Handling of update requisites

To successfully apply updates, all prerequisites and corequisites for an update must also be acquired and applied. UpdateXpress System Pack Installer automatically checks for, acquires, and applies prerequisite and corequisite files. This topic describes how these updates are acquired and applied.

Updates frequently require you to apply prerequisite files before they can be successfully applied or to include corequisite packages to properly use the applied update. To simplify the update process, UpdateXpress System Pack Installer uses information included in the update file to identify requisite packages for your specified updates. UXSPI then applies these requisite packages to successfully complete your specified updates.

Prerequisite files

The update packages providided by Lenovo include information about which prerequisite files must be applied before you can successfully apply the update. When you specify an update, UXSPI reads this information and locates the prerequisite packages.

By default, UpdateXpress System Pack Installer acquires these packages and evaluates them to determine whether the prerequisite conditions have been met, and if necessary, applies the prerequisite updates automatically before applying the specified update. You can choose not to acquire or apply these files. However, this could cause the update to not successfully complete, or to have all of the functions included in the update.

If prerequisite packages have pre or corequisites, these will be acquired, evaluated, and applied in the same manner.

Corequisite files

Similarly, some updates require corequisites: additional packages that must be applied to successfully complete the update but do not have to be applied prior to the update you have specified.

By default, UpdateXpress System Pack Installer identifies, acquires, evaluates, and applies these packages as part of your update.

If corequisite packages have prerequisites or corequisites, these are acquired, evaluated, and applied in the same manner.

Example

As an example, consider an update that has both prerequisites and corequisites. By default, UpdateXpress System Pack Installer takes the following steps:

To ensure that the update can be completed, UpdateXpress System Pack Installer first downloads the update.
The prerequisite files are downloaded.
The corequisite files are downloaded.
The prerequisites or corequisites are evaluated against the current state of the system. If the system is already at the required level because these requisites have already been applied, the requisite is ignored.
The necessary prerequisites are applied.
The update is applied.
The necessary corequisites are applied.

Missing requisites

Occasionally, UpdateXpress System Pack Installer might be unable to resolve a requisite condition. This can occur when requisite lists conflict and cannot be resolved or this can be due to system firmware that does not support the requisite checking performed by UpdateXpress System Pack Installer. In this case you receive a message similar to this one in the log:

(1) [ ] IBM Preboot Diagnostics Flash Update
        Severity          : Recommended
        Reboot            : Reboot Required to take effect
        Update ID         : ibm_fw_diag_bwyt29a_linux_i386
        Requisites        : ibm_fw_mptsas_bc-sasexp-2.62_linux_32-64
                          : Be sure the requisite is equal or above the required 
                            level before applying this update. Installing without 
                            requisite may produce unstable results.
        New Version       : 1.12 (BWYT29A)
        Installed Version :      (BWYT29A)

If you encounter this problem, you should manually validate that the requisite has been met, select the update, and then apply it. If the requisite is not met, use UpdateXpress System Pack Installer to acquire and apply the requisite package, then attempt the update again.