version to install and work with the old-style patch kits, the focus of this manual is on the interface for the inclusive patch kits. You can see explanations and examples for working with old-style kits by using the Patch Kit Installation Instructions manual that shipped with an earlier patch kit. You can find a previous manual on the Patch Web site. See Patch Process Resources for more information.

In addition to describing the new dupatch features, the following changes are among those included in this manual:

See Section 1.1 for an overview of the changes to the dupatch utility.

Organization

This manual is organized as follows:

Chapter 1 Introduces the dupatch utility and describes its features.
Chapter 2 Provides information to be aware of when installing and removing patches.
Chapter 3 Describes the procedures for installing and removing patches.
Chapter 4 Describes the rolling upgrade process for patching a system running TruCluster Server Version 5.0A or higher while the cluster is in operation. This process is also used for upgrading to a new version of the TruCluster software software or for doing an upgrade and a patch together.
Chapter 5 Describes the no-roll patch process, which provides a way to apply patches to a cluster quickly in order to minimize downtime and reduce the number of reboots required.
Appendix A Helps you understand the log files generated by dupatch.
Appendix B Describes error messages you might see while installing, removing, or maintaining patches.
Appendix C Provides information about using the dupatch command-line interface and documents the dupatch(8) reference page.

Related Documentation

In addition to this manual, the following documentation may be helpful in the patching process:

See Patch Process Resources for Web sites where you can find this documentation.

Patch Process Resources

We provide Web sites to help you with the patching process:

Reader's Comments

HP welcomes any comments and suggestions you have on this and other Tru64 UNIX manuals.

You can send your comments in the following ways:

Please include the following information along with your comments:

The Tru64 UNIX Publications group cannot respond to system problems or technical support inquiries. Please address technical questions to your local system vendor or to the appropriate HP technical support office. Information provided with the software media explains how to send problem reports to HP.

Conventions

This guide uses the following conventions:

file

Italic (slanted) type indicates variable values, placeholders, and function argument names.

[Ctrl/x]

This symbol indicates that you hold down the first named key while pressing the key or mouse button that follows the slash. In examples, this key combination is enclosed in a box (for example, [Ctrl/c] ).

# setld

Boldface type in interactive examples indicates typed user input.

device names

Operating system versions before Version 5.0 use different names than those of Version 5.0 and higher. In general, this manual uses the Version 5.0 names. For example, where a partition name is represented by /dev/disk/dsk3g, the Version 4.0n name might be /dev/rz3g.


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The vertical ellipsis is used in output examples to replace redundant information. This is information you would see on your terminal screen or in a log file created by dupatch, but is not particularly useful in the examples in this manual.

Glossary Terms

In the online version of this document, various terms are linked to the Glossary. By clicking on the term, you will be taken to its definition. You can return to the place you were reading by clicking on your browser's Back button.