Apply an interim fix to a Liberty archive installation
Liberty offers archive-based installation as an alternative to using IBM Installation Manager. If we installed Liberty using a self-extracting Java archive (JAR) file or a ZIP archive file and want to install an interim fix, we can apply an executable JAR file.
If we used IBM Installation Manager to install Liberty, we must use Installation Manager to apply an interim fix. An archive-based interim fix is named <Liberty level>-WS-WASProd_WLPArchive-<fix type><fix id>.jar
- <Liberty level> refers to a 4-digit fix pack level identifier, which indicates the minimum level to which the fix applies. For example, 16.0.0.2.
- <fix type> refers to the type of fix. For example, IF is used for an interim fix, and TF for a diagnostic fix
- <fix id> refers to a GitHub issue number or the APAR reference number. Starting in 17.0.0.3, some of the Liberty code is based on Open Liberty, the open source runtime environment. If the fix is in Open Liberty code, the <fix id> is in the format OLGH<issue number>. For example, OLGH142 refers to an interim fix for issue #142 in the Open Liberty GitHub repository. Otherwise, the <fix id> is the APAR reference number, such as PI87599. If a diagnostic fix is provided before an APAR is opened, the <fix id> is based on the PMR reference number.
Each interim fix is installed by executing the relevant JAR file, which extracts the content into the Liberty base folder (/wlp).
Note: When the interim fix is applied, no backup data is created. If we want to back out an interim fix, we must manually remove or restore files from the /wlp folder. Each interim fix is provided with a readme.txt file, which contains backup and restore instructions specific to the fix content, in a section titled Directions to apply fix. If the readme.txt file does not specify any requirement to back up files, we can extract the fix and then restart the server at any time with the --clean parameter as a launch option.
- Optional: If the fix contains files that will overwrite existing files, stop all servers that are running on the system.
- Optional: If the readme.txt file indicates that a backup is required, create a backup of the lib/features/component.mf files. File locations are relative to our Liberty installation root.
- Open a console and direct it to the location of the interim fix JAR file.
- To view available options, run java -jar interim_fix_jar_file -help, where interim_fix_jar_file is the name of the executable JAR file containing the interim fix. The following launch options are available for the JAR file:
- --installLocation [LibertyRootDir]
- The absolute or relative location of the Liberty installation directory.
- By default the JAR file looks for a wlp directory in its current location. If our Liberty installation location is not the wlp folder, or is not in the same directory as the JAR file, then we can use this option to change where the JAR file will patch. [LibertyRootDir] can either be relative to the location of the JAR file, or an absolute file path.
- --suppressInfo
- The only messages output from the JAR file will be error messages or confirmation that patching is complete.
- Run the JAR file, using the --installLocation option to specify the installation location. For example, java -jar interim_fix_jar_file --installLocation.Optionally include --suppressInfo.
- Start all Liberty servers with the --clean parameter as a launch option. For example, server start --clean. We use the --clean option only once; all subsequent server starts do not require it.