Patch Conflict Between 2017 PSUs and January 2018 (or newer) PSU on WebLogic Server 12c 12.1.3 and 12.2.1.2 (Doc ID 2360869.1)

Last updated on APRIL 28, 2023

Applies to:

Details

This document provides direction from Sustaining Engineering for an incident where the OPatch utility reports a conflict between a prior and current Patch Set Update (PSU).  PSUs are expected to be seen as a superset of a previous PSU. Instead, OPatch is reporting a conflict when applying the PSUs for Oracle WebLogic Server 12.1.3 and 12.2.1.2.

For example, on 12.1.3 when installing 27057030 (Jan 2018 PSU) on top of 25388793 (April 2017 PSU), a conflict is reported between the PSU's:

On 12.2.1.2, it plainly reports the conflict without an option to proceed. Additionally, if you have had previous PSUs applied, it will also conflict with them because of a new OPatch mechanism to only deactivate subset patches instead of rolling back.

The problem is not limited to a single pair of PSUs patches, but can be resolved beginning with January 2018 PSU when a suggested action is taken.

Below is a list of PSUs for WLS 12.1.3.0.0 reporting a conflict rather than recognizing it as a superset:

• If there is 170418 PSU (April 2017) installed, OPatch will report conflict while installing July 2017 PSU, or Oct 2017 PSU, or Jan 2018 PSU 
• If there is 170717 PSU (July 2017) installed, OPatch will report conflict while installing Jan 2018 PSU
• If there is 171017 PSU (Oct 2017) installed, OPatch will report conflict while installing Jan 2018 PSU

Below is a list of PSUs for WLS 12.2.1.2.0 reporting a conflict rather than recognizing it as a superset:

• If there is 170418 PSU (April 2017), or 170717 PSU (July 2017), or 171017 PSU (Oct 2017) PSU installed, will report conflict while installing Jan 2018 PSU

Actions

OPatch is reporting a conflict because there is a discrepancy within the inventory file of the newer PSU and the 2017 released PSUs. However there is no issue with the fixed content, the newer PSU remains a superset of the prior PSUs.

Below are the actions to take depending on your version:

• 12.1.3.0.0: When this conflict occurs on WLS 12.1.3.0.0, OPatch will stop to prompt the user to proceed with the installation instead of automatically rolling back the previous PSU.
  
  
  • Action to Take: It is safe to continue the install by pressing Y, and install the January 2018 PSU or newer patch. There is no loss of content.
    
    
• 12.2.1.2.0: When this conflict occurs on WLS 12.2.1.2.0, there is no option to proceed with the installation. If multiple PSUs are applied, (e.g., April, July, October 2017), they are still present in the inventory, marked as inactive. These will also conflict.
  

• • Action to Take: It is safe to rollback previous PSU patches and install the January 2018 PSU or newer patch. There is no loss of content.
    
    

Note: If you do not apply January 2018 PSU, the conflict will occur on the next PSU applied. This means that once this conflict is encountered, and followed up by installing the newer PSU as suggested above, this issue should no longer be seen in any future PSU installations. This issue is limited to the 2017 released PSUs. Going forward, OPatch will automatically rollback previous PSUs instead of an interrupting prompt to the user.

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