Re: How can I call Unix commnad in pl/sql?

In article <8882aa3c.0203060729.100e2a8_at_posting.google.com>, andyho99_at_yahoo.com says...
>
>Hello,
>
>I am trying to call UNIX command (such as cp) in my pl/sql program. I
>am using AIX. I think the syntax should be the same for for Unixs. Has
>anyone done this before and how? I was surprised that I could not find
>in Oracle's pl/sql manual. This should be a baisc requirement. C can
>do this pretty easy.
>
>Thanks, Andrew

see
http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/ask/f?p=4950:8:::::F4950_P8_DISPLAYID:952229840241 for one approach in 8i (sigh, never ever a version).

In 8.0 you can use external procedures written in C.

There are HUGE issues with this -- issues that just don't exist in "C" as "C" is a general purpose programming language. First and foremost is that your plsql is running as "Oracle" so the addition of a simple host command makes "rm -rf /*.dbf" trivial (so be careful with this capability if you add it). "C" would not be able to do that unless Oracle itself ran it (or you had it setuid())

--
Thomas Kyte (tkyte@us.oracle.com)             http://asktom.oracle.com/ 
Expert one on one Oracle, programming techniques and solutions for Oracle.
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