You may find this interesting, perhaps even useful. And of course, it does involve Perl. :) http://www.pythian.com/news/27959/linux-patching-and-oracle-how-to-detect-rpm-conflicts-before-they-happen-2 Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist Oracle Blog: http://jkstill.blogspot.com Home Page: http://jaredstill.com -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l