What is a "Critical Fixpack"?
March 10, 2003
What is a "Critical Fixpack"?
In response to customer feedback, we have developed a new strategy for delivering critical fixes called Critical Fixpacks. In the past, if critical fixes were necessary before the next scheduled maintenance release, we would create and ship a maintenance update. Critical Fixpacks still fulfill this function, and more; the major difference is that CF's will be provided for back releases in addition to the current release (details below). Providing a smaller subset of fixes for just critical issues allows customers to accept these fixes with lower risk, since there are fewer code changes. This allows customers to "patch" their current version without requiring a more extensive upgrade via a full Maintenance Release. Read on for the full story.
Does the Critical Fixpack replace Maintenance Updates?
The Critical Fixpack replaces Maintenance Updates for the Notes and Domino 6.x codestream. IBM/Lotus will continue to use Maintenance Updates for the R5.x codestream. Note that similar to Maintenance Updates, there is no CD for a Critical Fixpack.
How does a Critical Fixpack differ from a Maintenance Update?
Maintenance Updates and Critical Fixpacks serve the same purpose: providing customers with urgently-needed fixes, for example to address a security-related issue. Additional differences are explained in the following:
Maintenance Updates (R5.x)
Maintenance Updates will continue to ship, as necessary, in support of the most recent Maintenance Release. Remember, Maintenance Updates apply only to the R5.x codestream, and will be made available for all languages:
| Release | Maintenance Updates produced |
| After 5.0.11 has shipped, and an MU becomes necessary. | A 5.0.11 MU will be built for all languages. |
Critical Fixpacks (Notes/Domino 6.x)
Like Maintenance Updates, Critical Fixpacks will be made available as necessary to support the latest Maintenance Releases of Notes/Domino 6. Critical Fixpacks will be made available for the latest three Maintenance Releases of the product (approximately one year), and will be phased in for certain languages only. Here is a sample timeline illustrating how this will work:
Feb
2003 |  | May
2003 | | Jul
2003 | | Sept
2003 | | Nov
2003 |
| 6.0.1 ships | | 6.0.2 ships | | | | 6.0.3 ships | | |
1st Critical problem found
6.0.1 CF1 ships | | | | 2nd Critical problem found
6.0.1 CF2 ships
6.0.2 CF1 ships | | | | 3rd Critical problem found
6.0.1 CF3 ships
6.0.2 CF2 ships
6.0.3 CF1 ships |
Each Critical Fixpack contains fixes from previous Critical Fixpacks, if necessary and if possible. Each Critical Fixpack fix is rolled into the next Maintenance Release:
| Release | Critical Fixpacks produced |
| After 6.0.1 has shipped, and a CF becomes necessary. | An English 6.0.1 CF Incremental Installer will be built and, if necessary, certain Domino Server Language Packs (SLPs) will be released. |
| After 6.0.2 has shipped, and a CF becomes necessary. | An English 6.0.2 CF Incremental Installer will be built and, if necessary, certain Domino Server Language Packs (SLPs) will be released. Additionally, a 6.0.1 CF will be built for English. |
| After 6.0.3 has shipped, and a CF becomes necessary. | An English 6.0.3 CF Incremental Installer will be built and, if necessary, certain Domino Server Language Packs (SLPs) will be released. Additionally, a 6.0.2 and a 6.0.1 CF will be built for English. |
Important Note for International Customers: Before applying any Critical Fixpack to localized language servers, please check whether a CF Server Language Pack is available for that particular language. Currently if you apply an English Critical Fixpack, the localized templates and core files are completely overwritten by the Critical Fixpack, and will be in English.
Maintenance Updates will continue to be provided as needed for R5.x products, while Critical Fixpacks will be provided for Notes and Domino 6.x.
How are Critical Fixpacks made available?
Both Maintenance Releases and Critical Fixpacks are available as either complete installations or as incremental installations from the previous point release:
Full kits (a.k.a. "webkits')
Provided as a single executable file, full kits allow you to install complete releases of Notes and Domino. Full kits can be installed over any existing Notes/Domino release, or on a machine with no prior versions of Notes or Domino installed. An example is shown in the following table:
| Image number | File Description | Use to install directly from |
| C51A??A | Domino Server 6.0.1 CF3 WinNT/2000 English |
- Any earlier Domino release (R4.67a, R5.0.12, etc.)
- Any earlier Domino 6.x release (6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1 CF1, etc.)
- Any "clean" machine with no previous Domino installation
|
Incremental installers
Incremental installers allow you to step from your current 6.x Domino release to the next Maintenance Release or Critical Fixpack, for example, from 6.0 to 6.0.1, or from 6.0.1 CF1 to 6.0.1 CF2. Incremental installers are specific to Domino servers. For example:
| Image number | File Description | Use to install directly from |
| C51B??B | Domino Server Incremental Install 6.0.1 to 6.0.1 CF1 AIX English | 6.0.1 only |
Upgrade kits
Like incremental installers, upgrade kits also allow you to step from your current 6.x Notes release to the next Maintenance Release or Critical Fixpack, for example, from 6.0.1 to 6.0.1 CF1. More importantly, upgrade kits also allow you to go directly from any previous 6.x release to the latest Maintenance Release or Critical Fixpack. For example, you can use the upgrade kit to go from 6.0 to 6.0.1 CF2, or from 6.0.1 CF1 to 6.0.1 CF3 directly, without having to take the intervening steps. This is an improvement over R5, where it was necessary to upgrade to each successive Maintenance Release or Maintenance Update. For example:
| Image number | File Description | Use to install directly from |
| C51C??C | Notes, Domino Designer, and Domino Administrator Upgrade Kit 6.0.1 CF3 Win95(client only)/98/2K/NT/XP English | 6.0
6.0.1
6.0.1 CF1
6.0.1 CF2 |
How can I be sure I'm getting all of the fixes available for a particular Maintenance Release?
Within a Maintenance Release, each Critical Fixpack rolls up into the next Critical Fixpack, and then all Critical Fixpacks get rolled up into the next Maintenance Release. By doing this, the latest release always contains all previous fixes, whether they were introduced in an earlier Maintenance Release, or in a successive Critical Fixpack.
Please also note that Critical Fixpacks can also be provided for back Maintenance Releases, in addition to the current Maintenance Release. By providing a smaller subset of fixes for just critical issues, we let you accept fewer code changes with lower risk, allowing you to "patch" an older Maintenance Release without requiring a more extensive upgrade via the current Maintenance Release. Critical Fixpacks introduced for a back Maintenance Release roll up into the next Maintenance Release available after that Critical Fixpack ships.
Will subsequent Maintenance Releases include earlier Critical Fixpack items?
Yes. Maintenance Releases include fixes introduced both in prior Maintenance Releases, and in earlier Critical Fixpacks for that codestream.
Can I simply download available Critical Fixpacks instead of upgrading to each Maintenance Release?
While Critical Fixpacks will attempt to resolve the most severe issues, there are many other reasons customers will want to regularly upgrade with each Maintenance Release:
- Maintenance Releases will contain fixes and enhancements to the product not included in the Critical Fixpacks.
- Critical Fixpacks are limited to very few fixes, and not all customers' specific concerns will be addressed with one (or even several) Critical Fixpacks.
- As noted in the previous question, Critical Fixpacks are only created for the previous year's Maintenance Releases, so customers will want to stay up-to-date. For example, a customer may run into a problem that has been addressed by a Critical Fixpack for the most current Maintenance Release. If the customer is more than three maintenance releases back, they will need to upgrade anyway, to take advantage of the latest fix.
It's always best to stay current with the latest Maintenance Releases, in order to take advantage of the most recently introduced fixes and features, and to ensure the latest Critical Fixpacks can be leveraged.
How are items chosen to be included in a Critical Fixpack?
As with Maintenance Updates, IBM/Lotus Development, Support engineers, and LSMs meet regularly to consider if a Critical Fixpack is necessary to address a significant issue that needs to be made immediately available to customers outside the usual Maintenance Release schedule. For example, this may include security-related items, issues related to severe data corruption, or problems with recurring server crashes.
Where can I go to find out if a Critical Fixpack is available?
Information about upcoming Critical Fixpacks, along with a list of available fixes, can be found on the Lotus.com Web site. This site also provides links to a secured Web site where the Critical Fixpack can be downloaded.
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