The quest for linux-oracle-instantclient-sqlplus

[Michael Powell]

Martin McCormick wrote:

> I have run across a couple of other ports that required the
> acceptance of a software agreement and the process was
> relatively painless, but this one makes up for all that and then
> some.
> 
> For hours today, I have been wading through the Oracle
> web site trying to connect the URL
>  
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/oci/instantclient/index.html
> 
> with the agreement I must accept and the ultimate purpose of
> this so-far futile quest, the download of the zip file
> has yet to happen because of the utter triumph of form over
> function which is the state of the art of what passes for web
> design these days.
> 
> I am limited to lynx or safari. Nothing else is an
> option right now. On the Mac, safari is the only browser that
> truly works with the screen reader known as VoiceOver. The lynx
> browser while it works perfectly with text-based standard input
> and output falls flat when confronted with scripting languages
> like javascript.
> 
> Oddly enough, both lynx and safari work about the same
> way on this site. One uses the url that make tells you to use
> and then things just kind of go to pot in a confused jungle of
> marketing verbiage and links that are mostly inappropriate to the
> task at hand.
> 
> Once, I actually saw the agreement, screen after screen
> of legalese and then discovered there was no button to click and
> no way out except to back up to the previous screen.
> 
> I certainly hope that if I ever get this installed, it is worth
> wasting literally half a work day due to the IT equivalent of a
> dialog with an utter idiot. In this case, the idiot is the web
> site, not a specific person.
> 
> I figured at this same time a couple of days ago, we'd
> have it installed and be testing to see if it meets our needs.
> 
> The interesting thing about all this is that there has
> been a thread on this list about open source software. One
> comment I can make is that there is simply not these kinds of
> hassles. Commercial sites are too busy looking goo-oo-ood! to be
> useful much of the time.
> 

This is one of the worst I have seen to date. Click here:

http://members.verizon.net/nightrecon/instantclient-sqlplus-
linux32-10.2.0.3-20061115.zip

Copy to /usr/ports/distfiles/oracle/ directory. Good luck to you.

-Mike