OPatch'ing Pre-built Virtual Machine for SOA Suite and BPM Suite 11g

In March 2014, Oracle released an updated version of its Pre-built Virtual Machine for SOA Suite and BPM Suite 11g for Patchset 6 (11.1.1.7). The bundle patch 17014142 for Oracle BPM 11.1.1.7.1 is already installed. However, most of you will like to upgrade to bundle patch 17584181 directly (11.1.1.7.2). By using the installed version of OPatch in /oracle/fmwhome/Oracle_SOA1/OPatch directory, you will run into an opatch error 70:

[ Error during Patch conflict resolution for apply patch phase ] Detail: OUI-67073:OPatch failed: ApplySession failed in system modification phase... 'Current access level does not allow writing to the inventory'
OPatch will attempt to restore the system...

The reason is that the OPatch version installed in /oracle/fmwhome/Oracle_SOA1/OPatch is 11.2.0.3.5. However, for any opatch application on Oracle Fusion Middleware 11.1.x, the most recent version of OPatch 11.1.x is recommended (at the time of writing OPatch version 11.1.0.10.3).

1. Download most recent version of OPatch 11.1.x
2. Copy it to /oracle/fmwhome/Oracle_SOA1/OPatch_11.1.0.10.3
3. Apply opatch by using absolute path:
   $ sh /oracle/fmwhome/Oracle_SOA1/OPatch_11.1.0.10.3/opatch apply

 OPatch will then work correctly.