Install Oracle Database 10g Express in Ubuntu

If you are curious about the limitations of the Express edition, you can read about them here: http://www.webxpert.ro/andrei/2009/03/17/disadvantages-of-using-oracle-database-10g-xe-express-edition/

Downloading the Correct Installer

Follow these steps:

1.) Go to this URL: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/express-edition/downloads/index.html

2.) Click the link: Oracle Database 10g Express Edition for Linux x86 under “Oracle Database 10g Express Edition”. This will take you to this page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/express-edition/downloads/102xelinsoft-102048.html

3.) You need to have an Oracle account before you can download the installer. If you do not have an Oracle account, just click the link “Sign In/Register for Account” and proceed with the registration. Once you have a confirmed your account, login to their system. Take note of your password because you will be needing it every time you download Oracle related products.

4.) In this download page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/express-edition/downloads/102xelinsoft-102048.html, check “Accept License Agreement”.

Under “Oracle Database 10g Express Edition(Western European)”, click “oracle-xe 10.2.0.1-1.0 i386.deb” (see red font in the screenshot below).

This is the installer and it will be downloaded to the Ubuntu downloads folder. The downloading process can take long depending on your Internet connection. The .deb installer is around 210MB.

Preparing your System and Installing Required Libraries

Before you continue with the installation, make sure your Ubuntu system is fully updated. You can determine if it is by following these steps:

1.) Go to System – Update Manager.
2.) Make sure that under “Software Updates are available for this computer”, there are no critical updates. If there are updates, make sure to implement them before installing Oracle.

You then need to install libaio1 package (Linux Kernel AIO Access Library). To do this:

1.) Go to System – Administration – Synaptic Package Manager.
2.) Under “Quick Search”, type libaio1. Make sure to check all of them and install it to your system. See screenshot below:

Execute the Oracle .deb installer in Ubuntu

After successful installation of libaio1, you need to execute the .deb installer you have downloaded from Oracle. Follow these steps:

1.) Open Terminal (Applications – Accessories – Terminal).
2.) Navigate to the Downloads folder:

codex-m@codex-m-desktop:~$ cd Downloads

3.) Execute and install the .deb package: (you need root privileges, during this process Ubuntu may ask for your root password):

codex-m@codex-m-desktop:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i oracle-xe_10.2.0.1-1.0_i386.deb

4.) The following is the result:

codex-m@codex-m-desktop:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i oracle-xe_10.2.0.1-1.0_i386.deb

Selecting previously deselected package oracle-xe.
(Reading database ... 218860 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking oracle-xe (from oracle-xe_10.2.0.1-1.0_i386.deb) ...
Setting up oracle-xe (10.2.0.1-1.0) ...
update-rc.d: warning: /etc/init.d/oracle-xe missing LSB information
update-rc.d: see <http://wiki.debian.org/LSBInitScripts>
Executing Post-install steps...
-e You must run '/etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure' as the root user to configure the database.

Processing triggers for python-gmenu ...
Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.en_PH.utf8.cache...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead ...
Processing triggers for python-support ...