HP Tru64 UNIX Version 5.1B-2 and Higher Patch Kit Installation Instructions (March 2009)

system files or why missing files are no longer present on your system. Changing the system
without this knowledge could leave your operating system or layered product software
environment in an inconsistent and nonoperational state.
For example, a file whose origin is unknown that is blocking the installation of a Release patch
could be part of a manually installed Customer-Specific Patch (CSP) that is not contained in the
Release patch. Removing that one file will disrupt the operation of your CSP and possibly the
operation of the system.
When you run the dupatch system baseline feature, a baseline log file is captured in
/var/adm/patch/log/baseline.log. (See Appendix A “Viewing Log files” for information
about log files.)
You may need to set the patch baseline for your system if you have manually installed system
files or if dupatch informs you that patch installation is blocked by system files that are missing
or unknown.
WARNING!
Misusing the baselining feature can cause serious problems with your system. It is important to
be aware of the following potential problems:
• Enabling baselining to override its applicability checking could leave your operating system
or layered product software environment in an inconsistent and nonoperational state.
• Enabling baselining to update your system sets a new baseline for your operating system
or TruCluster software environments. You will not be able to revert to the previous system
state for manually installed patches that were marked as installed by baselining.
We recommend that you backup your /, /usr, and /var file systems before enabling system
updates through dupatch baselining.
Baselining is divided into seven phases that provide system information and optionally allow
you to take actions that change the patch baseline of your system. You can run through all phases
of baselining to get the system analysis without enabling changes to your system. You can run
baselining in multi-user mode when you are the root user.
Phase 1 – System Evaluation
The primary goal of Phase 1 is to evaluate your system relative to the patch kit that is being
installed. However, the baselining feature will report all missing and unknown files to assist you
in better understanding the state of the changed files on the system.
The rest of the baselining phases use the information gathered in Phase 1 to inform you of any
installation conflicts for patches contained in the patch kit.
The amount of time needed to evaluate the state of the system varies depending on the size of
the patch kit, the version of the software product, and the performance of the system.
Phase 2 – Patch Layered Product Conflicts
Phase 2 reports information for patches whose installation is blocked by system files that were
installed by layered products.
Baselining will not override layered product patch installation collision detection mechanisms
as it is likely that the layered product or application customizations are not contained in the
patch. Installation of the patch in this situation would leave the layered product or application
nonoperational.
To resolve this situation, contact your layered product or application Customer Services or HP
Services if you have purchased Business Critical Services.
26 Preparing for the Installation