[$Id: GetApplyPatch.README,v 1.3 2000/08/16 15:19:33 reggers Exp $]

Automatically Get and Apply Patches
-----------------------------------

Reg Quinton <reggers@ist.uwaterloo.ca>; 1999/07/09

Rule 1: A system with all patches applied will always be more secure
        than one that doesn't have them applied.

Caveat Emptor:

	If this works for you that's great. If it mucks up your
	system -- you have been warned. I cannot assume any
	responsiblity for what goes wrong!!

SYNOPSIS:

Get and apply a patch from Sunsolve. In combination with CheckPatches
you ought to be able to manage your patches a bit better. This should work
well on any Solaris2.* (and later) system.

USAGE:
	GetApplyPatch patch-no [patch-no ...]
 or	CheckPatches | sort -u | GetApplyPatch

Or, better yet, to do it all unattended try:

  echo "CheckPatches | sort -u | GetApplyPatch" | at midnight

BEWARE/Gotcha's:

I have tested this very extensively on my Solaris 2.6 work station and
on other systems as well. We're not using this in any "production"
sense at UW but I wish we were....

This can, and will, replace things that you've replaced (eg. often
people replace sendmail). If you're an xhier site you might want to
re-install everything after applying all the patches.

There are patches that caution you to apply the patch in single user
mode.  I've never bothered and I've never had any problems. A reboot
after applying a patch like that would be recommended.

There are patches recommended that don't get installed -- because you
don't have the right hardware or don't have some optional package
installed. That's no big deal.

09-Jul-1999; first version
16-Aug-2000; Reg Quinton <reggers@ist.uwaterloo.ca>
