How to check PSU patch version in oracle

In this article, we will learn about what are PSU patches, Release update patches. How to check PSU version in the Oracle server and many more things

What is a PSU patch for Oracle Home?

Patch Set Updates (PSU) are the same cumulative patches that include both the security fixes and priority fixes.  The key with PSUs is they are minor version upgrades (e.g., 11.2.0.1.1 to 11.2.0.1.2).  Once a PSU is applied, only PSUs can be applied in future quarters until the database is upgraded to a new base version.

More details about PSU

• The PSU   released for Oracle Database Server version 10.2.0.4.0/10.2.0.5.x , 11.1..0.7.0 and 11.2.0.1.0/11.2.0.2.0  respectively does not change the database version . That means PSU  10.2.0.4.x /10.2.0.5.x, 11.1.0.7.x, 11.2.0.1.x /11.2.0.2.x ( where x is the fifth digit ) does NOT change the 5th digit of the Oracle Database Server version.
• opatch lsinventory” still shows the version as 10.2.0.4.0/10.2.0.5.0 for Oracle 10g R2, 11.1.0.7 for Oracle 11g R1  and 11.2.0.1 /11.2.0.2 for Oracle 11g R2
• PSU’s also will not change the version of oracle binaries (like sqlplus, exp/imp etc.)
• PSU patches are available till 12cR1 only. Oracle has moved to release update and revision with 12cR2 and above. we can use the same below queries to obtain information about Release Update and revision also

What is Release Update (RU)

Beginning with Oracle 12.2, Oracle started issuing RUs on a quarterly basis. RUs are similar to PSUs in that they are cumulative and provide fixes for known issues. However, they also may contain new features or functionality enhancements. This makes them more comprehensive and proactive compared to PSUs.

What is Release Update Revision (RUR)

RURs provide a way to obtain critical fixes for a given RU without getting the new features or functionality enhancements of the next RU. They are released on the same quarterly schedule, but an RUR only includes the bug fixes from the next two RUs. This can be helpful if you want to keep your system stable and minimize changes, while still getting the most critical fixes.

How to check the PSU patch version in Oracle/ Release Update/Release Update revision

Using Opatch

$ opatch lsinv -bugs_fixed | grep PSU
85733156 88334280 Tue Feb 09 16:54:18 MST 2012 DATABASE PSU 10.2.0.4.3 (INCLUDES CPUJAPR2011)
8833280 883280 Tue Feb 09 16:54:18 MST 2011 DATABASE PSU 10.2.0.4.4 (INCLUDES CPUOCT2010)

The below command can be used to get the information about PSU/Release update/Release update revision

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lsinventory|grep "Patch description"
$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lsinventory -details
$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches

Verify the PSU Post Install steps were run in the DB

With 11g

select substr(action_time,1,30) action_time, substr(id,1,10) id, substr(action,1,10) action, substr(version,1,8) version, substr(BUNDLE_SERIES,1,6) bundle, substr(comments,1,20) comments from registry$history; 

With 12cR1 and above

set line 1000
 col action form a12
 col version  form a40
 col description form a85
 col action_date form a20
 select description, action, to_char(action_time,'DD/MM/RR HH24:MI:SS') action_date, 
 from dba_registry_sqlpatch;

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