Patch Management User Guide for HP-UX 11.x Systems

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patch for proper functionality regarding the committed/superseded patch_state.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 21).
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.
• corrupt
SD-UX has encountered an unexpected condition during software installation checks.
• transient
When SD-UX moves software from one location to another, the software is in a transient
state. If an interruption occurs during the transfer, the state remains transient.
For more information about these states, see the Software Distributor Administration Guide on the
HP Business Support Center website at http://www.hp.com/go/sd-docs.
Use the following swlist command to view the state associated with patch patch_id:
swlist -l fileset -a state | grep patch_id
For more information about the swlist command,see “Which patches are on a system?”
(page 21).
Category tags
Patches have categories, or category tags, associated with them to simplify the process of
determining the general purpose of a specific patch. A patch might have multiple categories
specified. This section provides a list of common patch categories. A patch always has the category
tag patch.
Although you can use category tags in conjunction with several SD-UX commands, including
the swinstall and swcopy commands, you should only use category tags with the swlist
command.
Because of the cumulative nature of patches, many category tags for a patch are inherited from
the patch's ancestors. Therefore, if patch A is created to deliver a critical fix, it will have a
critical tag, and all patches superseding it will also have a critical tag.
20 HP-UX patch overview