Installing cx_Oracle on Debian 7.1.0

Written while working on a 64bit Debian 7.1.0 Installation with 64bit Python for an Oracle 11g database 

This is by far one of the most annoying things i have had to do in the past few months, but like all programming related problems, once you crack it, it doesn’t seem so hard anymore. Though i do wish Oracle tried just a bit to make the process easier for developers.

Anyhow here’s my Step by Step on installing cx_Oracle

Requirements

• Install Python if not installed taking note of whether it is 32bit or 64bit.

NOTE: To find out if your Python installation is 32bit or 64bit, in the shell, enter the command python -c ‘import struct; print(8 * struct.calcsize(“P”))‘

• Install package python-dev
• Install package unzip
• Install package libaio1
• Download the Python driver for cx_Oracle from here taking care to select the appropriate package matching your system installation of Python(32bit or 63bit) and version of your Oracle database(11g).
• Download  zip of Instant Client Package – Basic and Instant Client Package – SDK from here. Be sure to select the version that matches your system installation of Python and your Oracle Database version e.g Python 32bit and Oracle 11g.

Steps 

• Move and extract the zips Instant Client Package – Basic and Instant Client Package – SDK in the location /usr/local/bin
• Enter the following commands directly into your linux shell
  • export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/local/bin/instantclient_11_2 
  • export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/bin/instantclient_11_2 
• Inside the directory /usr/local/bin/instantclient_11_2 create symbolic links to the library files by typing:
  • ln -s libclntsh.so.11.1 libclntsh.so
  • ln -s libnnz11.so libnnz.so 
  • ln -s libocci.so.11.1 libocci.so 
  • ln -s libocijdbc11.so libocijdbc.so 
• Go to directory cx_Oracle was downloaded into and extract it.
• Enter the cx_Oracle directory and directly in the linux shell run the commands
  • python setup.py build
  • python setup.py install 
• In linux shell type python -c ‘import cx_Oracle‘ 
• If no error message is seen the Install is successful
• Jubilation \o/ 

Happy Hunting.