Patch removal problems

[Frits VandenHeuvel_1]

Hello,

I've patched my HP-UX 10-20 to up_to_date.
Because of lack of free diskspace I touched file
/var/adm/sw/patch/PATCH_NOSAVE.
The installed patches are not saved in '/var/adm/sw/patch/'
Since there is a recall for this patch 'PHKL_20057', i tried to uninstall this
one.
The error as mentioned below popped up, but does that mean that I'll keep this
patch
in length of years?


x x ERROR: Couldn't locate
'/var/adm/sw/patch/PHKL_20057/usr/conf/lib/rw_lock.o'. x
x x Since the file wasn't saved, the patch
'PHKL_20057' x
x x cannot be backed off of the
system. x
x x ERROR: The "checkremove" script for "PHKL_20057" failed (exit
code x
x x "1"). The script location
was x
x x
"/var/adm/sw/products/PHKL_20057/pfiles/checkremove". x
x x * This script had errors and the execution of this
product x
x x cannot proceed until the problem is fixed. Check the
above x
x x output from the script for further
details. x
x x NOTE: All filesets in the product
"PHKL_20057,l=/,r=B.10.00.00.AA" x
x x will be excluded because there was an error in this
product. x

My question now is; How to uninstall this patch?

Thanks in advance for your answer(s)

Please mail to Frits.van.den.Heuvel@rivm.nl

Frits.

[Alan Riggs_1]

The easiest way is probably to free up a little space in /var/adm/sw/patch,
remove the PATCH_NOSAVE file, reinstall the patch (reinstall_filesets = true)
and then remove it.

[Alan Riggs_1]

should be reinstall_files=true. Mea culpa

[Frits VandenHeuvel_1]

Alan,

Thanks for your advice. That's what I tought about earlier too. But since there
is a recall on patch PHKL_20057 HP has removed it from any system, so I
couldn't work this out.

Frits

[Stacey Rippetoe_1]

The problem I see with Alan's suggestion is that when
a patch is installed the files that are going to be modified are stored in
/var/adm/sw/patch/.
The purpose for this is to have the original files should the patch need to be
removed. When you use the patch nosave option you have discarded the original
files and when you install the patch now (not using the nosave option) you are
making a backup of the filesets before the patch is installed (in this case
they ARE the patched filesets) so when you swremove the
patch now it doesn't complain but you are actually not
replacing the filesets with the originals but the ones you saved when you
reinstalled the patch. You can verify this by using the text of the patch and
comparing that with a "what" on the file that were patched. Check out the info
in /usr/share/doc/patch_pgrm.txt (on your system) for more info. A section in
that doc says:

This directory should be treated with the same care extended any system
directory. Files in this directory may be examined at any time, but no
file in this directory should ever be modified or removed, especially if you
want to be able to back out patches.

The only "HP-Supported" resolution is for you to reinstall the system, although
you may be able to install the patch on a system that has not had the patch
(the one you want to remove on this system) installed yet, install the patch
(don't use patch nosave) then retrieve /var/adm/sw/patch/.
I would never remove anyhing under that directory without having a backup on
tape.

Stacey

[Alan Riggs_1]

Stacy is correct, the state of /var/adm/sw is crucial here. I assumed that the
patch had been superseded, and that you simply wanted to remove the recalled
patch before applying the new one (to ease future patch maintenance, etc.) If
this is not the case, then "removing" the patch, even after you reinstall it,
will not necessarily solve your problem. Depending on how critical the patch
defects are, you may need to get really nuts and bolts here. Determine what
files the patch has updated, trace back to the last recommended stable
configurations for those files. Cross your fingers, pray to your favorite
diety, and patch "backward" to ahciev same. And PLEASE use a test system
first.

[Jeffrey Huff]

Looking at all the previous responses, it appears
that you are just out of luck on removing this particular patch from the
system, since you no longer have the previous versions of the affected
filesets.
Unless I actually have a problem with a particular patch, I do not remove it,
even if it is recalled.
I would always like to go forward, rather than backward. While I am not sure,
HP has never recalled a patch that does not have a corresponding new version,
or a re-posting of the previous patch. I would suggest that the "latest" patch
referenced in the recall be applied, and go forward. Since we are talking
patches here, depending on your disk size,
we put a mountpoint for /var/adm/sw onto a different
disk that has space on it. We patch each system(30+)
K and V servers at least 3 times a year, and never have
had to do a patch cleanup. We have set the /var/adm/sw lv to 1 gig. You could
also mount the /var/adm/sw onto a nfs mountpoint, but you have to be careful
about applying maintenance in a non-documented environment. We have used this
method on some of our workstations where disk space is limited.