Multiple Bind 8.1.2 and libnss_dns patches on HP-UX 11i

[Alan Turner]

Various revisions of Security Bulletin 209 have called on various patches to be downloaded - either preliminary patches from an ftp site, or full patches from the ITRC. SB233 and 303 are also involved.
The preliminary patches do not appear to be counted as superseded by later patches, and the security bulletin 209 and 233 revisions do not refer to manual removal of preliminary patches.

The sordid history is given below (UK dates):

19/08/02 - SB209 rev 01 - preliminary bind patch PHNE_25140
19/08/02 - SB209 rev 01 - preliminary libnss_dns patch PHNE_27647
18/12/02 - SB233 - preliminary bind patch PHNE_27794
18/12/02 - SB209 rev 08 - updated to specify PHNE_27794, no instruction to remove PHNE_25140
27/02/03 - SB209 rev 09 - updated to specify ITRC patch PHNE_27796, no instruction to remove PHNE_27647
14/04/03 - SB209 rev 10 - updated to specify ITRC patch PHNE_28450, no instruction to remove PHNE_27794
02/09/03 - SB233 rev 01 - updated to specify ITRC patch PHNE_28450, no instruction to remove PHNE_27794
04/12/32 - SB303 - preliminary bind patch SSRT3653UX
22/12/03 - SB303 rev 01 - remove SSRT3653UX and install ITRC patch PHNE_30068

The present state of my system is that the following patches all show up in swlist:
PHNE_25140 Bind 8.1.2 Beta Release Patch
PHNE_27794 Bind 8.1.2 Patch
PHNE_30068 Bind 8.1.2 Patch
PHNE_27647 libnss_dns DNS backend patch
PHNE_27796 libnss_dns DNS backend patch

I believe that only 30068 and 27796 should really be present - am I correct?
I don't allow swinstall to keep previous versions, so I don't think there's a risk of reversion to an old version of bind by patch removal - correct?
What, if anything, should I do to tidy up the situation (e.g. swremove the old patches - will this leave the new s/w files untouched?)?

[Jeroen Peereboom · Accepted solution]

Alan,

If you are sure about which patches are superseding old patches, you may use swmodify -uto remove the product specifications of the unwanted patches from the IPD (Installed Product Database). That will not do anything wirh files installed by the patches.

Check the man page.

JP.

[Alan Turner]

Thanks

swmodify -u PHNE_27647.\* PHNE_27647
swmodify -u PHNE_25140.\* PHNE_25140
swmodify -u PHNE_27794.\* PHNE_27794

removed them, and

swverify PHNE_27796
swverify PHNE_30068

confirmed that the latest installed patches were OK.