This chapter provides an overview of the concepts and features of the patch kits for the DIGITAL UNIX operating system, the Available Server Environment (ASE), and TruCluster Software (TCR) products.
The DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, and TCR patch kits contain official 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
A patch-management utility for installing, viewing, removing, and managing patches
Note
Patch kits are not intended to provide general maintenance and new functionality; applying them to your system does not obviate the need to upgrade to later versions of DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, and TCR.
Patch kits 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 ASE or TCR products (if applicable) at the same time you update your operating system.
DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, and TCR 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.service.digital.com/patches/index.html
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 ASE and TCR software products. For example, the DIGITAL UNIX 4.0B patch tar file will contain the DIGITAL UNIX 4.0B patch kit and the TCR1.4A patch kit.
The content of each patch tar file is summarized in the 00-READ-ME-FIRST file contained in the tar file. This letter should be the first thing you read after unpacking the tar file.
Patch kits on CD-ROM.
The latest DIGITAL UNIX Patch CD-ROM is packaged with each new DIGITAL UNIX operating system order, or it can be obtained as follows:
You can receive the DIGITAL UNIX Patch CD-ROM automatically if you purchase the layered product patch subscription service (order number QT-3CSAA-C8).
You can order the DIGITAL UNIX Patch CD-ROM separately (order number QA-MT4AA-H8).
Customers in the United States can place orders by calling 1-800-DIGITAL; customers in other countries should contact your local Compaq sales office or authorized reseller for pricing and availability.
The DIGITAL UNIX Patch CD-ROM contains all of the latest patch kits for the supported versions of DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, 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.
Each patch kit contains the following components:
Patch Summary and Release Notes
This manual contains release notes and other information that pertain to the patch tools and the specific patches within each kit.
Installation Instructions (the manual you are reading)
The instructions in this manual are common to all patch kits. Files for this manual are provided in PDF and HTML formats, as follows:
/PatchInstallGuide.pdf, for viewing with
Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is provided on the DIGITAL UNIX Version 4.0E Documentation
CD-ROM and is available at the Adobe Web site (
http://www.adobe.com/)
/PatchInstallGuide.htm, for viewing with
a Web browser like Netscape
Patch management utility (dupatch)
Installs, removes, and manages official patches for DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, and TCR. This utility is installed and left on the system through the successful installation of a DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, or TCR patch kit.
Patch subsets
Patch-specific documentation
Contains information that is installed and left on the system in
/var/adm/patch/doc
through the use of a DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, or
TCR patch kit.
The following documentation is included for each patch:
Patch abstract - summarizes the problems that the patch corrects
Patch README file - describes the problems that the patch corrects
Patch kit installation tools
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.
Each patch is packaged in its own
setld subset.
The
subsets are managed by a utility named
dupatch.
Each patch kit contains all of the product version-specific patches available at the time of its manufacturing. You can selectively install and remove each patch.
Note
Even though selective patch installation capabilities exist, Compaq recommends that you install all patches for DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, and TCR to prevent the occurence of known and corrected software problems.
DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, and TCR patches may be provided in two different packages:
Aggegrate selective installation patch kit
Aggregate kits contain all of the product version-specific patches available
for distribution at the time of its manufacturing.
You can selectively install
and remove each patch through the use of
dupatch, which
is included in each kit.
Singular patch kit
The primary content of a singular patch kit is one patch. To ensure proper installation and system consistency, any dependent patches are included in the kit. Therefore, a singular patch kit may include one or several patches, depending upon the interpatch dependencies.
Installation is accomplished through the use of
dupatch,
which is included in every patch kit.
You run
dupatch
to install, remove, and manage official
patches for the DIGITAL UNIX operating system, ASE, and TCR.
After you
install the patches, the following items are left on the system:
The
dupatch
utility (/usr/sbin/dupatch)
Patch-specific documentation that you can view with
dupatch
Optionally, the archived system files that were updated by the installed patches
The following sections describe the syntax for the names of the patch distribution available from the Internet.
Aggregate patch kit names have the following syntax:
OS Product|Version|KitType|Kit#|-MfgDate|.FileType
The following list describes the attributes currently used in patch kit names:
DU = DIGITAL UNIX
V40A
V40B
V40C
V40D
V40E
V32G
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
The following example shows the name of an aggregate patch kit for DIGITAL UNIX Version 4.0B, patch kit-2, manufactured on May 1, 1997:
DUV40BAS00002-19970501.tar
Singular patch kit names have the following syntax:
OS Product|Version|KitType|Kit#|PatchID-MfgDate|.file_ type
The OS Product, Version, KitType, Kit#, MfgDate, and FileType have the same attributes as described in the Aggregate Patch Distribution Naming section.
The PatchID field has the following syntax:
The numeric identifier used to track patches which are relative to the product version patch kit.
Where the patch identifiers have the following format:
Five numeric digits, starting at 1
Two numeric digits, starting at 0
The following example shows the name of an Internet patch distribution that contains a DIGITAL UNIX 4.0D Patch 37.00, from patch kit 3 which was manufactured on October 30, 1998:
DUV40DSS000030003700-19981030.tar
To successfully install DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, or TCR patch kits, your system must meet the following requirements:
Be running the appropriate version of DIGITAL UNIX, ASE, or TCR.
Contain the necessary temporary and permanent storage space described in the Patch Summary and Release Notes document for the kit you are installing.