Installing cx_Oracle on Linux Redhat 6 using RPMs

install_cx_Oracle_rhel6.sh

# assuming python and pip are already installed 
# installing the instantclient is usually where problems happen

# download the following files from oracle
#
#    oracle-instantclient11.2-basic-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm
#    oracle-instantclient11.2-devel-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm
#    oracle-instantclient11.2-sqlplus-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm

# install the rpms
rpm -ivh oracle-instantclient11.2-basic-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm 
rpm -ivh oracle-instantclient11.2-sqlplus-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm 
rpm -ivh oracle-instantclient11.2-devel-11.2.0.3.0-1.x86_64.rpm 

# the sqlplus package isn't specifically needed, but is usually useful for testing and command line sql connections

# configure oracle env (modify exact path based on version of rpm you download)
vim /etc/profile.d/oracle.sh

#!/bin/bash
LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
TNS_ADMIN="/etc/oracle"
export TNS_ADMIN
ORACLE_HOME="/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/lib"
export ORACLE_HOME

# actually set the env vars above in your session
source /etc/profile.d/oracle.sh # or just logout/login 

# copy/create your tnsnames.ora file
touch /etc/oracle/tnsnames.ora

# symlink headers to ORACLE_HOME to avoid "cannot locate Oracle include files" error
mkdir /usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/lib/sdk
ln -s /usr/include/oracle/11.2/client64 /usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/lib/sdk/include

# done. Install cx_Oracle
pip install cx_Oracle

used yum install but basically the same setup and rpms as used here. sqlplus64 does work, but I can't run ./configure without errors because of: checking for Oracle OCI headers location... configure: error: variable not set or unable to guess

I mean i got some files in ln -s /usr/include/oracle/11.2/client64 but they can't be found. guess that trick from line 31 does not work for me yet... any idea? RHEL 6.3

@mbannert did you source the /etc/profile.d/oracle file before pip install cx_Oracle? Probably a stupid question, but that's the only thing I could see going wrong here.

What did you try running ./configure against? I didn't want to try installing cx_Oracle from source myself if that's what you were referring to.

jarshwah I think you have a mistake,

ORACLE_HOME="/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/lib"

Should be

ORACLE_HOME="/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64"

thanks buddy .

Thanks a lot for this ; you will also need python-devel package for the compilation

thankyou very much!

Thank you. But in my case, I changed that code

symlink headers to ORACLE_HOME to avoid "cannot locate Oracle include files" error

mkdir /usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/sdk
ln -s /usr/include/oracle/11.2/client64 /usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/sdk/include
because for me does worked that variable
ORACLE_HOME="/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64"

Nice!! Thanks!