Rajiv,
Solaris Update Patch Bundles now update /etc/release to
make it easier to identify that a system has been patched
to the software level of a Solaris Update release.
Yes, I read about that before. It's also described in the "Notice Board"
at http://sunsolve.sun.com/show.do?target=patches/patch-access
This only applies to the "Solaris Update Patch Bundles", which are patch
bundles containing the same patch set as a Solaris Update release. This
does not mean that installing such a patch bundle will bring an existing
OS installation to the same state as a more recent update release, as
the bundle does not include any additional packages introduced by the
newer release.
How will this effect us? Can we simulate this or is this addition/change
included as a part of kernel patch or part of their wrapper?
I just looked at the README and downloaded the ZIP file for "Solaris 10
10/09 SPARC Bundle Part 1" from the above webpage. I expected the
"installbundle" script to update the /etc/release file, but was wrong.
Actually the bundle contains two special patches which update the file.
From the README:
The patch bundle contains the following patchs which update
/etc/release to indicate when the patch bandle has been successfully
installed on a system.
sparc:
Patch Reason
144401-08: Patch bundle ID patch.
x86:
Patch Reason
144402-08: Patch bundle ID patch.
This is an elegant solution: The patches have been made to "require" all
other patches from the patch bundle. This ensures that they can only be
installed when all bundle-patches are installed.
While the entry in /etc/release is purely cosmetic, a question springs
to mind immediately: Why aren't this patches published publically, and
are added to patchdiag.xref? It would do no harm, and people who
want/require that, would have an easy way to prove that all patches from
a certain bundle are installed.
Martin.
