Saturday, September 10, 2011

Identifying Your Oracle Database Software Release

As many as five numbers may be required to fully identify a release.

Release Number Format

To understand the release nomenclature used by Oracle, examine the following example of an Oracle Database server labeled "Release 10.1.0.1.0".



Major Database Release Number

The first digit is the most general identifier. It represents a major new version of the software that contains significant new functionality.

Database Maintenance Release Number

The second digit represents a maintenance release level. Some new features may also be included.

Application Server Release Number

The third digit reflects the release level of the Oracle Application Server (OracleAS).

Component-Specific Release Number

The fourth digit identifies a release level specific to a component. Different components can have different numbers in this position depending upon, for example, component patch sets or interim releases.

Platform-Specific Release Number

The fifth digit identifies a platform-specific release. Usually this is a patch set. When different platforms require the equivalent patch set, this digit will be the same across the affected platforms.

Checking Your Current Release Number

To identify the release of Oracle Database that is currently installed and to see the release levels of other database components you are using, query the data dictionary view PRODUCT_COMPONENT_VERSION. A sample query follows. (You can also query the V$VERSION view to see component-level information.) Other product release levels may increment independent of the database server.
 
COL PRODUCT FORMAT A35
COL VERSION FORMAT A15
COL STATUS FORMAT A15
SELECT * FROM PRODUCT_COMPONENT_VERSION;

PRODUCT VERSION STATUS
---------------------------------------- ----------- -----------
NLSRTL 10.2.0.1.0 Production
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition 10.2.0.1.0 Prod
PL/SQL 10.2.0.1.0 Production
...

It is important to convey to Oracle the results of this query when you report problems with the software.


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