In computing, a service pack comprises a collection of updates, fixes, or enhancements to a
software program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components.
A computer program i ...
delivered in the form of a single installable package. Companies often release a service pack when the number of individual
patches to a given program reaches a certain (arbitrary) limit, or the software release has shown to be stabilized with a limited number of remaining issues based on users' feedback and
bug reports. In large software applications such as office suites, operating systems, database software, or network management, it is not uncommon to have a service pack issued within the first year or two of a product's release. Installing a service pack is easier and less error-prone than installing many individual patches, even more so when updating multiple computers over a network, where service packs are common.
Service packs are usually numbered, and thus shortly referred to as SP1, SP2, SP3 etc. They may also bring, besides
bug fixes, entirely new features, as is the case of
SP2 of
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...
(e.g.
Windows Security Center), or SP3 and SP4 of the heavily database dependent
Trainz 2009: World Builder Edition.
Incremental and cumulative SPs
![Windows 2000 SP4 install disc (French)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Windows_2000_SP4_install_disc_%28French%29.jpg)
Service Packs for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
were cumulative through
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...
. This means that the problems that are fixed in a service pack are also fixed in later service packs. For example, Windows XP SP3 contains all the fixes that are included in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Windows Vista SP2 was not cumulative, however, but incremental, requiring that SP1 be installed first.
Office XP
Microsoft Office XP (codenamed Office 10) is an Productivity software#Office suite, office suite which was officially revealed in July 2000 by Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows, Windows operating system. Office XP was released to manufacturing ...
,
Office 2003
Microsoft Office 2003 (codenamed Office 11) is an office suite developed and distributed by Microsoft for its Microsoft Windows, Windows operating system. Office 2003 was released to manufacturing on August 19, 2003, and was later software releas ...
,
Office 2007
Microsoft Office 2007 (codenamed Office 12) is an office suite for Windows, developed and published by Microsoft. It was officially revealed on March 9, 2006 and was the 12th version of Microsoft Office. It was released to manufacturing on Novemb ...
,
Office 2010
Microsoft Office 2010 (codenamed Office 14) is a version of Microsoft Office for Microsoft Windows unveiled by Microsoft on May 15, 2009, and released to manufacturing on April 15, 2010, with General availability release, general availability on ...
and
Office 2013
Microsoft Office 2013 (codenamed Office 15) is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. It is the successor to Microsoft Office 2010 and the predecessor to Microsoft Office 2016. Unlike with Office 2010, no OS X ...
service packs have been cumulative.
Impact on installation of additional software components
Application service packs replace existing files with updated versions that typically fix bugs or close
security hole
Vulnerabilities are flaws in a computer system that weaken the overall security of the device/system. Vulnerabilities can be weaknesses in either the hardware itself, or the software that runs on the hardware. Vulnerabilities can be exploited by ...
s. If, at a later time, additional components are added to the software using the original media, there is a risk of accidentally mixing older and updated components. Depending on the
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
and
deployment
Deployment may refer to:
Engineering and software Concepts
* Blue-green deployment, a method of installing changes to a web, app, or database server by swapping alternating production and staging servers
* Continuous deployment, a software en ...
methods, it may then be necessary to manually reinstall the service pack after each such change to the software. This was, for example, necessary for
Windows NT
Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems sc ...
service packs; however, from
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), releas ...
onwards, Microsoft redirected setup programs to use updated service pack files instead of files from original installation media in order to prevent manual reinstalls.
Not Necessary to Reinstall Windows 2000 Service Packs After System State Changes
/ref>
See also
* Adaptation Kit Update An Adaptation kit upgrade (AKU or Adaptation kit update) updates Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating systems for devices (excluding Windows 10 Mobile).
It is a collection of updates, fixes and enhancements to the tools delivered to hardware devic ...
* Apple Software Update
This is a list of macOS built-in apps and system components.
Applications
App Store
The Mac App Store is macOS's digital distribution platform for macOS apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. based on the iOS version, the platform was an ...
* Hotfix
A hotfix or quick-fix engineering update (QFE update) is a single, cumulative package that includes information (often in the form of one or more files) that is used to address a problem in a software product (i.e., a software bug). Typically, hot ...
* IBM Program temporary fix In IBM terminology, a Program temporary fix or Product temporary fix (PTF), sometimes depending on date, is a single bug fix, or group of fixes, distributed in a form ready to install for customers.
A PTF normally follows an APAR (Authorized Progr ...
* Point release
A point release (also a dot release) is a minor release of a software project, especially one intended to fix bugs or do small cleanups rather than add significant features. Often, there are too many bugs to be fixed in a single major or minor re ...
* Slipstream (computing)
A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patches ...
* Software release life cycle
A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...
* Windows Update
Windows Update is a Microsoft service for the Windows 9x and Windows NT families of operating system, which automates downloading and installing Microsoft Windows software updates over the Internet. The service delivers software updates for Wind ...
References
External links
Microsoft Support Lifecycle
(includes Microsoft's service pack policy)
Windows Service Packs
List of fixes that are included in Windows XP Service Pack 3
Windows administration
System administration
Patch utilities
Software release