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

Posted on April 23, 2026 by 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

Photo by Suganth on Unsplash

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 …

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Upcoming in-person workshops in Düsseldorf, London, Vienna, Utrecht and Brussels

Posted on March 26, 2026 by Workshop 0

I am ready to take off for some vacation soon. But I’d like to share with you a list of the upcoming workshops we are offering. All those events are in-person events – except the Virtual Classroom Seminar I will list below. Therefore, you need to show up at the day of the event. Zero marketing, no duplication of content either. See you soon in one of the upcoming in-person workshops in Düsseldorf, London, Vienna, Utrecht and Brussels.

Upcoming in-person workshops in Düsseldorf, London, Vienna, Utrecht and Brussels

Workshops and Events in April / May 2026

It is very important to say that we aren’t duplicating content. This …

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OCW 19.28 contains a tiny behavior change with DB_UNIQUE_NAME

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Behavior Change OCW 0

A colleague brought this to my attention the other week. And since the blog serves also as my partial memory, I wanted to put this out quickly. It is not a big deal, and most of you will never see this or be affected by it. Still, some may need to be aware that OCW 19.28 contains a tiny behavior change with DB_UNIQUE_NAME.

What has happened?

In the Oracle Clusterware (OCW) Release Update (RU) 19.28 and onward you will find a fix for Bug 34966087 – AH: CRS: FAIL START ACTION IF DB …

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Does AutoUpgrade support the MOVE option?

Posted on March 17, 2026 by AutoUpgrade Single-/Multitenant 4

Sometimes you have different plans for the day. Or, in my case, the day just needs a few extra hours. Today, I received a very interesting question on the blog at first by a customer I know very well. Then we exchanged mails – and I was caught forgetting what I wrote on the blog a longer while ago. The core question is: Does AutoUpgrade support the MOVE option? But there was much more to discuss and figure out as you can read below.

Does AutoUpgrade support the MOVE option?

Photo by Arron Choi on Unsplash

 

Which options does AutoUpgrade offer?

The case here is …

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Sign up for the next Virtual Classroom Seminar: Patch Smarter, Not Harder

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Workshop 2

Some of you may have realized: We moved the Virtual Classroom Seminar #27 from its original date in February to March 12 this week. Usually we don’t do this – but we ended up with so much content. If you haven’t already, it is time for you to sign up for the next Virtual Classroom Seminar: Patch Smarter, Not Harder.

What are we going to talk about?

Database Patching – with or without RAC or Data Guard. With demos, as usual.

The idea is that you may learn a lot. And of course, …

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Datapatch return codes and helpful queries

Posted on February 17, 2026 by datapatch 4

The other week I was visiting a customer in Germany who had specific questions for datapatch. And luckily, Alejandro Diaz who is the Product Manager for Data Pump in our team has a history in datapatch.  He helped me with Datapatch return codes and helpful queries.

Datapatch return codes

Yes, datapatch generates various return codes you can use to verify the outcome in case you program or maintain an automation.

  • 0 for success
  • 1 for prereq failure
  • 2 for non-ignorable error during patch installation
  • 255 runtime error

I may …

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Don’t use AI to build your AutoUpgrade config file, please!

Posted on February 13, 2026 by AutoUpgrade Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Upgrade / Migration 4

Let me do a quick Friday rant. Many of you can easily ignore this. But regardless of whether you are a colleague, a friend, a customer, a partner or just exploring AutoUpgrade because it is the coolest small tiny little tool Oracle has to offer, don’t use AI to build your AutoUpgrade config file, please!

AI models are great … somehow …

No worries, I use AI tools as well, especially when I need to create some complex PL/SQL scripts. There is nothing wrong with it – unless you stay in control. I …

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

Posted on February 12, 2026 by 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.

When does this happen?

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

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The February 2026 release of AutoUpgrade (26.2) is available

Posted on February 11, 2026 by AutoUpgrade 15

This is a ground-breaking new release of AutoUpgrade, and the team worked hard to release it last weekend. This means for you that you should renew your AutoUpgrade tools as The February 2026 release of AutoUpgrade (26.2) is available now for download.

