Patch availability change
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From: Chris Ridd on 11 Feb 2010 01:38 On 2010-02-10 21:16:32 +0000, John D Groenveld said: > In article <7tggjaF4miU1(a)mid.individual.net>, > Chris Ridd <chrisridd(a)mac.com> wrote: >> Using pca+patchdiag.xref I was only able to get earlier versions of >> patches marked as recommended and/or security. Typically I could only >> get version n-1, when version n was current according to >> pca+patchdiag.xref. > > PatchIDs? The only one I can find right now is 119964-19; patchdiag.xref lists -20 as being current, and Sunsolve's patchfinder list thinks they're all available to me. Guess I tried to get -20 slightly too early? Interestingly the corresponding patch for SPARC is 119963, and *no* versions of that are accessible without support contracts. Clearly SPARC users are being treated differently from x86 users. Neither of these are in the recommended patch clusters according to the cluster READMEs. -- Chris
From: Martin Paul on 11 Feb 2010 08:39 jimp(a)specsol.spam.sux.com wrote: > Has anyone else noticed that a lot of patches that used to be public are > now contract only? > > Could this be part of a plan by Oracle to prod people into paying for > support contracts? Get ready for some bad news: According to my sources there will be no more free access to any Solaris patch, be it security or not. A support contract will be required for every patch download, no matter whether it's done interactively through the website or hands-off with wget/pca. I've been told that this policy change won't by publically announced by Oracle. It already seems to be in effect. I cannot download any of these patches with a Sun Online Account which is not connected to a support contract: Patch IR CR RSB Age Synopsis ------ -- - -- --- --- ------------------------------------------------- 119254 52 < 72 RS- 22 SunOS 5.10: Install and Patch Utilities Patch 119255 -- < 72 RS- 22 SunOS 5.10_x86: Install and Patch Utilities Patch 125332 08 = 08 RS- 13 JDS 3: Macromedia Flash Player Plugin Patch 125333 -- < 08 RS- 13 JDS 3_x86: Macromedia Flash Player Plugin Patch 141505 -- < 07 RS- 8 SunOS 5.10_x86: ipf patch 141506 -- < 07 RS- 8 SunOS 5.10: ipf patch Sooner or later access to patchdiag.xref and all other content currently on SunSolve will be limited to paying customers as well. No opinion, but a few thoughts: Using an operating system where the only way to fix security problems is waiting for the next version is a no-go, so the minimum cost for running Solaris on a real-world system is now that of a basic service plan (324$ and up per year). Sun didn't make enough money, so it's obvious that Oracle handles things differently. Whether this is a wise decision is left to the future. The fact that there's no public announcement reveals a lot. There should be a much simpler way to get basic patch support (think about a PayPal button at the end of the OS installation to get the idea). And it definitely should cost less than the service plans. Personally, I'd prefer a one-time fee for the OS (which should be included in the price of a server when bought from Sun). Martin. -- SysAdmin | Institute of Scientific Computing, University of Vienna PCA | Analyze, download and install patches for Solaris | http://www.par.univie.ac.at/solaris/pca/
From: John D Groenveld on 11 Feb 2010 10:54 In article <7thmvpFqqmU1(a)mid.individual.net>, Chris Ridd <chrisridd(a)mac.com> wrote: >Interestingly the corresponding patch for SPARC is 119963, and *no* >versions of that are accessible without support contracts. Clearly >SPARC users are being treated differently from x86 users. Not sure which BugID in 119964 qualified it as a free patch under the old policy and whether the bug applies to SPARC. John groenveld(a)acm.org
From: John D Groenveld on 11 Feb 2010 11:09 In article <4B740876.9030002(a)par.univie.ac.at>, Martin Paul <map(a)par.univie.ac.at> wrote: >Get ready for some bad news: According to my sources there will be no >more free access to any Solaris patch, be it security or not. A support Thanks for the heads-up. <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-61-203648-1> | A support contract covering Solaris is required to access, | download, install and use all Solaris Software Updates. This | applies to all Solaris releases. John groenveld(a)acm.org
From: Chris Ridd on 11 Feb 2010 11:22
On 2010-02-11 16:09:55 +0000, John D Groenveld said: > In article <4B740876.9030002(a)par.univie.ac.at>, > Martin Paul <map(a)par.univie.ac.at> wrote: >> Get ready for some bad news: According to my sources there will be no >> more free access to any Solaris patch, be it security or not. A support > > Thanks for the heads-up. > > <URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-61-203648-1> > | A support contract covering Solaris is required to access, > | download, install and use all Solaris Software Updates. This > | applies to all Solaris releases. Hm. Does the word "Update" there refer to major Solaris updates (eg Solaris 10 update 9) or patches? -- Chris |