System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

Tools for Managing Solaris Patches

Several options for managing patches are available:

Command/Tool Name	Description	Solaris Release Availability
`patchadd` and `patchrm`	Adds and removes unsigned patches	Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, and 9
`smpatch`	Adds and removes signed patches	Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, and 9
Solaris Management Console's Patches Tool	Adds and removes signed or unsigned patches	Solaris 9

Detailed information about how to install and back out a patch is provided in patchadd(1M) and patchrm(1M). Each patch also contains a README file that contains specific information about the patch.

Before installing patches, you might want to know more about patches that have previously been installed. The following table describes commands that provide useful information about patches that are already installed on a system.

Table 24–1 Commands for Solaris Patch Management


Command	Description
`patchadd` `-p`, `showrev` `-p`	Shows all patches that have applied to a system.
`pkgparam` `pkgid` `PATCHLIST`	Shows all patches that have been applied to the package identified by pkgid, the name of the package. For example, `SUNWadmap`.
`patchadd -S` `Solaris-OS` `-p`	Shows all the `/usr` patches installed on an OS server.