1..2..3..4..5..0 …

In case you wonder about this cryptic headline, no worries. a customer highlighted this well-chosen and easy-to-remember number to me the other day. And I was not aware, but it is true: KB123450 is the MOS note allowing you to download AutoUpgrade from MOS. Awesome … I already programmed this …

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What has happened to the 19.29 and 19.30 RUs?

Posted on February 9, 2026 by 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?

Photo by Lukas Seitz on Unsplash

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…

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

Posted on February 5, 2026 by 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!).

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 …

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Transportable Tablespaces with M5 scripts support now 26ai

Posted on February 4, 2026 by Minimal Downtime Transportable 4

We have a lot of information in our seminars and blogs about Transportable Tablespace migrations. And since we have the M5 scripts for RMAN incrementally rolled forward backups and new RMAN functionality which avoids the spare storage, life has gotten so much easier. Now, some great news from the authors of the M5 scripts: Transportable Tablespaces with M5 scripts support now 26ai.

M5? Almost as fast as the car!

Some of you may still know the V4 PERL scripts. They had an evolution from V1 to V4 over the years and were our …

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It’s there – Oracle AI Database 26ai is available for download

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Oracle AI Database 26ai 33

This was a long wait – and finally, it’s there – Oracle AI Database 26ai is available for download on-prem. And as you may remember our announcement from Oracle AI World, Oracle AI Database 26ai replaced Oracle Database 23ai.

What is available?

You can download now the Linux version of Oracle AI Database 26ai Enterprise Edition, 23.26.1.0.0, from the usual sources as a Gold Image include the RU or as a separate RU.

Besides the 23.26.1 database release, you …

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Upgrade Workshops in Copenhagen, Munich and Berlin

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Oracle AI Database 26ai Workshop 4

Your chance to sign up NOW! We are going to run Full Day Oracle AI Database 26ai Upgrade Workshops in Copenhagen, Munich and Berlin. And this is NOT a repeat – it is the 2nd edition of the workshop you may have attended last year in spring with brand-new content, new features.

As usual, zero marketing – just tech!!

When?

… Continue reading...

Your chance: Full-day Upgrade to 26ai Workshop in Sydney on Jan 20, 2026

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Workshop 4

Happy New Year to all of you at first. And just at very short notice a quick announcement for next week in case you are in the Sydney area in Australia. This is Your chance: Full-day Upgrade to 26ai Workshop in Sydney on Jan 20, 2026 has still a few open seats, and you could join, I’d be happy to see and meet you there.

And of course, it will be 2026, and not 2025 … OMG … 🙂

When, how and why?

Well, this is potentially the day (or a few hours …

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Finally … Oracle AI Database 26ai is going to be available on non-Oracle hardware

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Oracle AI Database 26ai 65

Many of you have read my blog post from October during Oracle AI World in Las Vegas about Oracle AI Database 26ai replacing Oracle Database 23ai. But the main question remained: When is it available on-prem on non-Oracle hardware? It’s December now, and Christmas is coming soon, it is time for presents. Yes, finally … Oracle AI Database 26ai is going to be available on non-Oracle hardware.

Finally ... Oracle AI Database 26ai is going to be available on non-Oracle hardware

Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash

When is it going to be released?

You still need to wait a few weeks, potentially until the 2nd half of January 2026. The CPU …

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A kill-switch terminates blocking sessions during patching

Posted on November 12, 2025 by 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

Photo by Yuko Tanaka on Unsplash

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:

  1. You invoke
… Continue reading...

The October 2025 Release of AutoUpgrade (25.6) is available

Posted on October 23, 2025 by AutoUpgrade 9

It’s October – and while the leafs keep falling on the northern hemisphere, the October 2025 Release of AutoUpgrade (25.6) is available. Get it now – and find the list of features and fixes below.

How to download it?

As usual, that’s very simple. You either download it via the well-known

or you fetch it directly from oracle.com with curl, wget or by just clicking on the big button.

