Re: why is oracle such a b*@$%! to install on Linux?

> > I've spent all day and it still doesn't work. I heard it takes 5
 minutes
> > on Windows, what is the deal?!

Phhhffft! from who? Here's the deal: Oracle is a PITA to install on *any* platform. Some more than others. Windows is just the least painful. Probably whoever told you that had previously installed it on unices and was making a "relative" judgement.

And yes, I'm sure someone is going to jump in and say that they've installed it with no problem. Which I don't doubt. *Some* installations go flawlessly, if you have just the right equipment, with just the right version, nothing else already installed, the moon is in the right phase, you've sacrificed the proper goat and read its entrails correctly. But when it goes bad, it goes BADLY bad, and you're almost guaranteed to require tech support.

Here's my latest little stuggle with Oracle, happened just this week. Installing the Windows 8i client on a Win98 box. Oracle wanted to set the default homedir to "C:\Program Files\Oracle". Well, fine, I've learned not to fool with the defaults on the first pass. Of course the install died (or I wouldn't be telling this story). Turned out the problem is that Oracle doesn't like spaces in the home directory pathname. And that was the suggested default. Jeez. Received on Fri Aug 25 2000 - 09:55:41 CDT