Manual and Automatic Application of Patches

Patches are classified as standard patches or nonstandard patches. The Solaris patch management tools can apply patches in two modes: automatic mode and manual mode. In automatic mode, only standard patches can be applied on a regularly scheduled basis. In manual mode, all standard patches and most nonstandard patches can be applied from the command line.

A standard patch is one that is safe to apply and can be applied while the system is in multiuser mode. The effects of the patch are visible as soon as it is applied unless the application being patched is running while the patch is applied. In this case, the effects of the patch are visible after the affected application is restarted. A standard patch is associated with the standard property and can be applied in automatic mode.

A nonstandard patch has one of the following characteristics:

• A patch that is associated with the interactive property.

• A patch that is associated with the rebootafter, rebootimmediate, reconfigafter, reconfigimmediate, or singleuser properties. This nonstandard patch can be applied in manual mode.

• A patch that cannot be applied by running the patch management tools, but must be applied by following the instructions in the patch's README file.

Two options are available for applying patches in automatic mode:

• Standard patches only – Only standard patches are downloaded to the patch directory and applied. A standard patch is one that does not require any special actions on the part of the user. A standard patch also does not require a reboot for the patch to take effect.

  Specify this policy by using the pprosetup -p standard command.

• No patches – No patches are downloaded to the patch directory or applied. This option is the default.

  Specify this policy by using the pprosetup -p none command.

Most nonstandard patches can only be applied in manual mode. You can specify the patch policy for manual mode by using this command:

# pprosetup -i patch-property-list

patch-property-list is one or more of the following patch properties: interactive, rebootafter, rebootimmediate, reconfigafter, reconfigimmediate, singleuser, and standard. For descriptions of the patch properties, see the pprosetup(1M) man page.

A number of patches cannot be applied by PatchPro 2.2 or by Patch Manager Base 1.0.1 under any circumstances. For instance, nonconforming patches cannot be applied by using the smpatch, pprosvc, or patchadd command. Nonconforming patches must be extracted manually and applied by following the instructions in the patch's README file.