What are the necessary Oracle software to install and run ROracle ?

Hello,

I am running Linux, I have downloaded

instantclient-basiclite-linux32-11.2.0.2.0.zip
instantclient-sqlplus-linux32-11.2.0.2.0.zip
instantclient-sdk-linux32-11.2.0.2.0.zip
instantclient-precomp-linux32-11.2.0.2.0.zip

All these tarballs are unzipped in /usr/local/lib/instantclient, I have 
added this path in the library path of the host.

I can run sqlplus and proc, they do not complain about missing symbol.

Then I install ROracle : install.packages("ROracle")

Compilation step is OK
But when the test step tries to load the ROracle.so library, it fails :

** testing if installed package can be loaded    
Error in dyn.load(file, DLLpath = DLLpath, ...) :    
 unable to load shared library 
'/opt/R-2.11.1/lib/R/library/ROracle/libs/ROracle.so':   
 /opt/R-2.11.1/lib/R/library/ROracle/libs/ROracle.so: undefined symbol: 
sqlprc 

Here is my list of lib in instantclient directory : 
$ find -name "*.*o" -o -name "*.a"
./libsqlplusic.so
./sdk/demo/procobdemo.pco
./cobsqlintf.o
./libociicus.so
./libnnz11.so
./libocijdbc11.so
./libsqlplus.so

Do I need so more lib ? From which Oracle tarball ?

Thanks for help

If you have not, read through the INSTALL file for the package:

  http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/ROracle/INSTALL

Past postings with similar issues regarding the inability to load shared libs would suggest that compiling and installing the package outside of R from the CLI using 'R CMD INSTALL ...' rather than from within R using install.packages("ROracle"), may resolve the issue.  Also, be sure you are running all of this as root, since installation to default locations will require root privileges.

Two more things to consider:

1. R 2.12.1 is the current version of R. If you can, I would recommend updating from 2.11.1.

2. Be sure that you don't have a conflict between 32 and 64 bit versions of R and the Oracle tool chain. All components need to be one or the other. You seem to be using 32 bit versions of the Oracle components above. Check:

  .Machine$sizeof.pointer

in R to see if you are running 32 or 64 bit R. If the former, the above will return 4, if the latter, 8.


Another alternative would be to consider using Prof. Ripley's RODBC package and connecting to Oracle via ODBC.


If you need further assistance, I would suggest subscribing and posting to r-sig-db or contacting the package author directly. More info on the list is here:

  https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-db

HTH,

Marc Schwartz

An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: not available
URL: <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/attachments/20110106/c5496aba/attachment.pl>

Hello,

I have applied all tips (except moving to different DB lib) :

move to R-2.12.1
try R CMD INSTALL instead of install.packages('ROracle');
run as root
checked that I have full 32 bit env

It still fails with same error at installation when trying to load ROracle 
lib

---------------------
** testing if installed package can be loaded
Error in dyn.load(file, DLLpath = DLLpath, ...) :
 unable to load shared object 
'/opt/R-2.12.1/lib/R/library/ROracle/libs/ROracle.so':
 /opt/R-2.12.1/lib/R/library/ROracle/libs/ROracle.so: undefined symbol: 
sqlprc
---------------------

I know have additional warnings because of my upgrade to R-2.12.1 :

Rd warning: ./man/DBIPreparedStatement-class.Rd:17: missing file link 
'dbPrepareStatement'

I know have 2 problems to solve :-)

what are the required Oracle tarballs for ROacle to install and run ?
how do I get read of these warnings ?

Note that I try to use ROracle with Oracle 11.

Thanks for tips

Thomas,

Three thoughts:

1. How did you install R? From source or from a pre-built binary? If the former, it is possible that ROracle requires that R be built as a shared library. The default for this option is 'no' when compiling from source, whereas the pre-built binaries typically are built as a shared library. If you did build from source, use --enable-R-shlib when you run ./configure and them recompile and install R.

2. Mathieu Drapeau posted about a possibly similar issue back in 2006 (http://tolstoy.newcastle.edu.au/R/e2/help/06/09/1192.html). You may wish to contact him as he references a manual compilation. Hopefully his e-mail in that post is still valid.

3. If the above fails, I would contact the package maintainer (David James) for additional assistance. The package appears to not have been updated since late 2007 and who knows, perhaps something has changed in the intervening time frame that may require his attention either for the package itself or simply more clarity in the documentation of the installation process. The INSTALL file mentions that ROracle was last tested with R 2.3.0, which was released back in 2006.

HTH,

Marc Schwartz

An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: not available
URL: <https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/attachments/20110106/6927a4a7/attachment.pl>