What's the consensus on committing patches?

[Jeff Cline]

I have a system that the /var file system is getting full on and I found the directory /var/adm/sw/save keeps a copy of the files that each patch changes so the patch can be removed if needed. My question is, is it wise to commit these patches and recover the space? Will this come back to haunt me later?
Thanks in advance for your input on this!
Jeff

[Christopher McCray_1 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Just my $0.02, but I will run the cleanup command every so often to recover space in /var.

Just to make sure I have a backup of /var/adm/sw/save in case I need it.

Hope this helps

Chris

[Ken Hubnik_2]

We always run cleanup -c 1 every 3 months.

[Steven E. Protter]

Once a month, I run the command cleanup -c 1 to get rid of superseded patch sets. I have adequate backups so I can remove the patch set should the need arise.

Steve

[Christopher Caldwell]

I commit to 2 just before adding patches (commit patches that have been superseded at least twice):

# cleanup -c 2

If I'm hurting for space _and_ my patches have been "burned" in for a while, I'll run begrudgingly run #cleanup -c 1

[Paul Sperry]

1st back them up to another media.
Then do your cleanup.
If you need to swremove one restore from your backup

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi Jeff,

Well, I never say never....

I usually like to commit at 3 times superseded, but have on occasion, when space in /var is at a premium, committed at 2 times.
Committing at 1 is risky - takes time to find problems & recall patches....

Rgds,
Jeff

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Jeff:

The only safe way to manage '/var/adm/sw/' is with 'cleanup'. Before applying a new set of patches, do:

# cleanup -c 1

This leaves one level of patch information so that you can back out ('swremove') a patch. This will also trim the SD log files, thereby gaining space in '/var/' too.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Michael Tully]

After cleaning up, ii you still find you have inadequate space, look to either increasing /var (easy if you have OnlineJFS) or extending it in your next scheduled reboot.

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi Jeff,

I would not go less than level 2 while running the cleanup command. Make sure you take backup of /var/adm/sw/save directory before running cleanup command.

-Sri

[Jeff Cline]

Thanks every one!

I think you all are on the same page.
Sounds like the right way to go!!
Backup and then run the cleanup command.

Thanks all!!

Jeff

[Martin Johnson]

I put /var/adm/sw/save in its own file system. That way it does not interfere with /var.

BTW, if you install a large patch bundle (100+ patches) you may not be able to back out the patches. Installing a large number of patches increases the chance that a file will be patched more than once. Since swinstall does not keep the order the patches are installed, swremove can remove them in the wrong order causing problems.

HTH
Marty

[John Poff]

Hi,

I guess we're pretty conservative. We wait until they've been on the box for a year before we commit them.

Probably you'll have to find the balance between keeping them around long enough vs. committing them and freeing up the space. We haven't come across a patch yet that we had committed and then wanted to rollback.

JP

[Deshpande Prashant]

HI
I prefer to commnit with #cleanup -c 2

If still there is space crunch, I commit the individual patch with bigger size with 1 level superseeded.
#swmodify -x patch_commit=true

Thanks.
Prashant.