When you apply a patch, the patch tools call the pkgadd command to apply the patch packages from the patch directory to a local system's disk.
Do not run the pkgadd command directly to apply patches.
More specifically, the patch tools do the following:
Determine the Solaris version number of the managing host and the target host
Update the patch package's pkginfo file with this information:
Patches that have been obsoleted by the patch being applied
Other patches that are required by this patch
Patches that are incompatible with this patch
While you apply patches, the patchadd command logs information in the /var/sadm/patch/patch-id/log file.
The patchadd command cannot apply a patch under the following conditions:
The package is not fully installed on the system.
The patch package's architecture differs from the system's architecture.
The patch package's version does not match the installed package's version.
A patch with the same base code and a higher revision number has already been applied.
A patch that obsoletes this patch has already been applied.
The patch is incompatible with a patch that has already been applied to the system. Each patch that has been applied keeps this information in its pkginfo file.
The patch being applied depends on another patch that has not yet been applied.