Applying the DSTv19 update for the Oracle Database (Doc ID 1497158.1)

Last updated on JANUARY 22, 2020

Applies to:

Purpose

The RDBMS DSTv19 update includes the timezone information from the Olson ( http://www.iana.org/time-zones ) data tzdata2012j.tar and contains all previous Oracle RDBMS DST updates.
The OJVM DSTv19 update includes the timezone information from the Olson (http://www.iana.org/time-zones ) data tzdata2012j.tar and contains all previous Oracle OJVM DST updates.

This is archived content. The note covers the "DSTv19" update, newer DST updates are available.
Please see <Note 412160.1> Updated Time Zones in Oracle Time Zone File patches for information on the newer DST patches.

All DST patches are always cumulative, which means they contain also ALL the previous DST changes / corrections.
This means that:

•  if there is a requirement to apply DST version 29 it's a good idea to apply the latest available for your Oracle RDBMS version seen the newer DST patch this will have the same fixes and more. *
•  a newer DST patch for a certain RDBMS version can be used if the older DST patch is not available for this version (for example using DSTv22 instead of using DSTv19 for 12.1.0.1). *
•  any application that works correctly with DST version x will work fine with a database using a DST version higher than DST version x **
•  the database and client DST version does not need to be the same. If a client uses DSTv4 for example (and all used timezones by the application are correct in DSTv4) then there is no problem using this client against a database using a higher DST version.
•  in 11.1.0.7 and lower Optach will report a conflict when applying a new DST patch when an older is already installed, this can be ignored. There is no need to ask for a "merge" seen the newer dst patch has already all the fixes of the old one.
• There are no "PSU DST patches" , for example an Oracle DST patch for 11.2.0.4 can be applied (manually or using Opatch) on *any* 11.2.0.4 psu (same goes for any other Oracle RDBMS version)
  
  * When doing an Oracle RDBMS version upgrade there might be a requirement to apply an exact DST patch/version on the new Oracle RDBMS version home , check the notes in point C.1.a) and C.1.b) of <Note 412160.1> Updated DST transitions and new Time Zones in Oracle Time Zone File patches.
  ** This statement is true for DSTv4 and higher. The only exception are very old DST versions like 1, 2 or 3 and timezones are actually used (!) in the application.

In 11gR2 and higher the time to update to a new RDBMS DST version is depending 99% on the dataset size, not the target DST version.
For example if the current RDBMS DST version 14 then going from DSTv14 to DSTv22 will take the roughly the same amount of time as going from DSTv14 to DSTv19 .

Compared to DSTv18 this is the list of updated timezones in DSTv19 for non historical dates ( meaning update to the timezone after 1970):

Scope

This note will give an overview on what checks to perform before applying the DSTv19 update.

Details

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