How to install Oracle Instant Client on a Mac?

Question

How to install Oracle Instant Client Version 12.1.0.2 (64-bit) on a Mac (OS X 10.11.5)

I have downloaded version 12.1.0.2 (64-bit) version and unzipped the file.

Answer 1

There are multiple files available for download. From the files you listed you have only downloaded and unzipped the 'basic' package.

To run the CLI (by which I assume you mean SQL*Plus) you need that package as well - the fourth in the list, titled "Instant Client Package - SQL*Plus: Additional libraries and executable for running SQL*Plus with Instant Client".

The packages are arranged such that if you unzip all the ones you need from the same place they all put their files in the same directory. Unfortunately that doesn't quite work if you use Safari and have it set to open certain downloaded files; each zip file is expanded into a separate folder, with incremented names. And it deletes the zip files afterwards.

You can either disable that automatic unzipping and do it manually, or copy the files from the individual folders into a common one.

You may also need to create a symbolic link for the main client library; from inside that folder (in Terminal) you would do:

ln -s libclntsh.dylib.12.1 libclntsh.dylib

You can put that combined folder anywhere you like. You then need to add the full path to that folder to your PATH and environment variable - you can add that to your .bash_profile so you don't need to do it manually.

Once you've done that you can execute sqlplus from anywhere.

So to summarise:

1. If you're using Safari, disable automatic opening of the zip files; from Safari->Preferences->General untick the 'Open "safe" files after downloading' checkbox.

2. Download instantclient-basic-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip and instantclient-sqlplus-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip

3. In Terminal go to your Downloads directory.

4. Unzip both files:

   MacBook:Downloads alex$ unzip instantclient-basic-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
   Archive:  instantclient-basic-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/BASIC_README  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/adrci  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/genezi  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libclntsh.dylib.12.1  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libclntshcore.dylib.12.1  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libnnz12.dylib  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libocci.dylib.12.1  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libociei.dylib  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libocijdbc12.dylib  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libons.dylib  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/liboramysql12.dylib  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/ojdbc6.jar  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/ojdbc7.jar  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/uidrvci  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/xstreams.jar  
   MacBook:Downloads alex$ unzip instantclient-sqlplus-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
   Archive:  instantclient-sqlplus-macos.x64-12.1.0.2.0.zip
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/SQLPLUS_README  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/glogin.sql  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libsqlplus.dylib  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/libsqlplusic.dylib  
     inflating: instantclient_12_1/sqlplus  
   

5. Optionally rename and/or move the instantclient_12_1 directory to somewhere more permanent.

6. Add the location to your path in your current session, and also in your shell profile/resource file to make it take effect on every login:

    export PATH=$HOME/Downloads/instantclient_12_1:$PATH
   

7. Enjoy.

   MacBook:Downloads alex$ export PATH=$HOME/Downloads/instantclient_12_1:$PATH
   MacBook:Downloads alex$ which sqlplus
   /Users/alex/Downloads/instantclient_12_1/sqlplus
   MacBook:Downloads alex$ sqlplus
   
   SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.2.0 Production on Thu Jun 9 16:29:49 2016
   
   Copyright (c) 1982, 2016, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
   
   Enter user-name: 
   

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El Capitan added system integrity protection (SIP), and one side effect of that is that exporting DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH doesn't work. That could affect running SQL*Plus from a shell script, for example. There are workarounds for the 11g instant client. The installation notes at the bottom of the download page have changed since I last did this, and it now says to hard link the library files to the user's ~/lib directory to avoid that issue. Fortunately it looks like you don't need to worry about that with the 12c client - they've fixed the way it's built.