Solaris patchadd Return Codes

I have collected some information over the years that I find pretty handy, so I thought it would be good to share it with you.  Here we have a list of return codes that you can expect to see when patching Solaris servers.  Now, the codes didn’t change much over the years up until Solaris 10, when patchadd went from a script to a binary, and then the first 33 or so stayed the same and they just added a few more at the end.  I have therefore broken out the list into what OS each code applies to, whether it’s 9 or 10 or both.  From this list you should be able to get a good idea of how those patch installs are going.

Code Meaning Platform
0 No error Solaris 9/10
1 Usage error Solaris 9/10
2 Attempt to apply a patch that’s already been applied Solaris 9/10
3 Effective UID is not root Solaris 9/10
4 Attempt to save original files failed Solaris 9/10
5 pkgadd failed Solaris 9/10
6 Patch is obsoleted Solaris 9/10
7 Invalid package directory Solaris 9/10
8 Attempting to patch a package that is not installed Solaris 9/10
9 Cannot access /usr/sbin/pkgadd (client problem) Solaris 9/10
10 Package validation errors Solaris 9/10
11 Error adding patch to root template Solaris 9/10
12 Patch script terminated due to signal Solaris 9/10
13 Symbolic link included in patch Solaris 9/10
14 NOT USED Solaris 9/10
15 The prepatch script had a return code other than 0. Solaris 9/10
16 The postpatch script had a return code other than 0. Solaris 9/10
17 Mismatch of the -d option between a previous patch install and the current one. Solaris 9/10
18 Not enough space in the file systems that are targets of the patch. Solaris 9/10
19 $SOFTINFO/INST_RELEASE file not found Solaris 9/10
20 A direct instance patch was required but not found Solaris 9/10
21 The required patches have not been installed on the manager Solaris 9/10
22 A progressive instance patch was required but not found Solaris 9/10
23 A restricted patch is already applied to the package Solaris 9/10
24 An incompatible patch is applied Solaris 9/10
25 A required patch is not applied Solaris 9/10
26 The user specified backout data can’t be found Solaris 9/10
27 The relative directory supplied can’t be found Solaris 9/10
28 A pkginfo file is corrupt or missing Solaris 9/10
29 Bad patch ID format Solaris 9/10
30 Dryrun failure(s) Solaris 9/10
31 Path given for -C option is invalid Solaris 9/10
32 Must be running Solaris 2.6 or greater Solaris 9/10
33 Bad formatted patch file or patch file not found Solaris 9/10
34 The appropriate kernel jumbo patch needs to be installed Solaris 9
34 Incorrect patch spool directory Solaris 10
35 Later revision already installed Solaris 10
36 Cannot create safe temporary directory Solaris 10
37 Illegal backout directory specified Solaris 10
38 A prepatch, prePatch or a postpatch script could not be executed Solaris 10
39 A compressed patch was unable to be decompressed Solaris 10
40 Error downloading a patch Solaris 10
41 Error verifying signed patch Solaris 10
42 Error unable to retrieve patch information from SQL DB. Solaris 10
43 Error unable to update the SQL DB. Solaris 10
44 Lock file not available Solaris 10
45 Unable to copy patch data to partial spool directory. Solaris 10

And it’s just that easy. Enjoy!

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  1. Pingback: Solaris patchadd Return Codes | Solarum - Information For Everyone

  2. Pingback: need help with message: no patches installed - The UNIX and Linux Forums

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