Cannot connect to Oracle database with Django on Ubuntu

Question

Whenever I try to run a command like python manage.py syncdb, I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "manage.py", line 11, in 
    execute_manager(settings)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 438, in execute_manager
    utility.execute()
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 379, in execute
    self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 261, in fetch_command
    klass = load_command_class(app_name, subcommand)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 67, in load_command_class
    module = import_module('%s.management.commands.%s' % (app_name, name))
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
    __import__(name)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/south/management/commands/__init__.py", line 10, in 
    import django.template.loaders.app_directories
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py", line 21, in 
    mod = import_module(app)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
    __import__(name)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/contrib/admin/__init__.py", line 1, in 
    from django.contrib.admin.helpers import ACTION_CHECKBOX_NAME
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/contrib/admin/helpers.py", line 1, in 
    from django import forms
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/forms/__init__.py", line 17, in 
    from models import *
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/forms/models.py", line 6, in 
    from django.db import connections
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/__init__.py", line 77, in 
    connection = connections[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 91, in __getitem__
    backend = load_backend(db['ENGINE'])
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/utils.py", line 32, in load_backend
    return import_module('.base', backend_name)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/utils/importlib.py", line 35, in import_module
    __import__(name)
  File "/home/damon/Workspace/django-projects/acm-cie/env/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/oracle/base.py", line 24, in 
    raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error loading cx_Oracle module: %s" % e)
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Error loading cx_Oracle module: libclntsh.so.11.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Is this resolvable on Ubuntu?

Answer 1

You need to install both cx_Oracle and an Oracle Client.

cx_Oracle can be found here.

An appropriate Oracle Client can be found here.

You will also need to set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable before you start your application. This can usually be done (for example):

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/lib

Now you should be able to get past the cx_Oracle error message.