Install rpm or jar?

[JDuvall]

Good afternoon,

I have a 9068 and I am trying to install an oracle instant client. In this case instant has been about 14 hours.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/linuxsoft-082809.html

Now, I can download a .rpm file or a .zip file which contains two jars and a handful of .so files. For reference, I'm trying to install:

Version 10.2.0.3

      Instant Client Package - Basic: All files required to run OCI, OCCI, and JDBC-OCI applications

I am very new to linux, but it seems that the problem I am encountering is unique to NI Linux Real-Time. Whenever I try to use the rpm command I've found on several websites in regards to unpacking .rpm files, I get a basic invalid command message. So I thought I'd be clever and use java to open one of the jar files, hoping that might get me some headway.

so I went about trying to install java on my 9068. Result? I get the tarball for java for linux (I tried j586 and x64) and when I run tar on it, it unpacks everything, but I always get a cannot execute binary file error when I try ./java. Most websites indicate that this is because I needed x64 and installed j586 or vice versa, so I've tried both. No luck.

I could really use some guidance here, as it stands I've spent about two days trying to make a single install command work. It seems like this should be very easy, so I am hoping I am overlooking something. Any advice or direction is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[BradM]

Hi there JDuval,

The cRIO 9068 is ARMv7a, architecture-wise. x86 or x86_64 will not work on these targets (unless you do something loopy like install a virtual machine like QEMU).

You can try to track down an Oracle Java solution for ARM, but as I recall, last time I checked I came up empty-handed when it came to an official, from (at the time I think it may have still been) Sun solution.

That said, I have been somewhat successful in the past using openjre/openjdk or icedtea for my java VM and compilation tools in the past. It's worth a shot.

I'm curious as to the errors you were seeing when working with the RPM file. What instructions were you following, or, what tools were you using?

[JDuvall]

Hey Brad,

Truth be told I simply tried typing rpm. Since the system reply was that the command did not exist that was the edge of my experiment with that. Is there something I can do or install to get that command on NI Linux RT? I really need to get this Oracle Instant Client installed and working.

[JDuvall]

Also now that you mention the architectures I am very concerned that the oracle CLI will be similarly troubled.

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/features/instant-client/index-097480.html

All of the items on this page seem to be x86 or x64. Does that preclude them from operating on an ARM system? Is that a limit of NI Linux RT or the 9068 controller hardware?

[BradM]

The rpm tool is not installed on these targets as that particular package management system was not chosen for how Open Source, Community-based software is installed.

There are some options on how to deal with RPM packages on non-RPM-based distributions (converting them to the package manager that your distribution uses is one that works well for Debian-based distributions, I'm unaware of a project to convert .rpm files to .ipk files). Otherwise, I know that I've taken the contents out of an .RPM and manually installed them to the system I was working on, making sure to check the post-installation actions that the RPM was going to do after the files were in-place. This approach is dirty and, as it is working outside of a package management system, is not easily reversable.

As far as the Oracle software is concerned, when it offers downloads for specific platforms and processors, it makes it seem that it has some architecture (and platform) specific code in those .jar files. Being incompatible with x86 and x86_64 is not a limitation in the software but rather a hardware platform decision. It's tantamount to asking why a person who only speaks Cantonese cannot understand a poem in Portugese.

[JDuvall]

Thanks Brad,

Are there other names for the NI Linux RT platform? Or is there another Linux platform that is similar enough that I might have good results transplanting software from it to NI Linux RT?

It seems like most of the items I have found via google are expecting x86 and x86_64. Is ARM a particularly rare variant? I ask because I am wondering if I am looking for the wrong key phrases.

[Zach J]

Hi JDuvall,

ARM is a type of CPU, much like Intel or AMD chipsets that run typical home and business PC's.  ARM processors are built for embedded use and have low power requirements.  They are not rare, and in fact many cellular phones also use ARM processors.  I wrote a KnowledgeBase article a while back that explains a bit further about the differences between x86 and ARM and why they are not compatible.  It contains some further external links that might give you a more complete explanation as well.  Feel free to take a look at the article below and it should give you a better explanation about ARM processors.

KnowledgeBase Article: Why Will My Shared Object Library Not Work on the NI Linux Real-Time OS?

There are many Linux distributions in the world that are compiled and optimized for ARM; OpenEmbedded and Angstrom are two that come to mind with good instructions on how to work with them.  You may try looking around at those and seeing if their package repositories contain the supporting files you need.  I doubt .rpm support is going to be available however, as they both use the opkg package manager.

[JDuvall]

Thank you for the information! I'll read over this.

Thanks,

James