Error while installing DBD::Oracle

Question

I am trying to install Perl module DBD::Oracle on my RHEL6.1 server. While doing so, I followed following steps:

1. Installation of following RPMs:

   • oracle-instantclient12.1-basic-12.1.0.2.0-1.x86_64.rpm
   • oracle-instantclient12.1-devel-12.1.0.2.0-1.x86_64.rpm
   • oracle-instantclient12.1-sqlplus-12.1.0.2.0-1.x86_64.rpm

2. Exporting environment variables

   export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64

   export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/lib

3. Installing DBD::Oracle

   cpan -i DBD::Oracle

While doing so, it gives following error message:

Installing on a linux, Ver#2.6
Using Oracle in /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64
DEFINE _SQLPLUS_RELEASE = "1201000200" (CHAR)
Oracle version 12.1.0.2 (12.1)

        Unable to locate an oracle.mk or other suitable *.mk
        file in your Oracle installation.  (I looked in
        /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/rdbms/demo/demo_xe.mk /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/rdbms/lib/oracle.mk /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/rdbms/demo/oracle.mk /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/rdbms/demo/demo_rdbms.mk /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/rdbms/demo/demo_rdbms64.mk /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/rdbms/lib/ins_rdbms.mk /usr/share/oracle/12.1/client64/demo.mk under /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64)

        The oracle.mk (or demo_rdbms.mk) file is part of the Oracle
        RDBMS product.  You need to build DBD::Oracle on a
        system which has one of these Oracle components installed.
        (Other *.mk files such as the env_*.mk files will not work.)
        Alternatively you can use Oracle Instant Client.

        In the unlikely event that a suitable *.mk file is installed
        somewhere non-standard you can specify where it is using the -m option:
                perl Makefile.PL -m /path/to/your.mk

        See the appropriate README file for your OS for more information and some alternatives.

     at Makefile.PL line 1187.
Warning: No success on command[/usr/bin/perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=site]
  PYTHIAN/DBD-Oracle-1.74.tar.gz
  /usr/bin/perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=site -- NOT OK
Running make test
  Make had some problems, won't test
Running make install
  Make had some problems, won't install

What's wrong with the installation process? I followed this guide.

Answer 1

After the installation and setup of the Oracle Instant Client, use the normal build steps without the cpan tool, and pass the -l option to the Makefile.PL

1. Download the tar.gz package and unpack it

2. Build it

   perl Makefile.PL -l
   make && make test
   

3. Install

   make install
   

Answer 2

Actually if you want to use the rpms and cpan to install, you have to set ORACLE_HOME to the lib folder, not just client64 and add sqlplus to the path :

export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/lib
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/lib/
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/bin

with that cpan -i DBD::Oracle returns no error.

Answer 3

The only thing the CPAN installer can't find is a suitable *.mk file. Oracle must be playing a game of cat and mouse with the CPAN installer because the installer is searching in several locations for several filenames.

I used the command

locate -r '\.mk$'

to find that demo.mk is now located in /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/demo/ instead of /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/

So I created a symbolic link

sudo ln -s /usr/share/oracle/12.1/client64/demo/demo.mk /usr/share/oracle/12.1/client64/demo.mk

and the CPAN installer succeeded.

Answer 4

I was able to use CPAN to install DBD::Oracle for 11.2.0.4 by installing the following 3 instant client RPM packages:

• oracle-instantclient11.2-sqlplus-11.2.0.4.0-1.x86_64
• oracle-instantclient11.2-devel-11.2.0.4.0-1.x86_64
• oracle-instantclient11.2-basic-11.2.0.4.0-1.x86_64

Once I got those installed, cpan was able to build. This is with CentOS 7.3.1611.