Applying Patches to Database Installations
After you have installed a database, you may find that it needs periodic patching as per scheduled patch releases by Oracle Corporation. If you are not sure about the latest patch release applied to your database, use the OPatch utility (located in $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch) to get a list of installed software components as well as the installed patches. Use the command opatch lsinventory to get a list from your database installation. A sample output for an Oracle Data base 10g Release 2 installation is given here.
$ opatch lsinventory Oracle interim Patch Installer version 10.2.0.0.0 Copyright (c) 2004, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.. Oracle Home : /opt/app/oracle10g/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1 Central Inventory : /opt/app/ora10g/oracle/oraInventory from : /opt/app/oracle10g/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/oraInst.loc OPatch version : 10.2.0.0.0 OUI version : 10.2.0.0.0 OUI location : /opt/app/oracle10g/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/oui Log file location : /opt/app/oracle10g/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch-2005_Apr_26_18-37-14-EDT_Tue.log -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installed Top-level Products (1): Oracle Database 10g 10.2.0.0.0 There are 1 products installed in this Oracle Home. There are no Intermin patches installed in this Oracle Home. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPatch succeeded.
An interim patch (formerly known as a one-off patch) is a patch set made available by Oracle other than scheduled patch releases to rectify any immediate bugs to the database installation. Interim patches should not be applied on any versions other than for which it is intended. The interim patch installer is the aforementioned OPatch tool supplied by Oracle. OPatch utilizes the same inventory used by Oracle Universal Installer. Refer to the notes that come with the interim patch for more details and bug fixes.