RFE: smpatch for Live Upgrade boot environments
We use smpatch extensively, along with a local patch server, to keep our Solaris servers
and workstations up to date on patches. I'm relatively satisfied with this facility.
I'd like to use smpatch to apply patches to a Live Upgrade boot environment, but it
doesn't offer that option. All I really need to do is to point it at an alternate root to do
the analysis and patch download. Live Upgrade already has the ability to apply patches
from a local directory. I've had to turn to the competition, pca, to do the analysis and
download.
Please request that this ability be added to smpatch.
# 2
Do you have an example of this? It doesn't seem to have made it into the man page.
By running `strings' on the smpatch binary, I can see the usage for the various
subcommands. It looks like the `-b' flag only works for add, remove, and update,
but not for analyze. Live Upgrade already has the ability to add and remove patches
on an inactive boot environment. Will `smpatch update' actually do the analysis of
the inactive boot environment, download the patches, and apply them to that boot
environment. That would satisfy my requirements if it worked.
# 3
Unfortunately man pages are not usually updated after an initial release. However there is a change request 6481979 to add it to the man pages. The option is now present in the smpatch help when no parameters are provided to the command only as "-b boot-env". As an example;
$ smpatch add -b altboot -i 111111-11
The relevent change requests were 6366823 for Update Connection and 4974240 historically for smpatch. As realisation detection used in an analysis may depend on active software or drivers to extract data this cannot be statically extracted from a system image so a correct analysis cannot be done which appears to be why only add, remove and update were given the boot environment option.
# 5
Support for analyzing a non-runnning boot environment has been considered, however not deemed necessary as the CR was closed without being implemented.
The alternative, although not very convenient, would be to actually boot the alternative environment and run the analysis then revert back to the original environment to apply the patches.
