HP UX Patch Management manual HP-UX patch ratings, Advanced topic patch cleanup utility

Advanced topic: patch cleanup utility

The patch utility called cleanup allows you to commit all patches that have been superseded a specified number of times. You can execute this command in preview mode in order to see what effect the command will have without actually making any changes. You should always use the preview mode first. This is accomplished by including the -poption. The command has the following format:

cleanup [-p] -c number

The cleanup utility is delivered by the following patches (and their superseding patches):

•PHCO_27779 (HP-UX 11.0, B.11.00)

•PHCO_27780 (HP-UX 11i v1, B.11.11)

•PHCO_32220 (HP-UX 11i v2, B.11.23)

•Shipped with SD-UX (HP-UX 11i v3, B.11.31)

For example, the following command will execute in preview mode. When executed without the -poption, the command causes all patches superseded three or more times to be committed. The patches to be committed are shown in the output of the command.

$ cleanup -p -c3

###Cleanup program started at 04/13/04 07:17:40

Preview mode enabled. No modifications will be made.

Commit patches superseded at least 3 time(s) on 'some_system'. Obtaining superseded patch information...done.

The following patches superseded at least 3 time(s) can be committed:

Superseded	# Times Superseded	Disk Space in /var/adm/sw/save		Superseded By
==========	==================	==============================		=============
PHKL_23313	3	66560	bytes	PHKL_26519
PHKL_26233	3	180224	bytes	PHKL_28267
PHNE_23288	3	59392	bytes	PHNE_23645
PHNE_26388	4	6581248	bytes	PHNE_28103
PHNE_28103	3	6694912	bytes	PHNE_28983
PHSS_21817	5	12379136	bytes	PHSS_26619
PHSS_26492	3	8761344	bytes	PHSS_27872
PHSS_26619	4	14969856	bytes	PHSS_26622
PHSS_26622	3	27064320	bytes	PHSS_26638

All information has been logged to /var/adm/cleanup.log.

### Cleanup program completed at 04/13/04 07:17:40

HP-UX patch ratings

HP-UX patches have a corresponding quality rating called the HP rating. HP assigns a patch rating of 1 (numeral or star) to each HP-UX patch when it is released. Over time, HP might update the rating value to 2 or 3 (numeral or stars) to convey increased confidence in the patch. The higher the rating, the lower the risk of side effects and the more suitable the patch is for mission-critical environments.

You can use the ITRC's Patch Database to find the rating value for a specific patch. The ITRC graphically represents a patch's rating by displaying one to three stars beside the patch ID in the results of a patch search. “Obtaining information using the ITRC” (page 38) provides details on how to do this.

If HP learns of a problem caused by or exposed by an HP-UX patch, HP issues a patch warning describing the problem and ceases recommending the patch, but does not change the patch rating. If a patch has a warning associated with it, you will no longer be able to view the rating on the ITRC's Patch Database. For more information on patch warnings, see “Patch warnings” (page 38).

The following rating related information pertains only to patches that have no associated warnings.

34 HP-UX patch overview