When to relink Oracle?

Question

Various sources on the internet suggest relinking of Oracle binaries is necessary after each OS upgrade and / or patch.

I can understand relinking would be necessary when upgrading glibc. Some package likely do not to require relinking, some do, some I am not sure about:

• upgrading glibc -> I suppose relinking required
• upgrading vim -> I suppose no relinking required
• upgrading gzip -> I'm not sure
• upgrading kernel -> I'm not sure

Does anyone have a list, or can anyone point me to a list to what libraries Oracle actually links? I am not an Oracle DBA, so I am clueless about the Oracle linking procedure. I am not even sure I actually understand what Oracle is doing during the relinking: it's not really a common practice in binary software to do it's own linking after install, is it?

Anyway, to make a long story short: I have a couple of RHEL[345] boxes, that I need to apply some patches to. Most boxes run Oracle and I am wondering what patches would require relinking and what would not. A list as exhaustive as possible would be nice :)

Answer 1

I have rarely needed to relink Oracle database, maybe only after major O/S upgrade or going from 32-bit to 64-bit. However, if you have doubts, just run it. It takes a minute. Another source to consult with is metalink note 131321.1... the gist is:

" Relinking occurs automatically under these circumstances:

• An Oracle product has been installed with an Oracle provided installer.
• An Oracle patch set has been applied via an Oracle provided installer.

The following information has been added to the 'Certify' section of Metalink:

General Notes For Oracle Database - Enterprise Edition:

O/S Information: The vendors guarantee operating system binary compatibility; therefore, no reinstall or relink of the Oracle software is required when upgrading these operating systems unless specifically stated otherwise.

Relinking Oracle manually is suggested under the following circumstances (even though the OS vendor may not require it):

• An OS upgrade has occurred.
• A change has been made to the OS system libraries. This can occur during the application of an OS patch.
• A new install failed during the relinking phase.
• Individual Oracle executables core dump during initial startup.
• An individual Oracle patch has been applied (however, explicit relink instructions are usually either included in the README or integrated into the patch install script)

"

Answer 2

I would suggest no for all your scenarios. I always understood that relinking was for when you upgraded or patched parts of your Oracle installation, not its supporting operating system.