What is going to be released?
The long-awaited on-prem release of Oracle AI Database 26ai formerly known as Oracle Database 23ai – on Linux at first.
This means you will download the gold image containing Oracle AI Database 26ai – 23.26.1.0.0 Enterprise Edition – the first-quarter Release Update. From my previous blog post Oracle AI Database 26ai replacing Oracle Database 23ai you will see that – in case you are on Oracle Database 19c or 21c, you can upgrade directly to it with AutoUpgrade. And in case you are on Oracle Database 23ai already, you just update (aka: patch) to 23.26.1.0..
In both cases, AutoUpgrade does the job for you including downloading the software, and building your new home. It will determine automatically whether an upgrade or just an update are going to happen. Keep in mind that AutoUpgrade is the only-supported way to upgrade to Oracle AI Database 26ai.
The good news is that you won’t need to re-certify applications when you were on 23ai already.