[pca] Understanding --fromfiles

[Martin Paul]

Mauricio,

> Now if I could make it tell me whether I am not allowed to download a
> patch (as opposite of it not being available) instead of just saying
> ...
> Failed (patch not found)

Usually, a patch not being available is the same as not being allowed to 
download it. The only exception might be when you specify a non-existant 
patchID (e.g. "999999-99").

Two things:

The information about which patch is available without a contract is not 
included in the patchdiag.xref file, so pca cannot determine that 
without actually trying to download the patch. The "missings" is a patch 
group which contains all security patches, and therefore most of those 
which are available freely. A description of the free patches is at:

   http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-61-203648-1

Of course it would make a lot of sense if Sun included a flag "FREE" in 
the xref file, as it is included for Recommended and Security patches 
already; pca could use this flag with a new patch group like "missingf".

As you noticed, pca only shows a very generic error ("patch not found") 
when it can't download a patch for whatever reason. Theoretically, it 
could use the HTTP error code from SunSolve to determine the cause of 
the failing download, but I decided against it. With all the temporary 
problems of the SunSolve server and the long history of unanncounced 
changes to Sun's patch download service, I don't think it would make 
sense trying to rely on a certain behaviour. Still, I have that on my 
ToDo list and it might be included later.

Hope that answers your question,

Martin.