Re: Oracle Client @ Windows: ORA-12154 when calling from path with brackets "("

On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 15:04:18 +0200, "André Hartmann" <andrehartmann_at_hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hi all,
>
> I observed the following behaviour of a client application running under
>windows NT, 2000, XP when trying to connect to an oracle database via Ora
>client 8/9/10:
>
> When my application is installed in a directory the path of which contains
>brackets "(", OCILogin throws ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve service name.
>When I mend the path, i.e. remove all brackets, it connects fine. In detail,
>when MyApplConnectingToOraViaOCI.exe is installed under C:\Program
>Files\MyAppl (Version 1.0)\, it does not work, whereas when it is installed
>under C:\Program Files\MyAppl Version 1.0\, it does work. Ora client is
>installed under C:\ORANT.
>
> I tested and found that even Oracle client applications like SQL*Plus act
>that way. when I copy sqlplus.exe to a directory that has "(", it wont
>connect. When I copy it to a directory that has no "(" it will still work!
>
> Now my questions are these:
>
>(1) Has anyone observed that before ?
>(2) Is this a documented bug or feature ?
>(3) Is there a fix ?
>(4) Is there an official statement, document by Oracle saying what are
>"illegal" characters to the client even though the file system would allow
>them ?
>
> Thanks a lot,
>
>André
>:)
>

 1 Oracle has never supported 'long filenames' 2 it is a feature
3 there is no fix
4 Likely this is documented in the Windows specific documentation.

--
Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBA