how to install ruby-oci8 on centOS? - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am install Oracle Instant Client: Basic, SDK and SQL*Plus packages v 10.2.0.5.
mkdir /opt
mkdir /opt/oracle
cd /opt/oracle
unzip path/to/instantclient-basic-OS-VERSION.zip
unzip path/to/instantclient-sdk-OS-VERSION.zip
unzip path/to/instantclient-sqlplus-OS-VERSION.zip
after that i set vim ~/.oracle_client
export ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/
export TNS_ADMIN=/admin/network/
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/oracle/instantclient_10_2/"
echo "source ~/.oracle_client" >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile
create tnsnames.ora and test connection sqlplus opsvod/agatb137#FESTEST
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.5.0 - Production on Thu Oct 31 14:55:17 2013
Copyright (c) 1982, 2010, Oracle. All Rights Reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
SQL>
But whan i try to install gem install ruby-oci8 -v '2.1.5' i have error:
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
ERROR: Error installing ruby-oci8:
ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
/usr/local/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for load library path...
LD_LIBRARY_PATH...
checking /opt/oracle/instantclient_10_2/... skip: /opt/oracle/instantclient_10_2/libclntsh.so.10.1 is for i386 cpu.
checking ld.so.conf... skip: /opt/oracle/instantclient_10_2/libclntsh.so.10.1 is for i386 cpu.
no
checking for cc... ok
checking for gcc... yes
checking for LP64... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for ruby header... ok
Get the version of Oracle from SQL*Plus... *** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of
necessary libraries and/or headers. Check the mkmf.log file for more
details. You may need configuration options.
Provided configuration options:
--with-opt-dir
--with-opt-include
--without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include
--with-opt-lib
--without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib
--with-make-prog
--without-make-prog
--srcdir=.
--curdir
--ruby=/usr/local/bin/ruby
--with-instant-client
--without-instant-client
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:760:in `get_version': RuntimeError (RuntimeError)
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:709:in `initialize'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:320:in `new'
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:320:in `get'
from extconf.rb:18:in `<main>'
---------------------------------------------------
Error Message:
cannot get Oracle version from sqlplus
Backtrace:
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:760:in `get_version'
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:709:in `initialize'
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:320:in `new'
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/oraconf.rb:320:in `get'
extconf.rb:18:in `<main>'
---------------------------------------------------
See:
* http://ruby-oci8.rubyforge.org/en/HowToInstall.html
* http://ruby-oci8.rubyforge.org/en/ReportInstallProblem.html
Gem files will remain installed in /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/ruby-oci8-2.1.5/ext/oci8/gem_make.out
How to resols this isue?

Answer 1

We don't install the gem for our Oracle deployments, but build from source:
Make sure that ORACLE_HOME is pointing to the oracle full client or oracle instaclient
Make sure that inside the $ORACLE_HOME/lib libclntsh.so exists as a symbolic link to libclntsh.so.11.1
Change into the ruby-oci8-2.1.x directory and run
ruby setup.rb config
ruby setup.rb setup
ruby setup.rb install
Install activerecord-oracle_enhanced-adapter ONLY WHEN the ruby-oci8 adapter is installed.

Answer 2

skip: /opt/oracle/instantclient_10_2/libclntsh.so.10.1 is for i386 cpu.
The instant client is 32-bit.
checking for LP64... yes
The ruby is 64-bit.
The bitness of instant client must be same with that of ruby.
You need 64-bit instant client to use with the 64-bit ruby.

Answer 3

If you are by any chance trying to install this gem on Fedora 27 and are faced with a very similar error message, try to do:
dnf install rpm-build libnsl*
This fixed my errors (found it here).
EDIT: As of Fedora 28, libnsl* is no longer included as default dependency. This will make the ruby-oci8 gem fail for less than obvious reasons. The install directive above has been updated with this finding.