AE enqueue

Just a quick follow up from my previous post.

The relation of AE enqueue to editions was mentioned a couple of times around the internet already. Any user session connected to a database holds AE enqueue in a shared mode...

SQL> select type, id1, lmode, sys_context('userenv', 'current_edition_id') edition_id
  2   from v$lock
  3   where type='AE'
  4    and sid=sys_context('userenv', 'sid');
 
TYPE        ID1      LMODE EDITION_ID
---- ---------- ---------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AE          100          4 100

...and the first argument seems to be session's current_edition_id. I guess the lock mode will require an upgrade to exclusive mode during edition alterations.

Here is another interesting thing -- it looks like installing 11.1.0.7 patchset increments the current_edition_id. The value in 11.1.0.6 seems to be 99, but 11.1.0.7 changes it to 100 (you can observe it in sys.editon$ table as well). Does that mean that Oracle has any plans in doing patchset installation through edition-based redefinition (install the patchset online, short downtime is required only during switch to an upgraded edition) or is it simply a way to represent version change?

Updated the same day: it looks like in case your database was upgraded from a previous release, edition_id for ORA$BASE will be some other number as it represents ORA$BASE's object_id. This also means that my initial assumption about patchset installation changing edition_id is not correct as it is just whatever object_id is being available at the time. Before ORA$BASE edition is being created, 11.1.0.7 creates one more object (compared to 11.1.0.6), index I_SYN2, which explains advance in edition_id.

However, the idea seems to be interesting anyway...