 What is a hot fix?
The answer can vary. To some it is a quick fix to an immediate problem or an essential fix to a commonly recurring problem. To others, it is system maintenance. Originally, Technical Support’s hot fix focus was on the need to solve critical and frequently recurring problems. When the hot fix process was first introduced, alert priority defects (i.e. wrong numbers) and defects that affected many customers were targeted for hot fixes. With such a limited focus, the number of hot fixes was minimal in Release 8.1. The fact that Release 8.2 was in development and would give customers an upgrade option also allowed the deferment of some of the fix requests until the new release. Alert and commonly encountered defects are still the primary focus for hot fixes. However, with Release 8.2 being the last scheduled V8 release, and with some of the V8 operating systems no longer supported in V9, the hot fix process is branching out to provide fixes to less critical and less widespread defects. Developing a viable work around to a problem is still the preferred approach over providing a hot fix, and hot fixing every problem that customers encounter is not practical. However, we do want to provide fixes that allow customers to “maintain” their installed production SAS System until they are reasonably able to upgrade to the latest SAS release. For this reason, we have seen an increase in the number of hot fixes for Release 8.2. Hot fixes have been tested and are fully supported, and most hot fixes are incorporated into the next scheduled release. |
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Which hot fixes should I apply?
There are two philosophies which can be followed when determining which hot fixes should be applied. Philosophy 1: ”Install only what is needed” Some sites are interested in fixing only those problems that they encounter. They do not see the necessity of installing fixes for problems that do not affect them. They want to install just the fixes that are needed to keep their existing jobs running successfully. This minimizes the number of changes and regression testing to their SAS installations and the time spent installing hot fixes. These sites should download hot fixes only on an as-needed basis. Philosophy 2: “Install every fix that is available” Other sites want to be proactive by keeping their SAS installation updated with all of the latest fixes. These are typically larger sites that use many different components of the software. There are also users who are just more comfortable with always running the “latest and greatest”. For these sites, downloading the product bundles at set intervals of time is the best and most efficient approach. There are customers who would still prefer to get hot fixes on media in the same format as the old style “maintenance” releases. For these sites, downloading the hot fix bundles, and supplementing with individual hot fixes when needed, is the best alternative. The bundles can be downloaded and applied at predetermined time intervals set by the site. The only differences between the hot fix bundles and the old maintenance releases are:
Neither philosophy is better or more correct than the other; they are just two different ways of thinking. It is up to each site to determine which philosophy best meets its business needs. |
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How can I receive automatic notification when a new hot fix becomes available?
When new hot fixes become available, announcements are posted to tsnews-l. If you are not subscribed to this listserv, you can do so from: |
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Are all Release 8.1 hot fixes included in Release 8.2?
Many of the defects for which Release 8.1 hot fixes were provided are fixed in Release 8.2. For those defects that are not fixed in Release 8.2, hot fixes will be provided. For detailed information, view the document: Status of Release 8.1 Hot Fixes in Release 8.2
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How can I determine which hot fixes have been applied to my SAS installation?
An audit file is installed with every SAS Foundation hot fix. This text file contains hot fix specific information such as the hot fix name, product involved, files included in the hot fix, port date, SAS Note numbers and comments. Audit files have the same name as the hot fix (i.e. e9ba01wn.aud) and are installed in a location specific to each host. Do not delete installed audit files. These files may be used by Technical Support to troubleshoot problems.
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What is a hot fix bundle?
A hot fix bundle is simply an accumulation of one or more individual hot fixes. Hot fix bundles are currently available for Base SAS (for Release 8.2 and SAS 9.1.3 Service Pack 4) and SAS/STAT (for Release 8.2 only). New Base SAS and SAS/STAT hot fixes that are released after a bundle is created must be downloaded and installed individually or installed with the next bundle. Hot fixes for other products must also still be downloaded individually. The bundle for Base SAS is the largest, and it is updated most frequently. Since Base SAS has a number of fixes in different components of the software, the bundle allows customers to download and install multiple Base SAS hot fixes at one time instead of downloading and installing hot fixes individually. These bundles are available by platform. Fix lists are provided to document which hot fixes are included in a bundle. Audit files will also be installed with each bundle. These files may be used by Technical Support to troubleshoot problems, so please do not remove them. The frequency at which these bundles are updated and released is based on the number of hot fixes released since the last bundle and on the number and nature of hot fixes under development at a given time. While neither the SAS release number nor the tslevel are incremented when a bundle in installed, a new message is written to the log at invocation time:
For Release 8.2:
For SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) Service Pack 4:
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What is the significance of the IMPORTANT! message and hot fix list displayed before I am able to download a bundle? How does this list compare to the hot fixes listed on the Hot Fixes not included in Hot Fix Bundle report? When the download of a bundle is initiated, you may see the following: IMPORTANT! The hot fixes listed on this intermediate download page are ones which were released after the hot fix bundle was released, but which contain updated versions of modules that are included in the bundle. If any of these recent hot fixes have been applied to your system, and the hot fix bundle is installed afterward, the recent fixes will be lost (overwritten). This synchronization problem can be avoided by reapplying to your system any hot fixes that are listed on the IMPORTANT! message page. It is critical that you review this page carefully and reinstall any hot fixes that appear on the list! The hot fixes listed on the IMPORTANT! message page are only a subset of the fixes listed on Hot Fixes NOT included in bundle report, which shows all hot fixes that are not included in the bundle. These hot fixes were either intentionallly excluded from the bundle, or they are new hot fixes that have been released since the bundle was produced. Most of the hot fixes on this report will be included in the next iteration of the bundle. |
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Should hot fixes be installed in a specific order? Will installing one hot fix over-write another fix?
No, hot fixes do not have to be installed in any specific order ... and No, installing one hot fix will not overwrite a previously installed fix ... for three reasons:
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Is a "silent" installer or "batch mode" installer available for hot fixes?
"Silent" and "batch mode" installers are not available for hot fixes at this time. However, we are exploring the feasibility of making these types of installers available for hot fixes at some future date.
Unless otherwise noted on the hot fix download page, individual hot fixes are designed for
specific releases of SAS. A hot fix should NOT be applied to a SAS release or to an Additional SAS Product or Solution
other than the one for which it was intended.
The easy way to know if a hot fix is designed for a specific release of SAS is to look at the first 2 characters
of the hot fix ID number and compare with the following table:
*
Note: Beginning with SAS 9.1, hot fix ID numbers use a letter-number combination to identify the applicable
release of SAS. This identifier is unique to hot fixes.
#
Note: A limited number of "D9...." hot fixes can be applied to either Service Pack 3 or to Service Pack 4. If a "D9..." hot
fix can be applied to multiple Service Packs, it is indicated on the hot fix download table.
ALERT issues are problems that you need to be aware of before you install
or use the software. These may include, but are not limited to, security, data integrity and incorrect output.
The Hot Fix download site includes the following features to help you quickly identify hot fixes for ALERT issues:
If you are running SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3) with Asian Language Support (DBCS), please view the Asian Language Support ALERT Issues page.
Hot Fix announcements made to the TSNEWS-L listserv also include special notification when a hot fix is released
for an ALERT issue.
A Service Pack is a software update containing system enhancements and bug fixes in one installable package.
Service Packs are available only for SAS 9.1.3 (9.1 TS1M3).
Service Packs contain all previously released SAS 9.1.3 hot fixes. The individual hot fixes contained in a
Service Pack are no longer available for separate download.
The latest Service Pack can be downloaded from the SAS Hot Fix web site, and
must be applied to your system before installing any currently available hot fixes.
The content of Service Packs varies by operating system. Click on an operating system link below to view the list of fixes and enhancements included in the latest Service Pack:
Yes. The fixes and enhancements (including hot fixes) that were in previous service packs are included in the latest service pack.
All 9.1.3 hot fixes released prior to the current service pack have been removed from the hot fix download site. These hot fixes are all contained within the current service pack and will no longer be available for individual download.
It means that the fix you are looking for is contained in the latest service pack. This can be verified on a fix-by-fix basis by clicking on the Service Pack Fix List link that is included in the service pack download table.
YES. New hot fixes are being developed that can be applied on top of the latest service pack. If you want to apply any new 9.1.3 hot fixes, you MUST install the latest service pack first before installing the new hot fixes.
NO! The latest service pack is required for all new 9.1.3 hot fixes. Changes have been made to the hot fix installers to specifically check for the presence of the latest service pack. If the service pack is not found,
then the hot fix installers will fail with a clearly stated error message.
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