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From: rer@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Rob Robason)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: Software patches
Message-ID: <5570507@hpfcdc.HP.COM>
Date: 9 Oct 90 14:34:59 GMT
References: <18@gauss.mmlai.UUCP>
Organization: HP Fort Collins, Co.
Lines: 33

tony> How about a SHORT unbound list of available patches instead?  

I can see two sides to this:

1)  I agree that it is a waste of time to have every customer
    troubleshoot the same problem and isolate it to HP software.  I too
    think that it would be nice if there was a list of patches with
    sufficient description to know if one applied to a current problem.
    Note too that SEs are often as in-the-dark about existing patches as
    you are.  If you had access to such a list, would you be inclined to
    install all or most of the patches?  I think I would.

2)  What happens if a customer chooses a standard procedure of
    installing every patch that HP makes available?  Patches are really
    intended, and QA'ed, for installation on a "standard" released
    system.  There may be unexpected interaction between two or more
    patches.  We would like to limit patch distribution to those who
    must have them to reduce the risk of introducing unexpected
    interactions between these patches.  The last thing we want to do is
    have a critical problem introduced at a customer installation
    because of a patch; for one thing it is immensely more difficult to
    isolate on a non-standard (i.e.  patched) system.  I think this is
    at least one reason for our reluctance to give these patches to
    everyone.

The bottom line is that I think it would be useful to provide a list of
patches for customers to check, even if you still have to call the
response center to get one.

Caveat:  My personal opinion is not a statement on behalf of HP, it's
just my personal opinion (and worth every penny you paid for it :-).

Rob Robason