Forum OpenACS Q&A: Response to How to upgrade Oracle from 8.1.7.0 to 8.1.7.4 ?

Yick. oracle-ftp.oracle.com does indeed have only older, out of date patchsets.

You can download the newer patchset directly from metalink.oracle.com, but while possible, it is exceedingly annoying to use wget to do so. E.g., for the 8.1.7.4 for 32 bit Solaris patchset, try:

$ wget -b --http-user=MY_METALINK_USERNAME --http-passwd=PASSWORD 'http://ap103aru.us.oracle.com/ARULink/PatchSearch/process_download/p2376472_8174_SOLARIS.zip?patch_file=p2376472_8174_SOLARIS.zip&aru=1697372'

But there's a better way. Once you use their god-awful patch search tool to figure out the patchset number you need (# 2376472 for 8.1.7.4), ftp them from updates.oracle.com, using your Metalink username/password to log in. E.g., here are links to some of the 8.1.7.4 patchsets: Linux, Solaris 32 bit, Solaris 64 bit.