Re: What's free in Oracle for Linux?

From: KevJohnP <nospam_at_nowhere.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 21:49:02 +1300
Message-ID: <D8dFb.35890$VV6.834905@news.xtra.co.nz>

Unpatched 9.2 (and previous versions) have installed fine for me on Linux a number of times and the majority of distro specific help sites out there that are all based on the standard OTN download without requirement for patches to be downloaded from MetaLink.

Production use is another matter, there you would need the patches but then as mentioned then you need to pay for and license the product.

It would be good if Oracle rolled-up the patches into the downloads, but when you contrast the fact that we can freely download compared to competitors we should be thankfull for what we have!

Ramon F Herrera wrote:
> "DJ" <nospamplease_at_goaway.com> wrote in message news:<Yi4Fb.7348$526.52176_at_newsfep4-glfd.server.ntli.net>...
>
>

>>It's free on all platforms and licensed based on trust.

>
>
> You are confirming my perceptions. In other words, there
> is nothing special about Oracle's treatment of their products
> towards the Linux/open source community. Linux and all the other
> supported platforms are treated _exactly_ the same.
>
> What about the "GNU/Linux copyleft"? Does it apply to Oracle?
> Does it affect Oracle at all? If I need to debug the OCI libraries
> under Linux, for instance, can I get the source code?
>
>
>

>>Oracle is free to download and use IF you are not using it for commercial
>>purposes.
>>

>
>
> That's what they say, but I don't believe it. The Oracle server
> images for Linux available at OTN, will NOT install unless I get
> a patch from Metalink, and Metalink costs big bucks. Oracle places
> an incomplete "free" product in their web server, but in order for
> it to run you need a "key" (although they call it "patch").
> Am I missing something here?
>
>

>>A fantastic idea I think

>
>
> The idea is wonderful, but it seems to me that it is just
> an idea, not an actual implementation.
>
> -Ramon
Received on Sun Dec 21 2003 - 02:49:02 CST