OPatch Frequently Asked Questions
 Copyright (c) 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 

General Questions:

Q1.	What are some of the new options in OPatch?

        '-property_file' is a new option available for 'opatch apply' 
        and 'opatch rollback' operations. This option can be used to 
        provide the user defined property file, giving details like 
        the path to system commands like 'fuser', 'ar', etc...

Q2.	What does:
	" Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError:
	no oraInstaller in java.library.path" mean?

	This is a unix specific issue.

	The most frequent reason for this is the liboraInstaller shared
        object file cannot be located at run time. The extension is
	".so" for most systems, ".sl" for most other systems. It means
	LD_LIBRARY_PATH (or SHLIB_PATH, LIBPATH, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH or
	it's equivalent) doesn't include a path to liboraInstaller file.

	The file is located under the "oui" hierarchy (normally under
	oui/bin/<plaform name>, like oui/bin/solaris). The "oui" directory
	should be in the same directory as the oraInventory directory that 
	is pointed to by the oraInst.loc file.  

Q3.	Where does OPatch officially reside?

        Currently, OPatch resides in $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch. 
  	Some people prefer to keep a central copy. Some download it 
        each time given it's small size.


Q4.    When applying a patch I got the following error:
       "sh: ar: not found"

       This means that the patch involves archiving a file, and OPatch
       can not find the executable "ar" in your PATH.  Reset your PATH
       and try OPatch again.
  
Q5.    Where can I find information about patch 123456 
       that I applied last year?

       If the patch is not rolled back, then look at the files in
       $ORACLE_HOME/inventory/oneoffs/<patch>. It has info. about the 
       patch such as bugs fixed and bugs descr. You can also use 
       'opatch lsinventory -detail' to see which files had been 
       modified by the patch.

       A copy of original patch will be kept in 
       $ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage/<patchID>/original_patch
       Whether the patch is rolled back or not, you can get the 
       information from here also.

Q6.	What is a rolling RAC patch and how do I enable it?

	Rolling RAC patching allows the interoperation of a patched
	node and an unpatched node simultaneously. This means only one
	node is out of commission while it is patched.

	This cannot be enabled from the command line. Oracle supplies
	a patch that is recognized as being suitable for rolling RAC.

	To test if a patch is a rolling patch, you can use 'opatch query -all'

Q7.     When I apply a patch I get an error that reads 
        "Failed to load the patch object. 
        Possible causes are: The specified path is not an interim 
        patchshiphome. Meta-data files are missing from the patch area ". 
        What do I do?

        This simply means the directory OPatch is using to find the patch 
        doesn't match the template it is checking for. 
        For more information on this error, refer to section "Not a
        valid patch area" in OPatch User Guide.

Q8.     When I apply a patch I get an error that reads 
        "Syntax error.....Patch location not valid". What do I do?

        This simply means the directory OPatch is using to find the
	patch doesn't match the template for what it's checking for.
	Normally your running OPatch on directory out from where you
	think you are.

	When starting OPatch the directory needs to have:

	a. a directory .../etc that has the files that drive OPatch,
	b. a directory .../files that has patches for the files, and
	c. the directory should have the same name as patch id.

	If you didn't start OPatch from the directory <patch_id> then
	you can tell OPatch where to look for this directory by giving
	the directory as the last argument to "apply", i.e.

	$ <path to opatch> apply /tmp/<patch_id>


Q9.     When I apply a patch, I get an error that reads "OPatch cannot find the 
        required command ar from Property file and your PATH". What do I do?

        ar is a command used by OPatch. This message may appear if OPatch
        is not able to locate this command. For more details and workaround 
        for this problem, refer to OPatch User Guide.

Q10.    When I apply a patch, I get an error that reads "OPatch cannot find 
        the required command fuser from Property file and your PATH". 
        What do I do?

        fuser is a command used by OPatch. This message may appear if OPatch 
        is not able to locate this command. For more details and workaround for
        this problem, refer to OPatch User Guide.
    
Q11.    Can I run patching in scripted mode?
 
        Yes, it is possible by using the command opatch <option> -silent. 
        For more information, refer to OPatch User guide.

Q12.    Before applying a patch I want to know what is the impact of the patch?

        You can use the command opatch <option> -report. For more information, 
        refer to OPatch User Guide.

Q13.    What versions of OPatch can I use with Oracle Universal Installer 10.2?
        
        Oracle recommends using OPatch version 10.2 from the Oracle home with
        Oracle Universal Installer 10.2. Also note that OPatch is compatible 
        only with the version of Oracle Universal Installer that is installed 
        in the Oracle home.

Q14.    When I apply a patch, I get an error that reads as follows:
        "OPatchSession cannot load inventory for the given Oracle Home <Home_Location>.
        Possible causes are:
        No read or write permission to ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage
        Central Inventory is locked by another OUI instance
        No read permission to Central Inventory
        The lock file exists in ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage
        The Oracle Home does not exist in Central Inventory"
        What do I do?

        This error may occur because of any one or more of the following reasons:
        1. The ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage may not have read/write permissions.
           Ensure that you give read/write permissions to this folder and apply
           the patch again.
        2. There may be another Oracle Universal Installer instance running. Stop
           it and try applying the patch again.
        3. The Central Inventory may not have read permission. Ensure that you give
           read permission to the Central Inventory and apply the patch again.
        4. The ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage directory might be locked. If this directory
           is locked, you will find a file named patch_locked inside this directory.
           This may be due to a previously failed installation of a patch. To remove
           the lock, restore the Oracle home and remove the patch_locked file from
           the ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage directory.    
           For more information on restoring the Oracle home, refer to section 
           "Restoring Oracle Homes" on page 8-23 of OPatch User Guide.
        5. The Oracle home may not be present in the Central Inventory. This may 
           be due to a corrupted or lost inventory or the inventory may not be 
           registered in the Central Inventory. For more information, refer to section
           "Diagnosing and Recovering from Central Inventory Corruption" on page 3-10.
           of OPatch User Guide.


Q15.    I see some patch verification being done during apply, but the same
        does not happen during rollback. Why?

        Yes, during application of the oneoff patch, after the inventory
        updation the inventory and file system is checked to confirm that all
        the required changes are made. This is a step which confirms the proper
        patch application.
        But the same thing is not done during rollback, because during rollback
        OPatch does not have a target to be compared against.


Q16.    In a RAC Setup, if -remote_nodes is given with a list of nodes to be patched
        and the RAC Setup results in a set of nodes greater than the list,how would 
        OPatch behave?

        OPatch when invoked with -remote_nodes option works only on those nodes 
        specified and it will not do any detection to determine the actual nodes 
        of the RAC. Using this option can lead to inconsistent patch level between 
        different nodes. Please read the OPatch User's Guide to find the exact usage 
        of this option.

Q17.   If manual rollback is done using rollback.sh or rollback.bat, does the patch
       gets rolled back completely?

       In manual rollback via rollback.sh or rollback.bat only the files in the 
       Oracle Home is rolled back. It will not do the following:
       - Inventory is not updated.
       - Make targets are not run.
       - Init/Pre/Post scripts are not run.
       - Changes made to respository are not rolled back.
       - Online patch cannot be rolled back using the scripts.

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