RTI Connext Professional Patches: FAQ and Use Guidelines

Submitted by Sandra Rodriguez on Tue, 11/18/2025 - 01:26

Goal

This article clarifies common questions related to how RTI patches the product of Connext Professional. If your question is not answered here, reach out to support@rti.com.

What is a patch? How is it different from other types of releases?

A patch is an official release to address one or more product bugs, made available only to customers who require it. It goes through the RTI entire standard quality process for releases. Hence, a patch can be used in production and is fully supported.

The purpose of a patch is to fix bugs. Product enhancements and improvements are generally not included in patches. Rarely, it is possible that minor customer-requested feature enhancements are included, especially where such changes provide clear benefits to the overall user base of the Connext version. New features are not included in a patch release.

A patch differs from a General Access Release (GAR) in the following aspects:

  • A patch is built for a limited number of platforms, not the full list of supported platforms for the corresponding GAR.
  • A patch does not include the entire product suite (i.e., each patch may contain different products). In particular, GUI tools are not usually patched.
  • A patch is enabled only for a subset of customers (i.e., only those who requested it). Other customers can be enabled on demand.

A patch differs from an Engineering Release in the following ways:

  • A patch is fully tested according to the RTI release acceptance criteria, while an Engineering Release is not.
  • A patch can be used in production, while an Engineering Release cannot.
  • Patches are enabled on demand. To access a specific patch version, please contact support@rti.com.

What documentation is available for patches?

We provide a Release Notes Supplement PDF in the patch package. This document includes the following information:

  • List of all the issues fixed in the patch, including those fixed in previous cumulative patches.
  • List of all the products that are released in this patch.
  • Any compatibility remarks. Specifically, there is a section dedicated to the potential incompatibility of the header files with previous releases.
  • Whether the customer needs to regenerate their code after installing the patch.
  • Any other aspects that may be relevant for a customer installing the patch. For instance, if there is an upgrade to 3rd party software like OpenSSL.

Given the importance of this information when using a patch, it is highly recommended to read the Release Notes Supplement PDF before using the patch.

Release Notes Supplement PDFs are linked in the Info button for each patch package in the RTI Customer Portal, and are not publicly available. If you don’t have access to a specific patch release but would like to obtain its Release Notes Supplement PDFs, please contact support@rti.com.

What does it mean that patches are cumulative?

RTI patches are generally cumulative. This means that a patch will include all fixes from previous patches for the same major version. For example, patch 7.3.0.9 includes all the fixes in 7.3.0.8 and most other previous 7.3.0.x patches.

Note that the patch version numbering may not be consecutive. In rare cases, a higher version number doesn’t always mean that all previous versions are included. The Release Notes Supplement PDF will tell you which previous versions are included.

How do I (easily) know if a patch contains the fix for a specific bug?

The easiest way to know what issues are fixed in a given patch is to search for the bug ID in the Release Notes Supplement PDF provided with the patch release.

If you don’t have access to a specific patch release but would like to obtain its Release Notes Supplement PDFs, please contact support@rti.com.

How do I know what products are shipped in a specific patch?

The list of products shipped can be found in the Release Notes Supplement PDF provided with the patch release.

How do I know what architectures are available for a specific patch?

The available architectures for a patch are listed under the Info button for each package in the RTI Customer Portal. This information is not included in the Release Notes Supplement PDF, since it may change if new architectures are requested after the patch is initially released. This approach helps ensure the list of architectures remains current and up to date in the RTI Customer Portal.

If you don’t have access to a specific patch release but would like to know whether it includes support for your architectures, please contact support@rti.com.

How can I find out if a new patch for my Connext version is available?

RTI does not proactively notify users about new patch releases. If you need a fix for a specific product bug, please contact support@rti.com to check whether a fix is already available in an existing patch and/or to discuss scheduling a patch release based on your needs.

Does RTI release periodic patches?

As a general rule, no. Patches are the result of customer requests. The exception to this rule is security patches, which RTI schedules proactively for the architectures and products previously requested by customers to align with the release of Security Bulletins. Security Bulletins are published at https://www.rti.com/vulnerabilities and contain the information about security patches. To subscribe to the RTI Security Notification list please contact security@rti.com.

What are the installation instructions for a patch release?

Specific installation instructions for each version are provided in the Info button for each package in the RTI Customer Portal. In general, patches should be installed on top of their base version and in an independent clean installation. That is, you shouldn't mix and match packages from other releases in the same installation directory.

In general, the installation instructions for RTI patches align with the guidelines in Section 2.2. “Upgrading to a Patch Release” in the RTI Connext Professional Installation Guide.

How do I know what patch version of Connext I have installed?

All the information about Connext versions is traced in a file called rti_versions.xml, in the NDDSHOME installation directory. This file shows the version of each product component from Connext that you have in your system.

The Configuration tab in RTI Launcher also shows the Version installed per Product / Architecture.

Another way of checking the Connext version you are using is to get the BUILD ID information of your Connext libraries in the header files. For example, to obtain the RTI_BUILD_NUMBER_STRING of the Connext Core library, include the following header file in your application:

#include <ndds/core_version/core_version_buildid.h>

Or run the following command on your shared library (e.g., libnddsc.so):

strings libnddsc.so | grep BUILD

The output will include a string like:

NDDSC_BUILD_7.3.0.9_20250526T000000Z_RTI_REL

In general, patches have a non-zero value in the fourth digit of the version number.

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