1. 1. Introduction

1.1. What you need to know

This tutorial was written due to my frustration on installing Oracle 9i on FC3. Basically 9i installation on RAS 1,2,3 RH 9, FC1, FC2 is documented fairly well but it is hard to find anything worthwhile on FC3; some people even suggested that installing Oracle 9i on FC3 is not possible. This HOWTO attempts to condense all my experience and findings with any such info peculiar to FC3, which was before scattered all over the web, into one concise but useful document.

I hope you will find this short tutorial useful.

If you need to install Oracle 9i on FC3, you should be aware of the following facts:

  1. Fedora is not *Officially Supported* by Oracle Corp.

  2. Oracle 9i installation is difficult but possible on FC3.

  3. Oracle 9i CANNOT be linked with the libraries used by gcc 3.4. On FC3 you need to use the FC2 GCC compat libraries.

  4. The Oracle 10 G installation method does NOT WORKS with 9i.

  5. This HOWTO deals with RedHat products >= FC3 or higher or gcc version greater than 2.9. If you are installing any other RedHat product you might want to have a look at other excellent tutorials, for instance http://www.puschitz.com/OracleOnLinux.shtml and http://oracle-base.com/.

Also keep in mind:

  1. This HOWTO aims only to assist you. This is not an OFFICIAL Oracle document.

  2. I am not a DBA. Please do not contact me for matters other than the content of this document. I will not help you to set up your database. If you need help with that, check the Oracle forums.

  3. The next step for me is probably to write some Bash or Perl scripts to fully automate this tedious and boring, frustrating, manual process but that depends on spare time I get. Your ideas are welcome.

1.2. Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Jean François for helping me out with the most tricky parts.

1.3. Availability and Feedback

The latest version can be found at http://www.pagux.com/oracle9ionfedora3.html.

I rely on you, the reader, to make this HOWTO useful. If you have any suggestions, corrections or comments, please send them to me and I will try to incorporate them in the next revision.

1.4. Licensing Information and Liability

Copyright 2005 Gaurav Prasad

This HOWTO is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. A copy of the license is available at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.

This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No liability for the contents of this document can be accepted. Use the concepts, examples and information at your own risk. There may be errors and inaccuracies, that could be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution, and although accidents are highly unlikely, the author(s) do not take any responsibility.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

All copyrights are held by their by their respective owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark. Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.