This chapter provides an overview of the concepts and features of the
patch kits for the Tru64 UNIX operating system and TruCluster Software (TCR)
products.
1.1 Overview
A patch is a collection of files that contain fixes to problems. When possible, patches are merged together, into one patch, if they have intersecting files or codependencies. A patch may correct one or more problems.
The Tru64 UNIX and TCR patch kits contain patches for critical problems for those software products. These kits, which are distributed as needed, provide interim maintenance that prevents the occurrence of known critical problems. The patch kits contain the following elements:
Version-specific patches and patch-specific documentation
The
dupatch
patch-management utility, which
you use to install, view, remove, and manage patches
Patch kits are not intended to provide general maintenance and new functions; applying them to your system does not obviate the need to upgrade to later versions of Tru64 UNIX and TCR.
Patches are applicable to a specific version of the software products, unless stated otherwise in the patch kit release notes. You cannot install version-specific kits on other software versions. Compaq recommends that you install all of the patches included in the kits and that you update the TCR products (if applicable) at the same time you update your operating system.
To install Tru64 UNIX and TCR patches, your system must meet the following requirements:
Be running the appropriate version of Tru64 UNIX and TCR.
Contain the necessary temporary and permanent storage space described in the Patch Summary and Release Notes document for the kit you are installing
After you install the patches, the following items are left on the system:
The
dupatch
utility
Patch-specific documentation that you can view with
dupatch
Optionally, the archived system files that were updated by the installed patches
Compaq provides two kinds of patches for its Tru64 UNIX and TCR software products -- release kits and customer-specific kits:
Release patchess
These patches provide interim maintenance that prevents the occurrence of known critical problems. Release patches (sometimes referred to as official patches) are provided in kits, grouped by software product versions. The following are features of release patch kits:
Provide selective patch installation and removal
Use
dupatch
for installing, viewing, removing,
and managing patches
Are provided on the Internet or CD-ROM
Customer-specific patches (CSPs)
These patches are provided by your service provider in response to Tru64 UNIX or TCR problems that are specific to your own system's hardware and software configuration. CSP kits have the following features:
Generally use the
dupatch
utility for installing,
viewing, removing, and managing patches
May contain patches for one or more software products. For example, a single tar file may contain patches for DIGITAL UNIX 4.0F, Tru64 UNIX 5.0, TCR1.5, and TCR1.6
May require release patches but do not contain any release patches
1.3 Patch Kit Distribution and Naming
Tru64 UNIX patches for specific operating system and TCR releases and customer-specific patches are packaged together in tar files. Each patch kit contains the following components:
Patch management utility (dupatch) and
other patch management tools.
Installs, removes, and manages patches for Tru64 UNIX and TCR. This utility is installed and left on the system through the successful installation of a patch kit.
Patch subsets for the operating system and TruCluster software products.
Documentation
Packaged with release patch kits is
a document called
Patch Summary and Release Notes, which summaries the problems that the patches
in that kit correct and provides any information you may need to know about
specific patches.
The information in this document also exists in separate
files that you can access using the
dupatch
utility.
(See
Section 2.3.)
Release patch kits also contain the Installation Instructions (the manual you are reading), which is common to all patch kits.
Both of these manuals are provided in PDF and HTML formats. The PDF version is easy to view and print using Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is provided on the Documentation CD-ROM that ships with Tru64 UNIX Version 4.0E and higher, and is also available at the Adobe Web site (http://www.adobe.com/). The HTML version is viewed with your Internet browser, such as Netscape.
The contents of the tar file varies, depending on the type of kit.
For
example a CSP kit might contain patches for several operating system versions,
while release patch kits always contain patches for only one operating system
version.
Also, the tar file may or may not contain TCR patches.
However, the
structure of the tar file is the same for each type of kit.
Figure 1-1
illustrates the contents of a patch tar file.
Figure 1-1: Structure of a Patch Kit Tar File
The following sections describe release and customer-specific patch
kits.
1.3.1 Release Patch Kits
Tru64 UNIX and TCR release patch kits are available from the Internet and on CD-ROM.
Patch Kits on the Internet
Patch kits are available publicly on the Internet through the Compaq Services Web page located at:
http://www.support.compaq.com/patches
Release patches distributed over the Internet are provided in a tar file that you must unpack on your system or on an NFS-mountable file system. The tar file for each operating system version will contain patch kits for that version of the operating system and patch kits for the applicable TruCluster Software Products.
When you obtain a patch kit from the Internet, the kit is provided in a single tar file, which you must expand to install. The Tru64 UNIX Patch CD-ROM provides patch kits for several versions of the operating system, and each kit is already expanded.
The Tru64 UNIX Patch CD-ROM contains all of the latest patch kits for the supported versions of Tru64 UNIX and TCR. The patch kits on the CD-ROM are provided in an expanded form (rather than a tar file) so they can be installed directly from the disk. The 00-READ-ME-FIRST file on the CD-ROM lists the contents of the disk and provides other information.
You can order a Patch CD-ROM in the United States by calling 1-800-344-4825 (1-800-ATCOMPAQ); customers in other countries should contact your local Compaq sales office or authorized reseller for pricing and availability. The order number is QA-MT4AW-H8.
Release patch kit names have the following syntax:
OS Product|Version|-KitType|Kit#|-MfgDate|.FileType
For example, a file named
DUV4-FAS0001-19990609.tar
contains Patch Kit 1 for Tru64 UNIX Version 4.0F and TruCluster software
Version 1.6, manufactured on June 9, 1999.
The following list describes the attributes currently used in patch kit names:
DU = DIGITAL UNIX
T64 = Tru64 UNIX (some versions of Tru64 UNIX may have the DU label)
TC = TruCluster
V51
V50A
V50
V40G
V40F
V40D
AS = Aggregate Selective installation patch kit
SS = A patch kit containing a single patch
The numeric identifier that Compaq uses to track the kit contents
This is the year, month, and day the kit was built and is in the form of YYYYMMDD
.tar
1.3.2 Customer-Specific Patch Kits
Customer-specific patch kits provide interim patches for a specific customer's problem and computing environment.
customer-specific patch kit names have the following syntax:
Product|Version|BL|-C|PatchID|-UniqueID|-MfgDate|.FileType
For example, a file named
DUV40F13-C0022300-1875-20000920.tar
contains a customer-specific patch distribution for DIGITAL UNIX
4.0D of BL13 containing patch 223.00 from the unique kit 1875 which was built
on September 20, 2000.
.
The following list describes the attributes currently used in patch kit names:
DU = DIGITAL UNIX
T64 = Tru64 UNIX
TC = TruCluster
V51
V50A
V50
V40G
V40F
V40D
The release patch base level the customer-specific patch is built against. For example, 13. This field is used by the service provider.
Indicates a customer-specific patch.
The numeric identifier used to track patches that are relative to the product version patch kit.
Patch identifiers have the following format:
MajorIDFive numeric digits, for example 00223.
MinorID
Two numeric digits, starting at 0. For example, 00.
The 4-8 place unique kitting ID for that patch. For example, 1875.
The year, month, and day the kit was built and is in the form of YYYYMMDD.
.tar