Discussion of Solaris 10 releases (Updates)

UNIX Solaris
1

We are running Solaris 10 Update 1 on multiple servers. We have maintained patches on these servers as they were released. A vendor is telling us that their software will not run on our servers unless we are running Solaris 10 Update 3. It's our contention that since we're patched up we have all the current software. Is there any valid reason why this Update number should actually matter to them? If it's essential that we perform some system change to allow vendor apps to recognize us as using Update 3 is there some software we should run to make this happen or can we just go edit /etc/release?

Thanks,
M. Meadows
Indianapolis, IN.

2

install a later solaris release is not the same as patching the system... if you need a special release, you need to install it!

btw. this is not true for all releases but for some!

3

Which releases is it true for?

4

afaik you can patch update 6 to all the functionality of update 7 without new installation. but from update one to update 3 is a giant leap... ZFS comes first with update 2 and so on...

5

This only partially correct. If you have patched up, all the software that was in update 1 is indeed up to date. Software might have appeared between update 1 and update 3 as independent packages. Patches apply only to existing packages, when they are directed to packages that aren't installed, they are simply ignored and of course you are missing them.

6

Thanks everyone for the responses. They seem to match what my own research has discovered.

Answering my own question. Had looked for answers on unix forums earlier ... then realized I should have searched on /etc/release. When I did that I found my answer. For future questions on this subject here are snippets from various Solaris forum responses to questions about /etc/release:

Patching doesnt update the "version" of solaris.
You need to do an upgrade install to do that..

So /etc/release is still showing the original version installed.
But uname -a is showing the kernel patch that has been installed.

Perhaps liveupgrade would work for you.
Otherwise just boot off a DVD and do an upgrade install.

Put in the DVD of a recent Solaris 10 and boot it.
It should offer you the choice of fresh install or upgrade existing OS.
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Please note that /etc/release is not a public interface, so can change format at any time. Also keep in mind that /etc/release does not change when patches are added. The only way to know the exact system level is to use a combo of pkginfo to get package versions, and showrev -p to get the patch levels.

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-- am downloading the sparc 10/08 patch bundle with the understanding that if I apply the sparc 10/08 patch bundle, it will be like i have installed solaris 10/08 release.

If all you wanted to do was to move from 5/08 to 10/08 and it was me then I would download the DVD or CD's and install disc 1 and hit update instead of initial for the install type.

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The Patch Bundle only includes patches and does not include any new packages or functionality delivered with the update release.

If I understand your post correctly, you want to get to where you are running Solaris 10 U<NN> which means you get any new packages and functionality. To accomplish this, you'll have to do an upgrade to the latest version using the standard Solaris upgrade procedure of your choice (ie boot cdrom, live upgrade, etc, etc, etc.)

7

Where can I get the release notes of individual updates?

8

have a look at the "whats new" collection on docs.sun.com.