Since a bit less than a week ago Oracle has released the patchset 11.2.0.3.0 for Oracle 11g Release 2. The current patchset is as well as patchset 11.2.0.2.0 a full installation. This means you will have to download quite a bit from Metalink, altogether 7 files. On My Oracle Support search for patchset 10404530 or follow the link to reach the download page.

So far the patch set is only available for Linux x86 and Linux x86-64bit. The Metalink Note 11.2.0.3 Patch Set – Availability and Known Issues [1348336.1] or the generic ALERT for Oracle 11g Release 2 ALERT: Oracle 11g Release 2 (11.2) Support Status and Alerts [880782.1] will list the patch set for other platforms as soon as they are available.

List of Bugfixes

In the Metalink Note 1348303.1 you find a hell of a long list with bugs fixed in this patchset. I think you would be well advised to test the patchset before installing on production. According to Metalink Note 1348336.1 there are up to now only two notable fixes with potential change in behavior but no new issues introduced in this patchset. But I guess the issues will show up as soon as the Oracle Open World is finished. So check the Metalink Note on updates.

New Features

Compared with previous patch set this one does not include all too many new features. Below a you find a list of the new features included in this patch set.

• Oracle ACFS Snapshot Enhancements
• Oracle ACFS Security and Encryption Features
• Support for ACFS Replication and Tagging on Windows
• Oracle LogMiner Support for Binary XML
• SQL Apply Support for Binary XML
• Oracle LogMiner Support for Object Relational Model
• SQL Apply Support for Object Relational Model
• Deprecation of Obsolete Oracle XML DB Functions and Packages
• Oracle Warehouse Builder Support for Partition DML
• Enhanced Partitioning Support in Oracle Warehouse Builder
• Oracle Warehouse Builder External Table Data Pump Support
• Oracle Warehouse Builder External Table Preprocessor Support
• Compressed Table and Partition Support in Oracle Warehouse Builder
• Support for PL/SQL Native Compilation

Details on these new feature are available in the Oracle documentation Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.3) New Features.

Reference

A collection of a few important Metalink Notes, readme and other links related to Patchset 11.2.0.3.0:

• README for 10404530
• ALERT: Oracle 11g Release 2 (11.2) Support Status and Alerts [880782.1]
• 11.2.0.3 Patch Set – Availability and Known Issues [1348336.1]
• 11.2.0.3 Patch Set – List of Bug Fixes by Problem Type [1348303.1]
• ANNOUNCEMENT: Deprecating the cursor_sharing = ‘SIMILAR’ setting [1169017.1]
• Quick Reference to Patchset Patch Numbers [753736.1]
• Important Changes to Oracle Database Patch Sets Starting With 11.2.0.2 [1189783.1]
• Information on installing the patch set must be taken from the documentation (Installing and Upgrading) or the Metaling Note: Complete checklist for out-of-place manual upgrade from 11.2.0.1 to 11.2.0.2 [ID 1276368.1] (old only used as reference)