Customizing the Policy for Applying Patches

Patch Manager enables you to customize a policy for applying patches to use when updating your system. The policy determines the types of patches that can be applied during an update operation.

Solaris patches are classified as being standard or nonstandard. A standard patch can be applied to your Solaris system when running in multiuser mode. A reboot is not required. Such a patch is associated with the standard patch property.

A nonstandard patch has one of the following characteristics:

• The patch is associated with one or more of the rebootafter, rebootimmediate, reconfigafter, reconfigimmediate, and singleuser properties. Such a nonstandard patch can be applied during an update operation if permitted by the policy.

• The patch is associated with the interactive property. Such a patch cannot be applied by using the smpatch update command. You can use the smpatch add command or the patchadd command to apply such a patch.

As of June 2005, not all Sun patches are available through Sun Patch Manager. Such patches include those that do not conform to PatchPro standards, and those that have third-party contract restrictions.

You can specify the types of patches that Patch Manager can apply during an update. Such patches might include those that require a reboot or those that must be applied while the system is in single-user mode.

For descriptions of the following patch properties, see the smpatch(1M) man page.

• interactive

• rebootafter

• reconfigafter

• rebootimmediate

• reconfigimmediate

• singleuser

• standard