Image Update Best Practices

  • Before you update, perform the following steps:

    • Review the license. Displaying License Requirements describes how to list packages that require you to accept their license. You might need to specify the --accept option to install or update these packages. Displaying Package Licenses describes how to show the license text.

    • Read the release notes. Release notes for an Oracle Solaris release are provided on docs.oracle.com. Release notes for an SRU are provided on support.oracle.com.

    • Check the package versions that are available from your configured publisher origin. See Check Available Versions. You might need to run the pkg refresh command on the publisher or run the pkgrepo refresh command on a particular location of the publisher. If you create your own repository, do not create a partial repository; create a complete repository as described in Creating Package Repositories in Oracle Solaris 11.4.

    • Use the pkg update command with the -nv options to display the list of packages that will be updated without actually performing the update. See Preview the Update Operation.

  • When you update, use the --be-name or --require-new-be option to make the changes in a new boot environment, not in the current boot environment, as described in Specify a New Boot Environment.

  • If the update fails, check Troubleshooting Package Installation and Update.

  • After you update, verify the installed packages.

    $ beadm mount name-of-new-BE /mnt

    Make sure you got what you wanted in the update:

    $ pkg -R /mnt list -v entire

    Verify the packages:

    $ pkg -R /mnt verify -v

    If errors are reported, use the pkg fix command and then verify that the errors are fixed. 

    $ pkg -R /mnt fix -v
$ pkg -R /mnt verify -v

    Remember to unmount the BE.

    $ beadm unmount name-of-new-BE

    See also Verifying Packages and Fixing Verification Errors.

  • Use the -N option with the pkg history command to see whether release notes are reported in any updated or installed package.

  • Keep your systems updated with all support updates as described in Applying Support Updates. The “Oracle Solaris Binary and Source Guarantee Program” (Doc ID 1391762.1) ensures that updating across release boundaries is low risk.