About Software Management and Patch Releases

Software management involves keeping your Oracle software up-to-date with the latest product fixes.

Periodically, Oracle issues product fixes for its software called patch releases. Patch releases are fully tested product fixes only. They do not include new functionality. Application of a patch release affects the software residing in your Oracle home only, with no upgrade or change to the database.

Patches are individual bug fixes. Patch sets are a collection of bug fixes up to the time of the patch set release.

All patch and patch set releases carry version numbers. For example, if you bought Oracle 10g Release 10.2.0.1, then an available patch set might be 10.2.0.2. Every patch or patch set also has a patch number to identify it.

Every patch release has an associated README file that describes its bug fixes. The README also has instructions for manually applying the patch.

Enterprise Manager enables you to find the latest patch release on the Oracle MetaLink Web site and to download it to your Oracle home.