install cx_oracle for python

The alternate way, that doesn't require RPMs. You need to be root.

1. Dependencies

   Install the following packages:

   apt-get install python-dev build-essential libaio1
   

2. Download Instant Client for Linux x86-64

   Download the following files from Oracle's download site:

   

3. Extract the zip files

   Unzip the downloaded zip files to some directory, I'm using:

   /opt/ora/
   

4. Add environment variables

   Create a file in /etc/profile.d/oracle.sh that includes

   export ORACLE_HOME=/opt/ora/instantclient_11_2
   export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME
   

   Create a file in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle.conf that includes

   /opt/ora/instantclient_11_2
   

   Execute the following command

   sudo ldconfig
   

   Note: you may need to reboot to apply settings

5. Create a symlink

   cd $ORACLE_HOME 
   ln -s libclntsh.so.11.1 libclntsh.so
   

6. Install cx_Oracle python package

   • You may install using pip

     pip install cx_Oracle
     

   • Or install manually

     Download the cx_Oracle source zip that corresponds with your Python and Oracle version. Then expand the archive, and run from the extracted directory:

     python setup.py build 
     python setup.py install
     

The following worked for me, both on mac and Linux. This one command should download needed additional files, without need need to set environment variables.

python -m pip install cx_Oracle --pre

Note, the --pre option is for development and pre-release of the Oracle driver. As of this posting, it was grabbing cx_Oracle-6.0rc1.tar.gz, which was needed. (I'm using python 3.6)

I recommend that you grab the rpm files and install them with alien. That way, you can later on run apt-get purge no-longer-needed.

In my case, the only env variable I needed is LD_LIBRARY_PATH, so I did:

echo export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client/lib >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

I suppose in your case that path variable will be /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/client/lib.

Thx Burhan Khalid, I overlooked your "You need to be root" quote, but found the way when you are not the root here.

At point 7 you need to use:

sudo env ORACLE_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME python setup.py install 

Or

sudo env ORACLE_HOME=/path/to/instantclient python setup.py install