The document describes each Oracle environment variable with its name, it use, general sample values, and specific examples in the following manner:
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE NAME
Use: What is this environment variable?
General: What are some sample values?
Example: Specific example
In addition, UNIX environment variables that affect Oracle are briefly described.
General Notes
=============
- $O_H == $ORACLE_HOME
- $O_S == $ORACLE_SID
- An environment variable followed by a “*” applies to Oracle7.
- An environment variable followed by a “#” is used during database
creation for Oracle Version 6 only.
- For more information, see your IUG, ICG, or the “ORACLE7 Server
for UNIX Administrator’s Reference Guide”
- Note that not all UNIX platforms use all of these environment variables.
Oracle Environment Variables
============================
APIPATH*
Use: version 7.0.12 only: directory containing Tool Kit II *.res files
General:
Example: $O_H/orainst:$O_H/tk2/admin
BOOK_LOCALPREFERENCE*
Use: Oracle*Book env var
General: $ORACLE_HOME/book/admin
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/book/admin
BOOK_RESOURCE*
Use: directory for Oracle*Book resource files
General: $O_H/book/admin/resource/US, $O_H/book/admin/resource/JA
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/book/admin/resource/US
BOOK_GLOBALPREFERENCE*
Use: Oracle*Book env var
General: $ORACLE_HOME/book/admin
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/book/admin
BOOK_HELP*
Use: directory for Oracle*Book help files
General: $ORACLE_HOME/book/admin/help/US
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/book/admin/help/US
CASE_HP_CMD
Use: Command to plot a file from CASE*Designer
General: Actual print command or name of a script
Example: lpr -Pplot
CASE_PS_CMD
Use: Command to print postscript file from CASE*Designer
General: Actual print command or name of a script
Example: lpr -P
CASE_RESOURCE
Use: Tool Kit I terminal type for CASE
General: file:device (file.r from $O_H/dict50/admin/etc) and (device from Oraterm)
Example: case_hpx:xterm
CASE_SDPRINT
Use: to print CASE*Designer screen prints to line or PostScript printers
General: printer name
Example: lw
CASE_XTERM
Use: Tool Kit I GUI window type for CASE
General: xterm, hpterm, aixterm, dxterm, etc.
Example: xterm
CGEN_HOME
Use: home directory of CASE Generator
General:
Example: $O_H/cgen20
DEBUG_SLFIND*
Use: Debug for TK2 tools
General: 0,1,?
Example: 1
DBS_FILE#
Use: initial database file name
General: $O_H/dbs/dbs$O_S.dbf will hard code db file (you will not
be able to move $O_H); setting to dbs$O_S.dbf will allow you to move $O_H
Example: dbsoracle.dbf
DBS_SIZE#
Use: initial database file size
General: numberK, numberM
Example: 5000K or 5M minimum, up to partition size
FORMS_DEVICE*
Use: devicename for TK2 tools (CDE tools)
General: vt220, vt100, hp, sun(see $ORACLE_HOME/tk2/admin/terminal)
Example: hp
FORMS30PATH
Use: directory containing Forms 3.0 (TK I) resource files
General:
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/forms30/admin/resource
LOG
Use: file to record the install procedure
General: $O_H/install/install.log
Example: $O_H/install/install.log
LOG_FILE1#
Use: first redo log file name
General: $O_H/dbs/log1$O_S.dbf will hard code log file (you will
not be able to move $O_H); setting to log1$O_S.dbf will allow you to move $O_H
Example: log1oracle.dbf
LOG_FILE2#
Use: first redo log file name
General: $O_H/dbs/log2$O_S.dbf will hard code log file (you will
not be able to move $O_H); setting to log2$O_S.dbf will allow you to move $O_H
Example: log2oracle.dbf
LOG_SIZE#
Use: initial log file size
General: numberK, numberM
Example: no minimum, 500K default, no maximum (tune to your database needs)
MENU5PATH
Use: directory containing Menu 5.0 (TK I) resource files
General:
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/menu5/admin/resource
MM_RESOURCE*
Use: ?
General: $ORACLE_HOME/mm/admin/resource/US
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/mm/admin/resource/US
NLS_LANG
Use: National Language Support language, territory, and character set
General: language_territory.characterset
Example: american_american.us7ascii
NO_MAKE
Use: set to true if your system doesn’t have C dev tools (cc,make, ld, etc.)
General:
Example: false
ORACLE_BASE*
Use: new directory structure for Oracle 7 to follow Oracle Flexible Architecture
General: see ICG “Preparing to install Oracle Products”
Example: can be any directory
ORACLE_HELP
Use: directory containing help file?
