Which OPatch to use? One OPatch version fits (almost) all.
The download page of Oracle OPatch has quite some room for improvement: put some ‘order by’ on the version and platform would be welcome. Also, make clear that there are very few versions of it.
In fact, for database, there are just two versions of OPatch! One OPatch version that covers all database supported versions from 12.1 to 20c. For paid long-term supported Oracle 11.2 there is another version.
So, in summary, here the OPatch version you need to patch your DBs:
| Oracle Database version | OPatch version |
|---|---|
| 11.2 | 11.2.x |
| 12.1 | 12..2.x |
| 12.2 | 12..2.x |
| 18c | 12..2.x |
| 19c | 12..2.x |
| 20c | 12..2.x |
The download link is this one:
https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/ui/patch/PatchDetail.jspx?patchId=6880880
For Enterprise Manager (middleware) there is another OPatch version, 13.9.x which I don’t have experience with.
The information about which OPatch versions is needed to apply the Database RU, RUR, is now part of the Patch Availability Document. For instance for OCtober 2020, this is what we can see:
Note 1: For Enterprise Manager (middleware) there is another OPatch version, 13.9.x which I don’t have experience with.
Note 2 – for Oracle guys out there: when we see the current size of the Release Updates, maybe it would be worth to include the latest version of OPatch within it. It would not increase so much the size and avoid the need of checking if we have the latest OPatch.