Oracle recently released patch 23054246 (DATABASE PATCH SET UPDATE 12.1.0.2.160719) for database 12.1.0.2, containing security updates from the July 2016 critical patch update advisory.
[EDIT 20160726: Oracle has documented this issue in MOS note 2163593.1]
This patch appears to have introduced a dependency on libodbcinst. During my first attempt to install this patch, I received errors while linking libsqora. The error appears as follows in OPatch logs:
[Jul 20, 2016 11:22:57 AM] The following warnings have occurred during OPatch execution:
[Jul 20, 2016 11:22:57 AM] 1) OUI-67200:Make failed to invoke "/usr/bin/make -f ins_odbc.mk isqora ORACLE_HOME=/oracle/oem/product/12.1.0/awrdb"....'/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.3/../../../../x86_64-suse-linux/bin/ld: cannot find -lodbcinst
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [/oracle/oem/product/12.1.0/awrdb/odbc/lib/libsqora.so.12.1] Error 1
'
[Jul 20, 2016 11:22:57 AM] 2) OUI-67124:Re-link fails on target "isqora".
[Jul 20, 2016 11:22:57 AM] 3) OUI-67200:Make failed to invoke "/usr/bin/make -f ins_odbc.mk isqora ORACLE_HOME=/oracle/oem/product/12.1.0/awrdb"....'/usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/4.3/../../../../x86_64-suse-linux/bin/ld: cannot find -lodbcinst
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [/oracle/oem/product/12.1.0/awrdb/odbc/lib/libsqora.so.12.1] Error 1
'
[Jul 20, 2016 11:22:57 AM] 4) OUI-67124:
NApply was not able to restore the home. Please invoke the following scripts:
- restore.[sh,bat]
- make.txt (Unix only)
to restore the ORACLE_HOME. They are located under
"/oracle/oem/product/12.1.0/awrdb/.patch_storage/NApply/2016-07-20_11-20-22AM"
After installing the unixODBC package on my SLES11 system, this error went away.
[Update: see also Brian Peasland’s blog post “July 2016 PSU fails to make isqora” for a different workaround to this issue that does not involving installing any additional packages.]
At the time of release, Oracle’s installation requirements for database 12.1.0.2 listed the unixODBC package as an optional dependency, required only “[i]f you intend to use ODBC”. This no longer seems to hold true. At the moment Oracle has not made it clear whether or not patch 23054246 contains a bug that introduces the libodbcinst dependency or if the database platform will require this library in all cases going forward.
If you have attempted patch application without libodbcinst available, the opatch apply step will fail and you will have to manually revert the patch, following the instructions that OPatch provides and/or contact Oracle Support for guidance. In my case, I followed the instructions to revert, installed unixODBC, then attempted again to apply the patch, at which point it completed successfully as expected. If you have not yet attempted to apply this patch, I highly recommend installing unixODBC first. I have already seen two others report on Twitter that they encountered this issue but none have yet confirmed to me that installing unixODBC resolved the problem. I believe it will.
UPDATE: See also “BUG 24332805 – OUI-67124:RE-LINK FAILS ON TARGET “ISQORA” DURING JUL 2016 PSU APPLY” once made public.
Pardy DBA 