9.6. Software Revisions

Patches, fixes, service packs, and updates are all the same thing—free software revisions. These are intermediary solutions until a new version of the product is released. They may solve a particular problem, as does a security patch, or change the way your system works, as does an update. You can apply a so-called hot patch without rebooting your computer; in other cases, applying a patch requires that the server go down.

9.6.1. Is It Necessary?

Because patches are designed to fix problems, it would seem that you would want to download the most current patches and apply them immediately. That is not always the best thing to do. Patches can sometimes cause problems with existing, older software. Different philosophies ...

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