Possible bug in 8.1.5

Hi,

My client application uses OCI to connect to an Oracle RDBMS (which may, or not, be on the same machine). Code uses version 7 OCI syntax, but it runs fine if Oracle 8 client software is installed, thanks to backward
compatibility. In the Windows version, the OCI is loaded dynamically
(LoadLibrary WinAPI call), a startup parameter contains a version flag so
we can decide whether to load OCI.DLL or OCIW32.DLL depending on the installed Oracle client software. So the executables don't need to be relinked against it to work with v7 or v8.

Problem description:

Client runs WinNT Workstation SP5 with Oracle 8.1.5 client software. I connect to a server (same machine, or other WinNT server, or RH Linux 6.1) which runs Oracle 8.1.5 server). In the tests I used several client workstations.

With a given set of transactions, frequent ORA-03113 errors occur, and these errors are consistently reproductible in the same pattern (eg, using cursor #n for the mth time). These pattern may be different on different clients, though. I also noticed several ORA-00600 errors on the server
(when they appear, it's always after getting an ORA-03113 on a client).

Sometimes (but not always) the first try will succeed and the error pattern will only appear at the second attempt. Only reason I can imagine is it's due to the shared pool being updated.

Sometimes (but, again, not always) the said pattern may change when
(a) I shutdown/restart Oracle
(b) I flush the SGA
(c) ORA-00600 [17xxx] errors occur on the server
(d) other unknown cause

but then the new pattern is reproductible for a while until changed again by one of the above.

The problem disappears when
(a) I use 7.3.4 client software on the client
(b) I connect to an Oracle 8.1.6 server.

I also tested the application Unix version, using Oracle 8.1.6 client software and connected to an Oracle 8.1.5 or 8.1.6 server. I never encountered the problem.

If this sounds familiar to someone, please e-mail me. This is very annoying, and so far Oracle France tech support didn't provide any positive answer.

Thanks for your time.

Jacques Vidal Received on Fri Aug 18 2000 - 11:09:25 CDT