What’s new?

Again, a lot. 25.6 release has a significant and important number of enhancements. It includes the …

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Oracle AI World 25: Upgrade to Oracle AI Database 26ai – let’s do it again

Posted on October 16, 2025 by OOW Oracle AI Database 26ai 0

We’ll do it another time. This is your chance in case you missed our session on Tuesday:

Marco Polo 806, Level 1
Upgrade to Oracle AI Database 26ai: Best Practices and Customer Experience [LRN4241]

We collided with the delayed keynote of Larry Ellison, and obviously attending the keynote was way more important than our talk. Therefore, if you couldn’t show up but still want to learn about the replacement of Oracle Database 23ai with Oracle AI Database 26ai, then THIS is your final chance.

Oracle AI World 25: Upgrade to Oracle AI Database 26ai - let's do it again

We will show you the new release numbering schema, clarify whether you need to …

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Oracle AI Database 26ai replaces Oracle Database 23ai

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Oracle AI Database 26ai 51

Larry Ellison announced Oracle AI Database 26ai  today in his keynote at Oracle AI World conference in Las Vegas. And I am pretty certain you may want some clarification on what this means exactly. Therefore, let me clarify the details, and why Oracle AI Database 26ai replaces Oracle Database 23ai.

Oracle AI Database 26ai replaces Oracle Database 23ai

What did Larry Ellison announce?

Larry gave a spoiler already in the Q1 earnings call where he referred to Oracle AI Database instead of Oracle Database. He was clearly emphasizing the AI capabilities of our flagship product. From now on, it will be known as Oracle AI Database…

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ORA-43907: Potential behavior change with Oracle RU 19.28.0

Posted on September 22, 2025 by 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.

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 …

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Oracle AI World 2025: Your guide to Upgrade, Migration and Patching Sessions

Posted on September 18, 2025 by OOW 0

Oracle OpenWorld had been renamed to Oracle CloudWorld, and it got rebranded to Oracle AI World this year. And we PMs, Alex, Daniel, Rodrigo and myself look forward to see you there. It’s a perfect opportunity to touch base, discuss your migration challenges, your patching fun – and upgrades certainly, too. You not only can grab a sticker for your laptop lid but we’d love to hear about your experiences, wishes and pain points (if there are any) first hand.

Oracle AI World 2025: Your guide to Upgrade, Migration and Patching Sessions

And of course, we want you to come to our sessions. As usual, we’ll bring real stuff making …

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Full Day Upgrade / Migration / Patching Workshop in Prague on September 17, 2025

Posted on September 2, 2025 by Upgrade / Migration Workshop 0

Summer season is almost over. And in between Oracle AI World in Las Vegas in October and now, there is one chance to meet us for a Full Day Upgrade / Migration / Patching Workshop in Prague on September 17, 2025. There are still some seats open, so please find the details below.

Full Day Upgrade / Migration / Patching Workshop in Prague on September 17, 2025

Photo by Ryan Lum on Unsplash

When and why should you attend?

September 17, 2025 – 9:30h-16:30h.

This is a full package of marketing-free technical content – we share not only slides but also information from our projects, lots of customer experience, gotchas, tips and …

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AutoUpgrade patching – getting started with Connor McDonald

Posted on August 12, 2025 by 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 🙂

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.…

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Were you aware of the two hidden columns in CDB-Views?

Posted on August 11, 2025 by Best Practice Single-/Multitenant 14

Learning something new every day is the best part of my job. And as you can see and read on the blog, thanks to YOU, I learn a lot. This one I learned from Johannes Ahrends at my workshop for ora2know in Munich in early July this year. Were you aware of the two hidden columns in CDB-Views? I confess honestly: I wasn’t.

Two hidden columns?

Johannes asked me whether I know the reason for the two hidden columns in every CDB-view. His question was more like: It’s super-useful but why are these hidden?…

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Mike Dietrich
Oracle Vice President of Product Management and Development for Database Upgrade, Cloud Migrations and Patching writing just another blog.

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