Sol 10 U3 Recommended Patch Set must be run Multiple Times
I installed a new full load of Solaris 10 U3 (ie 11/06) on a sparc box (V210).
Ran install_cluster in the latest recommended patch set and it installed about
a half dozen patches.
That seemed low so I rebooted and ran install_cluster AGAIN and it succeeded
on thirty four (34) patches!
Whats with that? I checked the cluster readme after the fact and it does
warn about that, but how many people RTFM? Seems like you must have a
LOT of partially patched boxes sitting out there.
# 1
Well, i suppose that it would be really hard, if not impossible, to create a patch_order file that a very old an unpatched system would be able to use and get all patches installed in the first run. In particular on the x86 platforms where a lot of patches adds new features and its very important to get them in the right order.
Unfortunately very few people do read the README file for the patch cluster, which is quite sad, since applying a recommended patch cluster is a quite a major change to any system, so any responsible system administrator should really read that file, its one of few Ms that should always be R.
One way around this problem is to simply update your recommended cluster regularly.
.7/M.
# 3
Yeah, well U4 is due out in a couple of months, so U3 is already pretty old..
The biggest culprit is 118833-36 which has to be installed by itself.
It blockes further patch installation until a reboot by doing a loopback mount over the top of the patch command.
S10U3 came with 118833-33 so, -36 which introduced fairly major changes was actually out pretty soon after that..
Shame they couldnt have rolled it into U3. But there you are.
