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drewrockshard
Asked: 2011-02-08 16:00:58 +0800 CST

RHEL: Errata Explained

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When doing an "Erratum Search" on the RHN site, and provide a specific package name, I get a result. The result is returned, and I have a single RHBA number, and I click on the link. The next page is a list of bugs and issues under "Description". What I would like to know is what package this affects? Are the packages under "Packages" the affected packages, or are the packages under "Packages" the "fixed" packages and need to be installed?

Thanks.

linux redhat rhn

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    To expand my comment on Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams's answer into an answer in its own right:

    The errata give the full names of the updated, correct packages.

    The package names (as is the general convention for RPMs in the Red Hat / Fedora universe) follow the pattern:

    {name}-{version}-{release}.{arch}.rpm

    Where name is the package name, version is the upstream package version, and release is the version of the package itself.

    Whenever a package is changed (for an errata or even just for internal testing), the release is always increased. (This isn't enforced by rpm itself, but is enforced by policy at Red Hat, Fedora, and any respectable rpm-using distribution.)

    So, if you have the name-version-release covered by the latest errata notice on your system already, you know that the system is up to date. (Although in some cases you may need to restart services or the whole system to make sure the fix is in effect -- that's a place where reading the notices is helpful.)

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  2. They are the fixed packages that need to be "freshened", i.e. if you have older versions then you need to install them.

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  3. Red Hat Errata help users determine what updates are available and how important they are based on analysis by Red Hat engineering. These updates can address security issues, fix bugs, or provide new features for individual packages and entire container images. Errata are published for low level, operating system packages like the kernel and glibc, as well as layered products which are delivered as packages.

    https://access.redhat.com/articles/2130961

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