[gnome-db] Installing oracle on debian

[Tim Coleman <tim timcoleman com>]

Last night (or really, this morning), I finally got oracle installed
and running on my debian box.  Gonzalo asked me to send him some 
instructions.  I don't really have much to offer other than what's
available on the web, but here's some pointers:

How to install Oracle on Debian

Most of what I did is already documented quite a bit around
the web.  I'm sure I screwed some stuff up in the installation
process.

Get the zip file from TechNet, or install from CD (I did the
former, I don't know about the latter)

Create a user called oracle

Set the following environment variables in the oracle
user's profile

ORACLE_BASE=/home/oracle
ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_BASE/product/8.1.7
ORACLE_SID=<your sid>
PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/lib
CLASSPATH=$CLASSPATH:.:$ORACLE_HOME/jdbc/lib/classes111.zip

and then source the profile

Create groups called oinstall and dba, add the
oracle user to these groups

Run the installer

Choose the custom install

Install the bits that you want.  You don't need to 
install everything at once...you can come back to it
later.

Install the glibc patch that is available with the
download from TechNet.  There is a readme file in
that patch that tells you what to do.

If you are asked whether you want to create a database,
select NO!  This will generally not work and leave you
frustrated.

After the installation, run dbassist and set up a database.
Use the custom installation, and at the end, save the output
to a script instead of running it immediately.

Then, you can run the script and create your initial database.

After that point, you should be well on your way, and a
few tweaks away from completion...i.e. you may need to
configure your listener, set up some scripts to start/stop
the service, modify the oratab, etc.

I'm sorry I can't be more descriptive; I didn't document the
process because I didn't think it would work.

As I said, most of this comes from google, and I have done it
once before successfully.

Hope this helps a bit

-- 
Tim Coleman <tim timcoleman com>                       [43.28 N 80.31 W]
BMath, Honours Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo
 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
  safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin