OPatch is a Java based utility that requires installation of the Oracle Universal Installer. Starting Oracle 10g Rel. 2, this tool is included in the Oracle Home. Prior to this release the DBA had to download a patch from Metalink to install OPatch (p2617419_10102_GENERIC.zip
). OPatch in 10gRel2 is not compatible with previous Oracle releases.
Even though OPatch is an executable, it is not located in the ORACLE_HOME/bin
directory. It has its own directory located at ORACLE_HOME/OPatch
. The opatch
executable is a shell script that launches the OPatch Java class, the actual OPatch executable.
What is the version of the OPatch currently used? This is one of the most frequently asked questions regarding OPatch. There is a command to find the version number, but taking a look at the OPatch execution with no parameters will also give you some basic useful information regarding the main commands as well as the OPatch version.
This image shows the output of a simple OPatch command execution...