Should We Use The Smart Update (BSU) cache_dir For Downloaded Patches Or Is Another Directory OK? 

Installation Instructions
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- unzip downloaded .zip to {MW_HOME}/utils/bsu/cache_dir or any local directory
However, after applying the patch, we see that it is not getting listed in bsu.sh -view status unless and until the patch ID jar and patch_catalog_xxx.xml files are copied to the cache_dir directory. So is it required to copy the patch files to cache_dir?

Solution:

In order to apply the patch, you do not need to use cache_dir. However, as you noted, bsu looks into its cache_dir for the list of patches which are applied, downloaded, etc. So if you don't use cache_dir, bsu isn't going to find the patch where it is expecting to.

So the best practice is to use cache_dir. It may not be absolutely required, but it definitely works best to use cache_dir.

By the way, please also note that the patch-catalog_xxx.xml and patch jars for ALL the patches applied should be in the same place so that bsu can determine which patch-catalog_xxx.xml file is the most current. For that reason as well, you should always use cache_dir. (Please never rename any of the patch-catalog_xxx.xml files -- bsu relies on these files being named correctly.)


NOTE: This article describes use of Smart Update (bsu), which is the patching utility used with WebLogic Server 9.x to 12.1.1. For WLS 12.1.2 and higher, Smart Update has been replaced by the Oracle-standard OPatch utility and you should use OPatch instead.