Patch Recommendation

Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Christian asked this question today. Specifically, in his case for Bug 26749785 – PERF_DIAG: NEED TO HAVE MORE CONTROL IN DICTIONARY FOR AUTO_STATS_ADVISOR_TASK. Several of his customers suffer from this issue, and they repeatedly need to ask for backports or merge patches. I have seen this several times as well. Anyway, he is not only one who asked: Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

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Inclusion criteria

In order to be able to include a bug fix into an MRP, CSPU or RU, it has to be …

Can I apply an RU to a home with an MRP?

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 0

This question came up by a customer, and it was referring to the FAQ MOS note for MRPs. In brief, it was stated that you could apply a higher RU into a home where an MRP up to MRP3 had been installed in the previous home. So the question raised to me was: Can I apply an RU to a home with an MRP as it was mentioned in the FAQ document?

Can I apply an RU to a home with an MRP?

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Which note, and what’s the statement?

The FAQ2283 – Introducing Monthly Recommended Patches (MRPs) and FAQ stated the following under Q18:

Q18:

How to rollback an MRP

Posted on September 1, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 0

You know, I am not a fan of in-place patching. Actually, I think everyone should always patch out-of-place. But I know that for instance EBS with a 19c database requires in-place patching, and out-of-place will be supported only with 26ai for EBS. Therefore, in relation to an exercise I did over the weekend, let me share how to rollback an MRP.

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What is an MRP?

Very briefly, it stands for Monthly Recommended Patch – thus MRP. And it co-exists with CSPUs. I described the difference here. Read more if you are interested.

CPU, CSPU,

More clarifications on RUs, MRPs and CSPUs

Posted on August 24, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 4

There are questions coming in from time to time, and I see that not everything can be always covered in an FAQ document. But we try our best. And sometimes, there are questions even I need to think twice before I answer. Here is the newest for More clarifications on RUs, MRPs and CSPUs.

More clarifications on RUs, MRPs and CSPUs

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What do you need to read before?

Don’t even read further if you haven’t read already:

The latter MOS FAQ is incredibly …

ORA-600 [] and ORA-8103 errors can happen after TTS Import into 19c

Posted on August 19, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation Transportable 1

This is not a new finding – and it is a very rare error. But you may only find it days, months or even years after a TTS migration has been completed. You may see a rare corruption issue, and it may sleep in your database. The error pattern would be: ORA-600 [<objdchk>] and ORA-8103 errors can happen after TTS Import into 19c when you query certain data sets. A customer of ours has encountered this a two years after an xTTS migration in an archival database. And since my team works with a lot of large migrations, I think

New AutoUpgrade version 26.5 is available (plus 26.4)

Posted on August 13, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 14

I totally forgot to announce the 26.4 version of AutoUpgrade. And now, the new AutoUpgrade version 26.5 is available (plus 26.4) already. The AutoUpgrade Development team did an amazing job in shortening the release cycle. This way, we can deliver quick fixes faster to you. When you study the list of enhancements and fixes carefully, some of you will say: Great, this is what I was waiting for.

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Download AutoUpgrade

As I described already in AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 1: Download AutoUpgrade, you have several ways to fetch …

Long-Term Release Updates are paused

Posted on July 17, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 2

Since several customers asked me about it, I realized that I have never blogged about LTRUs – and as of now, Long-Term Release Updates are paused. Let me explain what the concept meant, where you can find information about it and what it would mean in your environment.

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Long-Term Release Update

The idea is smart for those customers who can’t move forward on Release Updates (RU) as quickly as we recommend it. Which means: apply them quarterly. Long-Term Release Updates (LTRU) seemed to be a good approach. You take an LTRU, and then we …

Upgrade to 26ai may hang due to block checking events

Posted on July 15, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Flaws and Pitfalls Oracle AI Database 26ai Patch Recommendation 0

This issue is caused by an internal change, and we hit this now with two very large customer upgrades recently. Therefore, I would like to point to a fix, a workaround and the following RU in case you see your Upgrade to 26ai may hang due to block checking events.

Upgrade to 26ai may hang due to block checking events

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What would you see?

This issue can happen with cloning, PDB refreshable clones or just a copy or restore of your database for the subsequent upgrade to Oracle AI Database 26ai. It is not dependent on AutoUpgrade but since AutoUpgrade is the only …

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 4: Download Examples

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 7

Let me take off into the 4th part of this blog post series: AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 4: Download Examples. I’d like to show you some of the most common examples and use cases we came across. And of course, I will add some additional (and hopefully useful) information on top.

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 4: Download Examples

The patch parameter

At first, in my previous blog post I used patch1.patch=RECOMMENDED (by the way, upper/lowercase does not matter). But I didn’t explain the whole extent and possibilities of the patch parameter to you.

Here’s a list of the most important parameter …

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 3: Download Patches

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 38

You completed Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog post series already? Then you are ready for AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 3: Download Patches. Let us start simple, and then increase the scope to fetch the patches for various operating system platforms in your local patching folder.

AutoUpgrade Patching - From Zero to Hero - Part 3: Download Patches

Which download?

