Oraperl bug on Soraris 2.2

I don't know if this is the correct newsgroup for this; I tried sending this by e-mail to kstock_at_encore.com (Kevin Stock is listed as the copyright owner for oraperl), but it got returned with User unknown. So here goes anyway...

I am running two Oracle servers; one on a Sun 4/690 running SunOS 4.1.3 and the other on a Sun SPARCentre 2000 running Solaris 2.2.

Both Oracle servers are:
ORACLE7 Server Release 7.0.12.1.0 - Production With the procedural option
PL/SQL Release 2.0.14.0.1 - Production

Our Unix system administrator, Rob McMahon (R.McMahon_at_warwick.ac.uk), has installed oraperl (and coraperl) onto both machines, under /usr/local/bin, alongside perl.

Oraperl on the Sun 4/690, running SunOS 4.1.3, is: This is Oraperl, version 2, patch level 3. Debugging is not available.
Default fetch row cache size is 5.
Empty bind values are replaced by a space.

Oraperl on the Sun SPARCentre 2000, running Solaris 2.2, is: This is Oraperl, version 2, patch level 4. Debugging is not available.
Default fetch row cache size is 5.
Empty bind values are replaced by a space.

Oraperl works fine on the Sun 4/690, running SunOS 4.1.3. However, on the Sun SPARCentre 2000, running Solaris 2.2, there seems to be a bug:

If one opens a cursor with an SQL Select statement, with more than 16 fields listed in the select-list, then the first field listed is always returned with completely erroneous data from the &ora_fetch routine. This does not set any (non-zero) value in the variable $ora_errno.

An obvious cause is the patch level 4; but when oraperl is regressed (with patch -R) to patch level 3, to match the version of oraperl running on the Sun 4/690, the erroneous behaviour is still observed.

Interestingly, if the oraperl executable is copied from the Sun 4/690 to the Sun SPARCentre 2000, then this executable works fine! (binary compatibility mode Does seem to work sometimes :-)

I am aware that the current version of oraperl was written with Oracle version 6 in mind, but, until now, I have not experienced any problems with running it against Oracle version 7. Perhaps you could tell me of the current situation with oraperl.

I am also aware of the advice given by Oracle on page 2 of the "Oracle for Sun Solaris 2.X U.K. Release Note", concerning changes to Makefiles, but these make no difference whatsoever when we try them.

Is it also possible to enquire about a forthcoming rumoured perl version 5?

I would be grateful for any help that can be given.

Hank Robinson.
Database Applications Support Consultant. University of Warwick, U.K.
H.J.Robinson_at_warwick.ac.uk
UK Coventry (+44 203) 524590 Received on Mon Sep 20 1993 - 22:35:43 CEST