PatchFinder has two new key features to assist customers in patch searching, reports Gerry Haskins on the blog Patch Corner. The additions are to the Security Filter, which now can identify new security fixes, and a method to search for patches by the objects they deliver.

- New Security Fixes -

New security fixes can be distinguished in search results by the "NS" symbol. Patches which simply deliver any security fix, either new or pre-existing are shown by the "S" symbol in search returns. The security fix option in PatchFinder finds all (6-2 digit PatchID) patches for all products offering new security fixes, not just Solaris OS patches.

Haskins suggests users employ the "new security fix" search option, found under the security filter, in combination with the "show obsolete" option so all patch revisions delivering new security fixes can be seen. Otherwise, he notes, what will result are just the subset of patches which contain both new security fixes and are not obsolete.

Haskins also mentions Solaris OS Patches will continue to be added to the Sun Alert Patch Clusters along with OS patches delivering new Data Corruption or System Availability fixes, the latest patch utility patches, and any other patches required.

Patches by the Objects They Deliver

This new searching option allows users to look for a patch if problems arise from a particular utility or object. "For example, type '/usr/bin/vi' into the 'File Included' search box, filter the search using the other search options if desired (e.g. select 'Solaris 10' under 'OS Release'), and PatchFinder will return the patches which deliver '/usr/bin/vi'.

Hints provided by Haskins for using this search feature:

• If "vi" or "ls" is entered in the "File Included" search box, results will show all objects which contain those strings in their pathnames. A well-qualified search such as "/usr/bin/vi" or "/usr/bin/ls" may be more useful.

• Watch out for symlinks. On Solaris 10, search for "/usr/lib/patch" rather than "/usr/sbin/patchadd" to find patch utility patches.

• 'pdo' is the preprocessor to 'patchadd' on Solaris 10 and both are contained in /usr/lib/patch. Alternatively, just search for "patchadd".

Updated Software License Agreement

With Oracle's purchase of Sun, customers who use 'wget' to automate patch downloads from SunSolve will need to login in once to SunSolve and accept the updated software license agreement before they can continue to use 'wget', Haskins alerts readers in a secondary blog entry. Some popular patch automation tools, such as Traffic Light Patching (TLP) and the 3rd party 'pca' tool, use 'wget' and hence this notice is applicable to them too.

More Information

Important new features in latest PatchFinder release - Haskins' blog entry on the new security features

'wget', 'pca', and TLP users need to accept updated software license - Haskins' blog entry on the updated software license agreement Patch Finder

SunSolve [...read more...]

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