Strange headline – but you’ll see what I mean. At first, we need to clarify the various download options for patches.

Download patches directly from MOS/ARU by yourself
This usually means that you go to the various MOS notes, such as KB106822 /

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 2: MOS Credentials

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Patch Recommendation 11

In this blog post series AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 2: MOS Credentials will be our topic for today. If you are tired of going through MOS notes over and over again to identify the most important fixes and fetch them, you need to automate it. But in order to automate the download, you need to infuse your MOS credentials into the AutoUpgrade keystore. Let’s do this together now.

AutoUpgrade Patching - From Zero to Hero - Part 2: MOS Credentials

Create directories

Before we really start, you should define a few directories at first. In my case, I copied the newest version of AutoUpgrade into /Users/mdietric/TEMP/AU. …

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 1: Download AutoUpgrade

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Patch Recommendation 9

I was traveling the past two weeks, and I met a lot of customers who still “enjoy” navigating through MOS and searching for the right patches to download. This blog post series will give you ultimate relief, and it will ease your life as DBAs and sysadmins. You must patch more frequently – and this is the key solution for everyone. Let’s get us started with AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 1: Download AutoUpgrade today.

AutoUpgrade Patching - From Zero to Hero - Part 1

Download the newest version of AutoUpgrade

Our first task is simple. You will find autoupgrade.jar in your ?/rdbms/admin directory since Oracle …

CPU, CSPU, MRP, RU – some clarifications

Posted on June 9, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 24

I just returned from a 2 week vacation in Asia this weekend. And I was following from a distance. On May 28, the first CSPUs got released, some MOS notes got published. There are a lot of patching options now. CPU, CSPU, MRP, RU – some clarifications may be needed.

CPU, CSPU, MRP, RU - some clarifications

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The Prelude

On May 4, 2026, I published this blog post Patch your database against AI cybersecurity threads following these two announcements:

Does OJVM patching fail again with ORA-1403 in 19.31?

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich JVM Patch Recommendation 8

Some of you had been trapped by ORA-1403 during patching to Oracle Database 19.30. I blogged about this in February this year, and I had to update the blog post a few times until we collected all the issues. The root cause got fixed and included in Release Update 19.31. But over the past days I received a good number of messages about the issue being there in 19.31 again. So, does OJVM patching fail again with ORA-1403 in 19.31?. Yes, and no.

Does OJVM patching fail again with ORA-1403 in 19.31?

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Why do some see the error again?

First of …

RU 19.31 has been put on hold and will be available soon again

Posted on May 13, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Exadata / ODA Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 67

Since several people mailed me yesterday and this morning about Release Update 19.31 been not available for download from My Oracle Support, here is a the explanation about why RU 19.31 has been put on hold and will be available soon again.

RU 19.31 has been put on hold and will be available soon again

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What has happened?

We released a MOS Note with detailed information: (KB888427) Oracle Database 19.31 Patch Hold Due to ORA-00600 Errors on Exadata 25.2:

Oracle Database 19.31 patches are currently on hold due to an issue affecting environments running Exadata Software Release 25.2.* and Oracle Database 19.31.

An updated version

Patch your databases against AI-enabled cybersecurity threats

Posted on May 4, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation Security 35

I guess you all read the announcements and predictions over the past weeks. New AI models and improvements to existing models may allow to find security issues in existing software much quicker. While this sounds alarming on one side (yes, it does), it also enables software vendors to secure their software. But in order to benefit from it, you must patch your databases against AI-enabled cybersecurity threats.

Patch your databases against AI-enabled cybersecurity threats

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Read the official announcements

At first, please read the official announcements released here:

Accelerating Vulnerability Detection and Response at Oracle (3 min read – April 29,

April 2026 Release Updates (RUs) 19.31 and 23.26.2 are delayed

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 69

Yesterday, I delivered a full-day workshop for ora2know in Düsseldorf. And we discussed the most recent RUs as well, especially since “Database Patching” consumed a significant part of the day content-wise. I learned that the RUs have now a target date of April 28 for Linux, and May 12 for other ports. Which means that the April 2026 Release Updates (RUs) 19.31 and 23.26.2 are delayed.

April 2026 Release Updates (RUs) 19.31 and 23.26.2 are delayed

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Why are the April 2026 Release Updates (RUs) 19.31 and 23.26.2 delayed?

I don’t know the reason, and there is (as far as I can see) no official …

OJVM patching fails with ORA-1403 in 19.30 if JAVAVM is not installed

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls JVM Patch Recommendation 106

Thanks to all the people (Jeff, Daniele, Lothar and others) who alerted me about this topic. Some of you had even created their own fix already. So, this is about an issue which happens only if you have no JAVAVM installed in your database or PDB but you still apply the OJVM Bundle on to of the Oracle Database 19.30 Release Update. You may find then: OJVM patching fails with ORA-1403 in 19.30 if JAVAVM is not installed.

OJVM patching fails with ORA-1403 in 19.30 if JVM is not installed

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When does this happen?

