Question: How do I use the DBMS_QOPATCH on an Amazon RDS instance that's running Oracle 19c?

I have an Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) instance that's running Oracle 19c. How can I use the queryable patch inventory (DBMS_QOPATCH) feature on Amazon RDS for Oracle?Short descriptionOracle 19c includes a queryable patch inventory feature. The feature allows users to retrieve Oracle software inventory information from within the database by using the DBMS_QOPATCH package. For more information, see the Oracle documentation for DBMS_QOPATCH.In previous versions of Oracle, users can retrieve software inventory information only by using the Oracle OPatch utility. Because Amazon RDS restricts access to the underlying operating system (OS), previous versions can't run the OPatch utility. In Oracle 19c with Amazon RDS, any users with privileges to run the DBMS_QOPATCH package can retrieve Oracle software inventory information.Note: Amazon RDS now includes a feature that allows you to access OPatch files from the log file. This feature is turned on for Oracle instances released in 2020 or later. If your Oracle instances were released in 2020 or later, then it's a best practice to use this feature. For more information, see Accessing OPatch files.

ResolutionThe queryable patch inventory uses existing features like XML support and external tables. These examples show how the queryable patch inventory works.In this example, the OPATCH query is run on three new directory objects:SQL> select owner,directory_name,directory_path from dba_directories where directory_name like 'OPATCH%'This is an example output from the query:OWNER      DIRECTORY_NAME       DIRECTORY_PATH---------- -------------------- --------------------------------------------------SYS        OPATCH_SCRIPT_DIR    /rdsdbbin/oracle/QOpatchSYS        OPATCH_LOG_DIR       /rdsdbbin/oracle/QOpatchSYS        OPATCH_INST_DIR      /rdsdbbin/oracle/OPatchIn this example, the OPATCH query is run on four new system tables:SQL> select owner,table_name from dba_tables where table_name like 'OPATCH%';This is an example output from the query:OWNER           TABLE_NAME--------------- ------------------------------SYS             OPATCH_XML_INVSYS             OPATCH_XINV_TABSYS             OPATCH_INST_PATCHSYS             OPATCH_SQL_PATCHESSYS             OPATCH_INST_JOBThe main table is OPATCH_XML_INV, which is a full extract of the inventory in XML format. The table is implemented as an external table that reads from the inventory:SQL> select dbms_metadata.get_ddl('TABLE','OPATCH_XML_INV','SYS') from dual;This is an example output from the query:DBMS_METADATA.GET_DDL('TABLE','OPATCH_XML_INV','SYS')--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  CREATE TABLE "SYS"."OPATCH_XML_INV"   (    "XML_INVENTORY" CLOB   )   ORGANIZATION EXTERNAL    ( TYPE ORACLE_LOADER      DEFAULT DIRECTORY "OPATCH_SCRIPT_DIR"      ACCESS PARAMETERS      ( RECORDS DELIMITED BY NEWLINE CHARACTERSET UTF8      DISABLE_DIRECTORY_LINK_CHECK      READSIZE 8388608      preprocessor opatch_script_dir:'qopiprep.bat'      BADFILE opatch_script_dir:'qopatch_bad.bad'      LOGFILE opatch_log_dir:'qopatch_log.log'      FIELDS TERMINATED BY 'UIJSVTBOEIZBEFFQBL'      MISSING FIELD VALUES ARE NULL      REJECT ROWS WITH ALL NULL FIELDS      (    xml_inventory     CHAR(100000000)      )    )      LOCATION       ( "OPATCH_SCRIPT_DIR":'qopiprep.bat'       )    )   REJECT LIMIT UNLIMITEDThe implementation is done by the PREPROCESSOR script, qopiprep.bat. This script is located on the directory that is pointed to by OPATCH_SCRIPT_DIR. For more information, see the Oracle documentation for PREPROCESSOR. See the following example query that uses the OPATCH_SCRIPT_DIR:SQL> select owner,directory_name,directory_path from dba_directories where directory_name='OPATCH_SCRIPT_DIR';This is an example output from the query:OWNER           DIRECTORY_NAME                     DIRECTORY_PATH--------------- ---------------------------------  ----------------------------------------SYS             OPATCH_SCRIPT_DIR                  /rdsdbbin/oracle/QOpatchThe qopiprep.bat script runs the