[pca] Packages and false patch information

[Laurent Blume]

Le 08/02/10 12:06, Dan Cook a écrit :
> Recently we patched some systems in our company. Several encountered
> this issue where a package from a later Update of Solaris 10 was
> applied. See this link for a short description:
> http://blogs.sun.com/patch/entry/do_not_apply_packages_from
>
> PCA did not seem to handle this situation well, and seemed to produce an
> unbootable system. The fault seems to be partially installed patches,
> introduced through previously added /later update packages/, and then
> reported through showrev -p. Presumably PCA then assumes that this patch
> is already applied and then continues applying patches, including those
> for which the partially installed patch is a pre-requisite.
>
> My query is, can PCA be changed to recognise this situation? I see both
> patchdiag.xref and showrev -p have package names associated with each of
> the patches.

Partially installed patches is a long-term flaw of SysV packaging. PCA 
is not a solution to those problems, that's supposed to be IPS.
If the system's own tools think it's fine to install patches when they 
should not, how can a 3rd party tool know better than SunOracle's own? 
PCA relies on the information given by those. If patchadd says a patch 
is installed, there's no practical way to doubt its word.
This and other SysV packages shortcomings have been discussed to death 
over the years, and AFAICT, there's simply no other solution than 
careful human intervention.

Laurent
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