EXOTERIC - Information Worth Sharing: ex·o·ter·ic
-adj
1. Not confined to an inner circle of disciples or initiates.
2. Comprehensible to or suited to the public; popular.
3. Of or relating to the outside; external.

A recent release of Netra CT 900 firmware has instructions to download special patches called a "point patch". It would probably be useful to explain what exactly is a point patch and where they can be obtained.

Point patches look and install just like a standard Sun patch. They use the same numbering scheme (e.g., Patch ID 123456-01).

Point patches are designed to deliver a specific fix that will not be carried forward into the normal sustaining source base. This means that point patches are built from a separate copy of the official patch sustaining source at a particular "point" in time, hence the term point patch. There is no guarantee that the point patch fixes will be carried forward into future releases of the product.

The other reason to create a point patch is to make available a special utility without having to go through the steps to officially integrate into the official Solaris source base. In the Netra CT 900 distribution, the point patches that are referenced are specialized utilities to download and flash the new firmware to the Netra platform. Utilities like these are very platform specific and are not something most Solaris users would need or want on their systems.

A customer who picks up and installs a point patch will be prevented from installing the same files from a standard patch built from the official sustaining source. The customer would have to first back out the point patch, then install the standard patch. The standard patch would potentially provide additional bug fixes beyond what is contained in the point patch, but it would not deliver the specific fixes found in the point patch. Basically stated, subsequent standard patches that affect the same deliverable objects as the point patch will not contain the fixes from the point patch.

Point patches are only accessible from a special, hidden URL on SunSolve (http://sunsolve.sun.com/point). You have to know the Patch ID number in order to find the point patches here to download. The PatchFinder on SunSolve will not be able to find and download point patches.