This issue happens when you apply the OJVM bundle together with …

What has happened to the 19.29 and 19.30 RUs?

Posted on February 9, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 44

Many of you mailed us asking why AutoUpgrade does not download 19.29 or 19.30 RUs anymore. Others just noticed that the RUs got pulled without further communication visible. And a few people informed me about an issue with the 19.30 RU when you don’t have OJVM configured but install the OJVM bundle. So, what has happened to the 19.29 and 19.30 RUs??

What has happened to the 19.29 and 19.30 RUs?

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Release Update 19.29 and 19.30

A fix for Bug 34352668 – LNX64-23.1-RAC: SVCB HIT ORA-600 [KCBGTCR_17] has been included into RUs 19.29 and 19.30 but unfortunately it could potentially cause a regression…

How do you check whether a list of bug fixes is included in an RU?

Posted on February 5, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich ORAdiff Patch Recommendation 6

Today, a customer sent me a workaround for the misbehavior they were seeing with the Conflict Checker Tool in the Support portal. They use oradiff to check whether a given fix they have a one-off right now is included in a future Release Update (RU). This works nicely, but I have a recommendation for an even easier check (thanks Rodrigo!).

How do you check whether a list of bug fixes is included in an RU?

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Ask ORAdiff …

I am using this specific customer case as an example. Of course, this will work with your list of fixes as well. Let’s assume that this is the list of one-off …

A kill-switch terminates blocking sessions during patching

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Mike.Dietrich Behavior Change Oracle AI Database 26ai Patch Recommendation 4

You will find a good number of datapatch posts on my blog. And with Oracle AI Database 26ai from RU 23.26.0.0.0 onward (the October 2025 RU), we introduce a new functionality when you run datapatch: A kill-switch terminates blocking sessions during patching.

A kill-switch terminates blocking sessions during patching

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What is changing?

From Oracle AI Database 26ai onwards by default the invocation of datapatch will terminate any session currently holding a requested KGL X lock (Kernel Generic Library cache), an exclusive lock on an SQL or an PL/SQL procedure.

In reality this means:

You invoke

ORA-43907: Potential behavior change with Oracle RU 19.28.0

Posted on September 22, 2025 by Mike.Dietrich Behavior Change Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 2

As I said multiple times, we have the best and most knowledgeable customers out there. Julian Frey is one of them, and there is a good and legit reason why he is an ACE Director since (I think) two years. Julian alerted me the other day about an ORA-43907: Potential behavior change with Oracle RU 19.28.0. And I guess, some of you would like to learn about this, too.

ORA-43907: Potential behavior change with Oracle RU 19.28.0

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What you may see?

Oracle Database 19c Release Update 19.28 contains a fix for Bug 36386077 – ORA-43907 NEEDS TO BE RAISED FOR CONVERSION …

AutoUpgrade patching – getting started with Connor McDonald

Posted on August 12, 2025 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Patch Recommendation 22

AIOUG OC Yatra 2025 is over, and I somehow recovered as well. As I wrote here, it was (again) an incredible experience with all those wonderful people (you!!) and those crazy speakers (us!) – and I learned a lot again. Still, I had no clue that Database and Developer evangelist and video wizard Connor McDonald would react to my friendly nagging 🙂

AutoUpgrade patching - getting started with Connor McDonald

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Have you used AutoUpgrade before?

If you say “No, not really“, then this video is for you. See how Connor dives into AutoUpgrade which he had never used before.…

DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and the standby database?

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls MAA Patch Recommendation 8

I could have sworn that I had blogged about it. Aleksey had a comment on the blog and I could not find the answer. But I knew that I had discussed this topic with several people in email already. Maybe it has fallen off my long list of future blog posts. No worries, here it is: DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and the standby database?

DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and the standby database?

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DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – short recap

I have a longer list of DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE blog posts, and you can easily navigate to them here. In very short, you will use the package to enable potentially …

April 2025 Patch Bundles and a new OPatch

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 12

Where are they? I saw some so-called “social” media rants this morning already about the missing April 2025 bundles, and people comparing file sizes of opatch wondering what has been forgotten to be included. So let me write a few words about April 2025 Patch Bundles and a new OPatch.

April 2025 Patch Bundles and a new OPatch

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OPatch 12.2.0.1.46

As usual, there is a new Opatch available to install the new bundle patches. And it may be no news to you when you have been to one of our workshops or you watched one of our Virtual Classroom …

Patch Recommendation

Inclusion criteria

Which note, and what’s the statement?

What is an MRP?

What do you need to read before?

Download AutoUpgrade

Long-Term Release Update

What would you see?

The patch parameter

Which download?

Create directories

Download the newest version of AutoUpgrade

The Prelude

Why do some see the error again?

What has happened?

Read the official announcements

Why are the April 2026 Release Updates (RUs) 19.31 and 23.26.2 delayed?

When does this happen?

Release Update 19.29 and 19.30

Ask ORAdiff …

What is changing?

What you may see?

Have you used AutoUpgrade before?

DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – short recap

OPatch 12.2.0.1.46

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