This is a question that pops up frequently. In earlier releases of E-Business Suite, the rule was that you should never merge a patch with any of it's prerequisite patches. However, many years ago (I believe it was with AD_PF.E, but I could be mistaken), Oracle introduced the ability to merge a patch and it's prerequisite patches together. There are still a few (small) restrictions.
From
the Oracle
Applications Maintenance Procedures manual for Release
11.5.10.2 (Part No. B19299-01, pages 3-23 and 3-24):
In
general, you can safely merge any Oracle Applications patch with any
other Oracle Applications patch. Older split driver patches can be
merged with newer unified driver patches. Patches can and should be
merged with their listed prerequisite patches
to make patch application easier.
However,
patches that affect the Applications DBA (AD) product must be handled
separately. AD patches can be merged with other AD patches, but AD
patches and non-AD patches cannot be merged because AD patches may
change the AutoPatch utility itself. Merged AD patches must be
created separately and applied before you apply non-AD patches.
I
believe you'll also find a similar statement in the 11.5.9 version of
the document.
The
primary logic here is this: If a patch says it requires a certain AD
patch (say, AD.I.7), then what it's really telling you is that there
is likely something in the structure of the patch itself that an
earlier AD release wouldn't know how to properly handle. Keep in
mind that AD patches are, generally speaking, patches to the patching
tool.
Now,
I have seen some patches that warn against merging. And, given the
nature of ATG patches, you may be wise to exercise a level of caution
and apply them independently as well.
The
long and the short of it is, if you're reasonably current (certainly
11.5.10.2 and newer), it is generally safe to merge a patch and it's
prerequisite together. Just pay close attention to the READMEs, and
watch out for those AD patches.
– James
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