Oracle Notes

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Feb 3, 2008, at 16:14, John Korchok wrote:

> For anyone else who may be struggling with getting Oracle to play with
> MacPorts PHP, here are my notes after installation on three systems  
> and
> about 100 hours of tinkering. Start with a PowerPC, as the Oracle  
> Instant
> Client for Mac does not yet work with Intel machines.
>
> 1. Install php5 with oracle support:
> sudo port install php5 +apache2 +oracle
>
> 2. So that the Apache user can find the relevant files, add  
> environment
> variables to opt/local/apache2/bin/envvars:
> export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/local/lib/oracle"
> export TNS_ADMIN="/Applications/Oracle" (or whatever folder is a  
> convenient
> spot to store sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora)
> Many web sites refer to setting DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH, you can do that  
> instead
> of LD_LIBRARY_PATH and it has the same effect. Heck, use 'em both  
> for good
> measure!

I'm surprised LD_LIBRARY_PATH has any effect. I thought that was for  
Linux and DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH was the Mac OS X equivalent.

I'm also surprised you needed to set this variable at all. I thought  
that fixing the library name with install_name_tool like I do in the  
portfile would make this unnecessary. What error occurs if you do not  
set this variable?

> Do _not_ use putenv in a PHP script or SetEnv in httpd.conf to set
> the variables, it won't work. Apache will also not pick up environment
> variables from /private/etc/profile. Note to Ryan: can MacPorts update
> envvars?

MacPorts can set environment variables for its own use during any of  
the phases (configure, build, destroot, etc.). However these do not  
persist after the port has been installed.

> 3. Restart Apache
>
> For testing purposes, you can also add support for SQLPlus from the  
> command
> line by downloading the Instant Client SQLPlus files from
> http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/oci/instantclient/ 
> htdocs/macs
> oft.html and copying them to opt/local/lib/oracle. In that case you  
> will
> have to add these variables to /Users/YourUserName/.profile:
> export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/local/lib/oracle:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
> export TNS_ADMIN="/Applications/Oracle"
> export PATH="/opt/local/lib/oracle:$PATH"
> If you prefer all users to have SQLPlus access, add the variables to
> /private/etc/profile
>
> If you have trouble with errors like "ORA-12154: TNS:could not  
> resolve the
> connect identifier specified", Oracle may not be able to read your
> tnsnames.ora file. We had to amend the first line from "ALIG" to
> "ALIG.revion.com" (appending the url of the host name) to get it to  
> work.
> Here are connection strings for PHP and SQLPlus, respectively:
> $con = OCILogon('YourUserName', 'YourPassword',
> "//your.host.address.com:1521/YourServiceName");
> sqlplus
> YourUserName/YourPassword@//your.host.address.com:1521/YourServiceName
>
> If all else fails, you can use a verbose connection string to  
> eliminate any
> need for tnsnames.ora:
> $con = oci_connect('YourUserName', 'YourPassword',
> '(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=your.host.address.com) 
> (PORT=1521)
> )(CONNECT_DATA=(SID=YourServiceName)(SERVER=DEDICATED)))');
>
> Here's the verbose syntax for SQLPlus:
> sqlplus
> YourUserName/YourPassword@\(DESCRIPTION=\(ADDRESS=\(PROTOCOL=TCP\)\ 
> (HOST=you
> r.host.address.com\)\(PORT=1521\)\)\(CONNECT_DATA=\ 
> (SID=YourServiceName\)\(S
> ERVER=DEDICATED\)\)\)