queryable patch inventory. It then generates the output in XML so that the output can be used as the input to the external table, OPATCH_XML_INV. Then, the package and functions provided by DBMS_QOPATCH can be used to extract Oracle inventory information from the table. To see the functions and procedures provided by the DBMS_QOPATCH package, see the Oracle documentation for the Summary of DBMS_QOPATCH subprograms.Run the following query to list all patches installed:with a as (select dbms_qopatch.get_opatch_lsinventory patch_output from dual) select x.patch_id, x.patch_uid, x.description from a, xmltable('InventoryInstance/patches/*' passing a.patch_output columns patch_id number path 'patchID', patch_uid number path 'uniquePatchID', description varchar2(80) path 'patchDescription') x;This is an example output from the query:PATCH_ID     PATCH_UID  DESCRIPTION----------   ---------- ---------------------------------------------------------------33613833     24537804   DSTV37 UPDATE - TZDATA2021E - NEED OJVM FIX33613829     24529874   RDBMS - DSTV37 UPDATE - TZDATA2021E32327201     24049836   RDBMS - DSTV36 UPDATE - TZDATA2020E31335037     23600477   RDBMS - DSTV35 UPDATE - TZDATA2020A29997937     23062124   RDBMS - DSTV34 UPDATE - TZDATA2019B28852325     23061696   RDBMS - DSTV33 UPDATE - TZDATA2018G29213893     24595383   DBMS_STATS FAILING WITH ERROR ORA-01422 WHEN GATHERING STATS FOR USER$ TABLE28730253     23062304   SUPPORT NEW ERA REIWA FOR JAPANESE IMPERIAL CALENDAR33561310     24538862   OJVM RELEASE UPDATE: 19.14.0.0.220118 (33561310)33515361     24589353   Database Release Update : 19.14.0.0.220118 (33515361)29585399     22840393   OCW RELEASE UPDATE 19.3.0.0.0 (29585399)To get a more detailed output in a format similar to opatch lsinventory -detail, run the following:set long 200000 pages 0 lines 200select xmltransform(DBMS_QOPATCH.GET_OPATCH_LSINVENTORY, DBMS_QOPATCH.GET_OPATCH_XSLT) from dual;This is an example output from the query:Oracle Querayable Patch Interface 1.0--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oracle Home : /rdsdbbin/oracleInventory : /rdsdbbin/oraInventory--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Installed Top-level Products (1):19.0.0.0.0Installed Products ( 128)Oracle Database 19c 19.0.0.0.0Java Development Kit 1.8.0.201.0oracle.swd.oui.core.min 12.2.0.7.0Installer SDK Component 12.2.0.7.0Oracle One-Off Patch Installer 12.2.0.1.15Oracle Universal Installer 12.2.0.7.0oracle.swd.commonlogging 13.3.0.0.0Trace File Analyzer for DB 19.0.0.0.0Oracle USM Deconfiguration 19.0.0.0.0Oracle DBCA Deconfiguration 19.0.0.0.0......Oracle Advanced Security 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Internet Directory Client 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Net Listener 19.0.0.0.0HAS Files for DB 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Database Provider for DRDA 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Text 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Net Services 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Database 19c 19.0.0.0.0Oracle OLAP 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Spatial and Graph 19.0.0.0.0Oracle Partitioning 19.0.0.0.0Enterprise Edition Options 19.0.0.0.0Interim patches:Patch 33613833: applied on 2022-02-07T08:53:35ZUnique Patch ID: 24537804Patch Description: DSTV37 UPDATE - TZDATA2021E - NEED OJVM FIXCreated on : 9 Dec 2021, 01:32:48 hrs PST8PDTBugs fixed:33613833 Files Touched:tzdb.datfixTZa.sqlfixTZb.sql......The DBMS_QOPATCH package also provides the following procedures and functions. Run the following to verify if a specific patch is installed:select xmltransform(dbms_qopatch.is_patch_installed('<patch number>'), dbms_qopatch.get_opatch_xslt) from dual;Run the following to get a list of bugs fixed by the installed patches:select xmltransform(dbms_qopatch.get_opatch_bugs, dbms_qopatch.get_opatch_xslt) from dual;Run the following to list the bugs fixed by a specific patch number:select xmltransform(dbms_qopatch.get_opatch_bugs(<patch number>), dbms_qopatch.get_opatch_xslt) from dual;Related informationAdministering your Oracle DB instance