Preparing an Oracle Database XE port/package -- any tips ?

[Adrian Penisoara]

Hi,

On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 6:44 PM, Ion-Mihai Tetcu <itetcu at freebsd.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:14:15 +0100
> Alexander Leidinger <Alexander at Leidinger.net> wrote:
>
> > Quoting Adrian Penisoara <ady at freebsd.ady.ro> (from Fri, 7 Mar 2008
> > 16:36:56 +0200):
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > >   After having to deploy an Oracle Database XE [1] installation
> > > (with Linux 32bit binaries from the official RPM package) on a
> > > production FreeBSD 6.2machine I realized it would be very much
> > > feasible to produce a FreeBSD
> > > port/package for it.
> > >   I would like to know whether similar efforts have been undergoing
> > > and whether people came up with some tips & tricks on this.
> > >
> > >  The goal is not only to add the port into FreeBSD's ports tree but
> > > also to eventually convince Oracle (I work for them) to post the
> > > package on their official download page.
> >
> > I'm not aware of something like this. Feel free to ask questions
> > regarding the linuxulator and our linux infrastructure in the ports
> > on emulation at . Also feel free to ask for review of the port on
> > emulation at .
>
> I've worked on such a port (probably that's what ady is referring to)
> but kinda' lost my interest in it ($REALLIFE got in the way).
>
> I'll try to find it (it was about 80% done) but I'm not sure it
> survived the clean-up sessions of my tmp/work dir (I don't know why I
> didn't ci it in our cvs ...).
>
> I'll work with Ady if he need help.
>
> Ady, BTW, after we have the port and, with some test cases provided by
> people that run it, can we hope for any kind of (semi-)official
> support ?
>

Not so fast (TM) :-).

1). I am talking about the Oracle XE package for which Oracle does not offer
any commercial support (except for Forum discussions).

2). Usually everything comes down to business cases and business
opportunities. So I think we will need to demonstrate a large userbase in
order to get attention. I think we should be happy if an Oracle XE FreeBSD
package will make it onto the downloads page in the first place.

3) Oracle EE / SE editions are indeed the big guns on the enterprise
database market, but until there are some more steps. And Oracle does not
use a packaging format for these, OUI (Oracle Universal Installer) is the
designated tool to use.

Note: The above represent solely my personal opinions, I do not speak on
behalf of my employer (Oracle).

Regards,
Adrian Penisoara
ROFUG / EnterpriseBSD.