Installing CX Oracle for Python & Mac OS X. Instructions exist around the web, but they seem to be piecemeal and incomplete.

cx_oracle_instructions.md

Installing cx_Oracle for Python/ Mac OSX

Portions taken from http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~mitra/csSpring2011/cs327/cx_mac.html (in case that link ever dies.)

Assume you've got homebrew installed.

Download the following files from Oracle

• instantclient-basic-$VERSION-macosx-x64.zip
• instantclient-sdk-$VERSION-macosx-x64.zip

Create a directory /usr/lib/share/oracle

export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/lib/share/oracle
export VERSION=11.2.0.3.0
export ARCH=x86_64

mkdir -p $ORACLE_HOME

Unpack both files to that directory:

cd $ORACLE_HOME
tar -xzf instantclient-basic-$VERSION-macosx-x64.zip
tar -xzf instantclient-sdk-$VERSION-macosx-x64.zip

ln -s libclntsh.dylib.11.2 libclntsh.dylib
ln -s libocci.dylib.11.2 libocci.dylib

export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME

(Note I did not have to do anything with ottclasses.zip as suggested in the original utexas instructions.)

If you're using Pip:

Last step is to simply run pip, you might have to add an arch flag:

env ARCHFLAGS="-arch $ARCH" pip install cx_Oracle

If you're building from source:

Download cx_Oracle-version.tar.gz from Sourceforge

export CX_ORA_VERSION=5.1.2
tar -xzf cx_Oracle-$CX_ORA_VERSION.tar.gz
cd cx_Oracle-$CX_ORA_VERSION

env ARCHFLAGS="-arch $ARCH" python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install

Notes

Some folks have recommended compiling for 32-bit (i386) instead, although I'm not sure why. 64 bit seems to work for me so YMMV.

Basically:

# compile cx_Oracle for 32-bit (requires downloading 32-bit instantclient sources)
ARCHFLAGS="-arch i386" pip install cx_Oracle

# then make your virtualenv python 32-bit only:
virtualenv .
mv bin/python python.fat
lipo python.fat -remove x86_64 -output bin/python

See: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8169946/cant-get-cx-oracle-to-work-with-python-version-2-7-mac-os-10-7-2-lion-mis/8452731#8452731

I used these instructions as reference while installing cx_Oracle today to El Capitan (10.11), and as some others have commented, they're a bit outdated. My main fixes to the instructions:

• Shouldn't recommend /usr/lib anymore in 10.11 because of SIP. Proper location is /usr/local/lib
• Download links don't work (users can easily make a throwaway account on Oracle and install themselves)
• tar commands here make you do some shuffling once unzipped (moving files around)
• libclntsh.dylib.11.2 and libocci.dylib.11.2 have been changed to 11.1

I put together an updated set (tested & working) of instructions based on my above corrections here: https://gist.github.com/mcescalante/50f1663825fea582953c187f83c8b92d

I tried to install cx_oracle 5.2.1 instanceclient 12.1.0.2 on python2.7 on OS X EI Captain. Below is ok
Download three packages:  
instantclient-basic-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
     instantclient-sqlplus-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
    instantclient-sdk-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
mkdir -p ~/oracle
cp instantclient_-12.1.0.2.0.zip ~/oracle
cd /oracle/instantclient_12_1
_Configure enviroment variables*
export ORACLE_HOME=/oracle/instantclient_12_1
export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME  
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME
export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME

add tnsnames.ora under $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin directory, create the dir at first and then add tnsnames.ora file

Prepare for cx_Oracle
cd $ORACLE_HOME/sdk
unzip ottclasses.zip  
cd ..  
cp -R ./sdk/_ .  
cp -R ./sdk/include/_ .  
ln -s libclntsh.dylib.12.1 libclntsh.dylib  
ln -s libocci.dylib.12.1 libocci.dylib

mkdir -p ~/lib
ln -s $ORACLE_HOME/{libclntsh.dylib.12.1,libnnz12.dylib,libociei.dylib} ~/lib/
ln -s $ORACLE_HOME/{libsqlplus.dylib,libsqlplusic.dylib} ~/lib/

Install cx_Oracle
sudo pip install --no-cache-dir --allow-external --allow-unverified cx_Oracle 
now cx_oracle has been installed, but it not runnable.

Fix issues
If you import cx_oracle in python, it throw exception:
import cx_Oracle  

错误信息如下：  

Traceback (most recent call last):  
  File "ex1.py", line 1, in   
    import cx_Oracle  
ImportError: dlopen(/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/cx_Oracle.so, 2): Library not loaded: @rpath/libclntsh.dylib.11.1  
  Referenced from: /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/cx_Oracle.so  
  Reason: image not found  

You can fix it by below 2 steps
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubo/fix_oralib_osx/master/fix_oralib.rb
sudo ruby fix_oralib.rb --ic_dir $ORACLE_HOME /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/cx_Oracle.so
It is ok now

It takes me 2 days to do it

@jobforlife fix_oralib.rb saved my day. I was installing with instantclient_12_1, python3.5.2 on El Capitan.

Red herring. The problem is not cx_oracle

Why do you mention "Assume you've got homebrew installed."?

Finally, thank you, works for me on os x EI Capitan. I've tried all kinds of tutorials for about one week, only this one worked. Thank you again.

I managed to install instant clients as per this guide and installed cx_Oracle with pip.

But while importing in python I get the following error

Python 3.6.0 (default, Mar  4 2017, 12:32:34)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 8.0.0 (clang-800.0.42.1)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import cx_Oracle
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: dlopen(/usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/cx_Oracle.cpython-36m-darwin.so, 2): Symbol not found: _OCIBindByName2
  Referenced from: /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/cx_Oracle.cpython-36m-darwin.so
  Expected in: flat namespace
 in /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/cx_Oracle.cpython-36m-darwin.so
>>>

Googled it, but couldn't find any similar issues

@jobforlife you save my day 👍

THANK YOU! its like they dont want anyone to use it...