Ever heard of the phrase "the exception that proves the rule"? Looks like you are on top of things but most places will not be and recommending a solution that is more likely to fail for others or create a lot of extra overhead is irresponsible.

You still did not really address future ramifications. With XML in Solaris 10 I expect to see more use of Perl. And I already pointed out that SUN's directory server uses it in places. What if you need to install something that does require SUN's perl? What if you do find a compatibility issue? Keep in mind that catching these in test makes you aware of the problem in a safe environment but you would still have to resolve the problem before you could move to production.

The examples I mentioned were just to point out that the vendor supplied perl is used. You may not be using it but again, if you give advice to others you should be considering that they might be.

I still say the vendor supplied version is not broken. Did it occur to you that it may be included for the vendor to make use of in other parts of the OS? Or that it is there for additional applications that they or other vendors provide (or may provide in the future). And if one of those breaks that you can call in and get support for it?

If nothing else it seems like a huge waste of time and resources. Why not just install all of your stuff to e.g. /opt/mycompany/. Then there is no need to worry about tracking what uses SUN’s perl, patches that specifically break things, future compatibility issues, and upgrade issues. Granted, what you are doing seems to work for you and you have already invested the time to set the environment up. But it’s not something I would recommend to others except in very rare instances.

As for Solaris patches, I one million per cent completely agree with you.