Oracle 12.2.0.1 JAN2018 RUR - 180417 or 180411 ? - DBA - Rodrigo Jorge

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After some delay, Oracle finally released in the end of April the First RUR for 12.2.0.1 Jan-2018 RU. The original release date for this RUR was April 17, 2018 but it was only really available around April 30, 2018.

The problem is that because of this delay something get internally messed and instead of using the original patch number, oracle created another one for this RUR:

Master Note for Database Proactive Patch Program (Doc ID 756671.1)

Later in same DOC:

So we have 2 patch numbers for this RUR: 27670953 (original one) and 27856791 (new one).

If you try to open the original one link, is says the patch does not exist.

No issue until this point, oracle simply decided to use another patch number and didn't update all the page links.

So when I downloaded the new patch link, the first thing that brought my attention is that the patch name is different:

DATABASE JAN 2018 RELEASE UPDATE REVISION 12.2.0.1.180417(ID:180411.1) (Patch)

The patch ID is not 180417, but 180411 dot 1. Why?

After applying this RUR in my Database, two strange things happened:

SQL> select * from registry$history;

ACTION_TIME     ACTION     NAMESPACE    VERSION             ID COMMENTS                                         BUNDLE_SERIES
--------------- ---------- ------------ ----------- ---------- ------------------------------------------------ ---------------
                BOOTSTRAP  DATAPATCH    12.2.0.1               RDBMS_12.2.0.1.0DBJAN2018RUR_LINUX.X64_180411.1

1) Until now the RU / RUR were inserting lines only on registry$sqlpatch, not registry$history. Action Time column is also NULL.

SQL> select PATCH_ID,ACTION,ACTION_TIME,DESCRIPTION,STATUS,VERSION,BUNDLE_SERIES,BUNDLE_ID from registry$sqlpatch;

  PATCH_ID ACTION          ACTION_TIME                    DESCRIPTION                                                        STATUS          VERSION    BUNDLE_SERIES                   BUNDLE_ID
---------- --------------- ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ---------- ------------------------------ ----------
  27856791 APPLY           08-MAY-18 11.45.02.902347 AM   DATABASE JAN 2018 RELEASE UPDATE REVISION 12.2.0.1.0(ID:180411.1)  SUCCESS         12.2.0.1   12.2.0.1.0DBJAN2018RUR             180411

1 row selected.

2) You don't have anywhere in the DB mentioning this is a 180417 RUR, but rather an 180411.

The ID is 6 days before the RUR release.

This numbering system for patch releases is really driving me crazy!!

Finally I decided to check which of those patches is being delivered inside GI JAN 2018 RELEASE UPDATE REVISION 12.2.0.1.180417.

Downloading p27696736_122010_Linux-x86-64.zip, extracting and checking...