How reliable is autoupgrade.jar analyze mode?

According to the Oracle documentation About Oracle Database AutoUpgrade, AutoUpgrade utility identifies issues before upgrades, deploys upgrades, performs postupgrade actions, and starts the upgraded Oracle Database.

I am currently working on a project to upgrade a database from 11.2.0.4 to 12.2.0.1 and decided to use AutoUgrade. Full disclosure: Oracle DB software was installed at an incorrect location and modified to the correct location.

Here is how Oracle DB software was moved to new location:

### Detach ORACLE_HOME from incorrect location.

$ export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1
$ $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/runInstaller -detachHome -silent ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME
Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking swap space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 33536 MB    Passed
The inventory pointer is located at /etc/oraInst.loc
'DetachHome' was successful.
$ 

### Rename directory to /u01/app/oracle/product/12.2/dbhome_1

### Attach ORACLE_HOME to correct location.

$ export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2/dbhome_1
$ $ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/runInstaller -attachHome -silent ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME ORACLE_HOME_NAME="OraDB12Home1"
Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking swap space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 33536 MB    Passed
The inventory pointer is located at /etc/oraInst.loc
'AttachHome' was successful.
$

### Apply RU patch to new ORACLE_HOME, verify patches and inventory.

$ echo $ORACLE_HOME
/orahome/oracle/app/product/12.2/dbhome_1

$ $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches
29757449;Database Jul 2019 Release Update : 12.2.0.1.190716 (29757449)
OPatch succeeded.

$ $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lsinventory
OPatch succeeded.
$

### Run autoupgrade.jar -mode analyze completed successfully.

$ echo $ORACLE_HOME
/orahome/oracle/app/product/12.2/dbhome_1

$ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java -jar $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/autoupgrade.jar -config $ORACLE_SID_upgrade.config -mode analyze

upg> Job 100 completed
------------------- Final Summary --------------------
Number of databases            [ 1 ]

Jobs finished successfully     [1]
Jobs failed                    [0]
Jobs pending                   [0]
------------- JOBS FINISHED SUCCESSFULLY -------------
Job 100 FOR $ORACLE_SID
$

### Run autoupgrade.jar -mode deploy failed.

$ echo $ORACLE_HOME
/orahome/oracle/app/product/12.2/dbhome_1

$ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java -jar $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/autoupgrade.jar -config $ORACLE_SID_upgrade.config -mode deploy
AutoUpgrade tool launched with default options
It is not possible to determine the target ORACLE_BASE value for ORACLE_SID because the target ORACLE_HOME directory does not exist [/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2/dbhome_1] for database ORACLE_SID.
It was not possible to determine the target ORACLE_BASE for entry upg1
$ 

The fact that the analyze succeed and the deploy failed is disturbing. Also, the error does not seem accurate since directory /u01/app/oracle/product/12.2/dbhome_1 does exist.

What’s the problem and the solution?

Basically, $ORACLE_HOME/install/orabasetab had incorrect entry where $ORACLE_HOME is /u01/app/oracle/product/12.2/dbhome_1.

### Correct orabasetab

$ echo $ORACLE_HOME
/orahome/oracle/app/product/12.2/dbhome_1

$ cat $ORACLE_HOME/install/orabasetab (this is old incorrect OH)
#orabasetab file is used to track Oracle Home associated with Oracle Base
/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1:/orahome/oracle/app:OraDB12Home1:N:

$ vi $ORACLE_HOME/install/orabasetab
$ cat $ORACLE_HOME/install/orabasetab (this is new correct OH)
#orabasetab file is used to track Oracle Home associated with Oracle Base
/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2/dbhome_1:/orahome/oracle/app:OraDB12Home1:N:

Not only did analyze fail to detect the error, but the deploy error message was uninformative.

A better error message would be “Wrong entry in $ORACLE_HOME/install/orabasetab” which is the cause per Doc ID 2573304.1

In summary, autoupgrade.jar analyze mode may not be reliable depending on the circumstance and may not the only case.