Preparing an Oracle Database XE port/package -- any tips ?

[Marcin Cieslak]

Adrian Penisoara wrote:
> 2). Usually everything comes down to business cases and business
> opportunities. So I think we will need to demonstrate a large userbase in
> order to get attention. I think we should be happy if an Oracle XE FreeBSD
> package will make it onto the downloads page in the first place.

I can give you one business case:

During election observation mission in 2007 an Oracle XE installation
I've had (just for test) on my FreeBSD notebook saved my (election) day
and allowed me to analyze and verify election results - and this is a
Big Thing(tm).

> 3) Oracle EE / SE editions are indeed the big guns on the enterprise
> database market, but until there are some more steps. And Oracle does not
> use a packaging format for these, OUI (Oracle Universal Installer) is the
> designated tool to use.

OUI is difficult to run, it's usually easier to setup a database without
it. Fortunately XE does not need one at all. There are scripts out there
that perform database creation end-to-end and I think they should be
included in the port.

--Marcin