Re: Oracle on Windows

From: Niall Litchfield <niall.litchfield_at_dial.pipex.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 06:23:17 +0100
Message-ID: <K-ednaTceuJaNn_ZRVnygw@pipex.net>

DA Morgan wrote:
> Comment in-line.
>
> Niall Litchfield wrote:

>> DA Morgan wrote:
>>> Preston wrote:
>>>
>>>> If you're using DBCA to uninstall Oracle then I'm not surprised ;-)  
>>>
>>> I don't but I believe the OP did.
>>
>> But you did say
>>
>> "Not from my experience. There are more than a handful of times I've used
>> DBCA to uninstall Oracle on Windows ... and then had to manually clean
>> up the remaining mess."
>>
>> Was this just wrong, hyperbole or what?

>
> Perhaps it is lack of scotch but I fail to see the conflict. I often use
> DBCA in teaching because students have Windows (even once or twice for
> commercial purposes). My experience is that the uninstall, with Windows,
> often does not fully clean up the registry and definitely does not fully
> clean up ORACLE_HOME.
>

>>>> Seriously though it does a good job of removing the instance service, &
>>>> if it didn't, the blame lies squarely at the door of Oracle, not
>>>> Microsoft.
>>>
>>> It doesn't and the blame lies squarely at the feet of both companies.
>>
>> what utter rubbish. If a software vendor cannot write software that 
>> cleanly reconfigures itself then the fault lies solely with the vendor.

>
> Unless the APIs are hidden from them that would allow it to happen. But
> ok there was a bit of hyperbole there I will grant.

I was talking about dbca rather than oui. The APIs for adding and deleting services and registry entries are published.

In the case of oui Oracle has deliberately chosen not to use the platform specific install/uninstall technology set. If it was a windows installer routine that failed to cleanly uninstall - certainly I'd entertain the possibility that windows installer was broken/underdocumented - but Oracle chose to go their own way rather than the supported/documented route. I know what happens when ordinary mortals do that with a product, don't see why it doesn't apply to Oracle as well.

>> Now I know a rant doesn't have to make sense, but one that sounds like 
>> a pissed off teenager discovering the real world could probably be 
>> improved upon.

>
> I'll work on it. ;-)

-- 

Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
http://www.orawin.info/services/

Received on Wed Aug 16 2006 - 00:23:17 CDT