What is a Hotfix package?

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Additional Red Hat software

Issue

  • What do I need to take into consideration regarding Hotfix packages signed by Red Hat?

Resolution

Red Hat supports packages that have been provided as hotfixes. The purpose of a hotfix package is to allow a customer with a high severity (Severity 1 or 2) case, encountering significant business impact, to obtain an early release of a package that fixes a known issue, before that fix becomes available in an errata advisory package. Please note that not all issues are eligible for a hotfix, and eligibility depends on multiple factors, including the availability and riskiness of a fix. Eligibility is at Red Hat's discretion.

Hotfixes are supported until 30 days after the release of the errata advisory package containing the fix. To remain supported, it is mandatory for a customer to upgrade to the errata advisory version of the package within 30 days of the date of the advisory.

An errata advisory package is usually released within 6 to 8 weeks after a hotfix has been given (although variations may occur). Actual release dates of errata advisory packages may vary and depends on the product.

Hotfixes are validated by the engineering team in charge of the involved component (such as the OpenStack Engineering team) to assure it does not generate problems when put in production. However, a hotfix undergoes a more limited set of testing, not the complete quality assurance tests that occur before the errata advisory package.

Red Hat strongly recommends starting with deploying the hotfix in a test environment, validating that the hotfix fixes the problem and does not cause new issues, then planning for scheduled downtime when applying the fix to the production environment.

In case of any problems while validating the hotfix such as new issues, please contact your support representative as soon as possible.

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