General: $ORACLE_HOME/help/admin/resource
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/help/admin/resource
ORACLE_HOME
Use: dir containing top level Oracle directories
General: any directory with enough space
Example: /usr/oracle
ORACLE_ICON*
Use: dir containing icons for CDE tools
General: $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk2/admin/icon
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/guicommon/tk2/admin/icon
ORACLE_LPARGS
Use: which lp arguments to use for Easy*SQL,SQL*Calc,SQL*Forms,
SQL*Menu, SQL*Report, or SQL*ReportWriter
General:
Example: -c -s
ORACLE_LPPROG
Use: which lp command to use for Easy*SQL,SQL*Calc, SQL*Forms,
SQL*Menu, SQL*Report, or SQL*ReportWriter
General: lp, lpr, print
Example: lp
ORACLE_LPSTAT
Use: which lp status command to use
General: lpstat, lpq
Example: lpstat
ORACLE_OWNER
Use: UNIX Operating System usercode who owns the Oracle files
General: can be any user, default is oracle
Example: oracle
ORACLE_PAGER
Use: which UNIX pager to use (more, less, pg) in Oracle Products like SQL*Menu
General:
Example: more
ORACLE_PATH
Use: directory for reading and writing to and from SQL*Forms,
SQL*Menu 5.0, SQL*Plus
General: can be any directory (if not set, read and write from current directory)
Example: $HOME/oracle
ORACLE_SERVER#
Use: For client only installs
General: T if client only, F if there will be a local database
Example: T
ORACLE_SID
Use: Oracle System Identifier
General: must begin with a letter, followed by a number or
character; limited by some OS’s to 4 chars
Example: v712
ORACLE_TERM*
Use: Tool Kit II env var pointing to the tk2c${ORACLE_TERM}.res
file under $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/terminal (tk2c stands
for character toolkit2)
General: any file like tk2c${ORACLE_TERM}.res
Example: vt100
ORACLE_TERMINAL
Use: directory where the Tool Kit II .res files reside
General: $O_H/tk2/admin/terminal
Example: $O_H/tk2/admin/terminal
ORACLE_TRACE
Use: allow verification/trace to be turned on and off during
install (echoes everything done by sh)
General: T does set -x; anything else is off
Example: T
ORACLE_VERIFY
Use: if true, runs the .verify scripts during install
General: T; anything else is off
Example: T
ORACLE_DOC*
Use: points to directory containing on-line doc starting v7.0.16
General: to any directory containing online doc (file.obd)
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/doc
ORAENV_ASK
Use: if set to anything, prompts for $O_S or $O_H when (c)oraenv is invoked
General: NO or anything
Example: NO
ORAKITPATH
Use: set to directory containing the v1 orakit resource file
General: $ORACLE_HOME//admin/resource
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/forms30/admin/resource
ORAMAIL_EDITOR
Use: which editor to use for Oracle*Mail
General: vi, emacs, ed
Example: vi
ORANSEMS#
Use: number of semaphores that make up a set
General: 1-UNIX maximum
Example: 60
ORAPIPES*
Use: sets the default pipe driver to v1 or v2
General: v1, v2
Example: v2
ORATERMPATH
Use: directory containing Oraterm (TK I) resource files
General:
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/oraterm/admin/resource
PATCH_HOME
Use: directory containing patches and patch.list
General: any directory,$O_H/patch,$O_H/install/patch
Example: $ORACLE_HOME/install/patch
RT_STATUS
Use: directory for SQL*TextRetrieval V2.0 to find forms
General: can be any directory (if not set, read and write from current directory)
Example: $HOME/oracle
SDD_HOME
Use: directory containing top level CASE Dictionary directories
General: can be any directory containing top level CASE directories
Example: $O_H/dict50/admin
SDD_PRINT
Use: for CASE: set to UNIX print command to use
General: lp, lpr
Example: lp
SDD_WPRINT
Use: for CASE: set to UNIX print command to use for wide
General: lp, lpr
Example: lp
SQLPATH
Use: now superceded by $ORACLE_PATH
General: can be any directory (if not set, read and write from current directory)
Example: $HOME/oracle
SQLTR_STATUS
Use: directory for SQL*TextRetrieval V1.1 to find forms
General: can be any directory (if not set, read and write from current directory)
Example: $HOME/oracle
SRW_TMP
Use: directory to use for SQL*ReportWriter temporary files
General: any directory with >10M of disk space
Example: /usr/tmp
TK2DEV*
Use: version 7.0.12 only: Tool Kit II terminal resource file
General: vt100 portion from tk2_vt100.res
Example: vt100
TNS_ADMIN*
Use: directory containing SQL*Net v2 files
General: any dir (see manual for order followed–looks at /etc, $HOME, and $TNS_ADMIN
Example: $O_H/network/admin
TWO_TASK
Use: hoststring to use for SQL*Net v1
General: p:, f:, a:host:$O_S, d:host:$O_S, star:host:$O_S,
t:host:$O_S, tt:host:$O_S, x:host:$O_S
Example: t:host:oracle
UNIX Environment Variables Affecting Oracle
===========================================
ADA_PATH set to directory containing Ada compiler
ALSYCOMP_DIR set to directory containing Ada compiler
DISPLAY
Use: Tells X-based tools which Display to use
General: hostname:0.0
Example: fubar:0.0
HOME $HOME
LANG en_US, De_DE
LANGUAGE american_america
LDOPTS ld options for compiling
LDPATH directory containing shared object libraries
LD_LIBRARY_PATH directory containing shared object libraries
LOG when set to a filename, logs information from install session
LOGNAME logname or whoami
MALLOCTYPE 3.1, 3.2 for telling AIX which malloc type to use
NLSPATH OS directory containing language message files
NONAMESERVER
Use: For tcp/ip networks without a named server
General: 1 for no named server, 0 for named server
Example: 1
PATH $PATH
PRINTER
SHELL /bin/csh or /bin/sh
TERM any valid term: ansi, hft, hp, mac2, sun, xterm, vtxxx
TMPDIR some UNIX boxes allow /tmp to be renamed to $TMPDIR (any directory)
TZ sets local time zone
XENVIRONMENT set to file Orakit, or other X11 resource files
XAPPLRESDIR set to dir containing resource specifications file
Orakit, or other X11 resource files