3    Issues and Restrictions

This chapter provides information you must be aware of when installing or removing patches. Be sure to check the Patch Summary and Release Notes document of the kit you are installing for any issues and restrictions that pertain to that installation.

3.1    New Features of dupatch

Beginning with Revision 26-00 of dupatch, this patch-tool utility has been enhanced to provide new features, including the following:

• Patches can now be installed when a system is in multiuser mode. See Section 3.2 for information about installing patches in multiuser mode.

• Patches can now be installed on the system from a pseudo-terminal (pty) while in single-user mode. To do this, you log into the system as root from a remote location and specify that the patches are to be installed in single-user mode. Once all the patch prerequisites are completed, the system will be taken to single-user mode while maintaining the network connection for the root user. The patches will then be installed by the system.

• If the patches installed indicate that a kernel build is required, dupatch will initiate the kernel build automatically.

  Most times a reboot is required to complete the installation and bring the system to a consistent running environment. Certain file types, such as libraries, are not moved into place until you reboot the system.

  When installing patches in multiuser mode, you can take one of three options after the kernel build is complete:

  • Reboot the system immediately

  • Reboot the system at a specified time

  • Forgo a system reboot

3.2    When Single-User Mode Is Recommended

Although you can now install patches in multiuser mode, Compaq recommends that you bring down your system to single-user mode when installing patches that affect the operation of the Tru64 UNIX operating system or the product you are patching. If your system must remain in multiuser mode, it is recommended that you apply the patches when the system is as lightly loaded as possible.

There are no restrictions on performing patch selection and preinstallation checking in multiuser mode.

3.3    Impact on System Upgrades to Later Versions of Tru64 UNIX

In the presence of patches or layered products, certain procedures used to upgrade a system to a later version of Tru64 UNIX can lead to an inconsistency among operating system and layered product objects. For more information see Appendix A for general Tru64 UNIX system upgrade information.

Note

After successfully installing a new version of Tru64 UNIX, you should obtain and install the latest patch kit that is applicable to that version of Tru64 UNIX.

3.4    No RIS or DMS Installation of Patches

Remote Installation Services (RIS) and Dataless Management Services (DMS) installations of patches are not supported. However, the patch kit installation mechanism does support network installation via NFS.

3.5    Direct setld Installation and Removal of Patch Subsets Is Not Allowed

You can install and remove Tru64 UNIX and TCR patches only through dupatch. You cannot directly install or reinstall the patch subsets with setld. This ensures that patch tracking and management is not compromised.

3.6    Limitation for /var/adm/patch/backup Directory Handling

The patch management utility assumes there is one /var/adm/patch/backup directory per system. It does not handle placement of archived original files for multiple systems in one directory.

3.7    No Ctrl/c During Installation Phase

Do not enter a Ctrl/c command during the installation phase of the patch kit.

Caution

As with any system update, entering a Ctrl/c during this phase will leave the operating system software environment in an inconsistent and nonrecoverable state.

3.8    Deleting Patches Containing Customized Files

If you use dupatch to delete a patch containing a customized file, messages similar to the following may appear in the session log file, /var/adm/patch/log/session.log:

Customization found in /<path>/filename
 
Before the backup was restored, we had saved a copy of this file in:
 
   /<path>/filename.PreDel_OSFPATyyy
 
Please compare /<path>/filename with this saved copy.
 
If there are extra customizations you want to keep, you would need
to merge them into <path>/filename manually.
 
/<path>/filename.PreDel_OSFPATyyy
can be removed afterwards.

In this message, /<path>/filename is the full path of the customized file being replaced, and yyy is the patch subset ID number. This message warns you to examine the deleted patch for any customized files it may contain. In order to keep those customizations, you will have to manually add them.

The following are examples of such customized files:

• /usr/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

• /etc/sysconfigtab

• /usr/var/adm/sendmail/sendmail.cf