What's New in Packaging and Patching When Zones Are Installed

Solaris 10 1/06: This chapter has been rewritten since Solaris 10, to document the current behavior of the package and patch commands on a system with installed non-global zones.

Solaris 10 6/06: Information on the SUNW_PKG_ALLZONES, SUNW_PKG_HOLLOW, and SUNW_PKG_THISZONE package parameters has been revised. See Packaging and Patch Tools Overview and Package Parameter Information.

Solaris 10 6/06 and later releases: For information about how to register your system or how to use Sun Connection (formerly known as Sun Update Connection) to manage your software updates, see the Sun Connection hub on BigAdmin.

Solaris 10 8/07 and later releases:

• When the patchadd command is used to add a patch to a package installed by using the pkgadd command with the -G option, the -G option to patchadd is no longer required.

• A table was added that describes what will happen when pkgadd, pkgrm, patchadd, and patchrm commands are used on a system with non-global zones in various states. See How Zone State Affects Patch and Package Operations.

• Clarification on the interaction of patchadd -G and the pkginfo variable was added. See Interaction of patchadd -G and the pkginfo Variable on a System With Zones.

• Information on deferred-activation patching was added. See Solaris 10 8/07: Deferred Activation Patching.

• Information on a -G option to the pkgrm command was removed.

Solaris 10 5/08 and later update releases: EOF of PatchPro. Support for PatchPro, which used the patch database and patch tools to patch software installed in global and non-global zones, ended in September 2007. For information on the current process, see Sun xVM Ops Center.

Solaris 10 5/08: Although added in the Solaris 10 5/08 release, this information is applicable to all Solaris 10 systems.

To register your Solaris system, go to https://inventory.sun.com/inventory/. For information about how to use Sun Inventory to register your hardware, software, and operating systems, see the Sun Inventory Information Center.

If you use Sun xVM Ops Center to provision, update, and manage the systems in your data center, see the Sun xVM Information Center for information about how to register your software with Sun xVM Ops Center.

Solaris 10 10/09: Zones parallel patching is an enhancement to the standard Solaris 10 patch utilities. For releases prior to Solaris 10 10/09, the patch is delivered in the patch utilities patch, 119254-66 or later revision (SPARC) and 119255-66 or later revision (x86). See Solaris 10 10/09: Zones Parallel Patching to Reduce Patching Time and Solaris 10 10/09: How to Patch Non-Global Zones in Parallel. Also see Using Update on Attach as a Patching Solution, a recommended method used to quickly update patches on a system with zones.

For a complete listing of new Solaris 10 features and a description of Solaris releases, see Oracle Solaris 10 9/10 What’s New.