Patch Management User Guide for HP-UX 11.x Systems (5900-3011, March 2013)

Patch state
A patch that has been installed on a target system is assigned an attribute called patch_state
that provides information about a patch. For example, the patch_state tells you whether the
patch has been committed or superseded. For more information about attributes, see “Patch-related
attributes” (page 30).
There are four values for patch_state:
• applied
The patch is currently active on the system and is the most recent member of its supersession
chain to have been loaded.
• committed
The patch's rollback files have been deleted, or the patch was installed without saving rollback
files. The patch cannot be directly removed from the system. For more information about patch
rollback, see “Patch rollback and commitment” (page 34).
• superseded
The patch has been superseded by another patch that has been installed on the system. The
patch is no longer active. For more information about supersession, see “Ancestors and
supersession” (page 26).
• committed/superseded
The patch has been committed and superseded by another patch installed on the system.
IMPORTANT: For HP-UX 11.0 systems, you must install patch PHCO_22526 or a superseding
patch for proper functionality regarding the committed/superseded patch_state.
Use the following SD-UX commands to determine patch_state values:
• Show the patch_state value for patch patch_id by entering this command:
swlist -l fileset -a patch_state patch_id
• Show the patch_state values for all patches on the local system by entering this command:
swlist -l fileset -a patch_state *,c=patch
For more information regarding the swlist command, see “Which patches are on a system?”
(page 22).
State
Filesets (patch and nonpatch) have an attribute called state that indicates the current installation
state of a fileset. During installation, software is transitioned through the following states:
transient, installed, and configured. During removal, software is transitioned through
these states: configured, installed, and transient.
An SD-UX operation leaves a fileset in one of the following states:
• installed
Software has been successfully installed but not yet configured.
• configured
Software has been successfully installed and configured. No further operations are required.
20 HP-UX patch overview