[R] RODBC - problems connecting to oracle through linux

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008, Simon Collins wrote:

> Hi
>
> I'm presently trying to connect to Oracle through RODBC / UnixODBC on linux 
> (Red Hat 5). I've successfully connected through the easysoft drivers but the 
> trial license has run out and I'm trying to connect via the default Oracle 
> 11G driver. However I'm getting the following error
>
>> library(RODBC)
>> setwd (paste("/home/oracle/scripts/R"))
>> channel <- odbcConnect("test", uid="prod", pwd="passwd")
>
> *** caught segfault ***
> address (nil), cause 'memory not mapped'
>
> Traceback:
> 1: .Call(C_RODBCDriverConnect, as.character(connection), id, 
> as.integer(believeNRows))
> 2: odbcDriverConnect(st, ...)
> 3: odbcConnect("test", uid = "prod", pwd = "passwd")
> aborting ...
>
> The below shows the changes in the odbcinst.ini file.
>
>
> [ORACLE]
> Description             = Easysoft ODBC Oracle Driver
> #Driver         = /usr/local/easysoft/oracle/libesoracle.so
> Driver          = /u01/app/oracle/product/11.1.0/db_1/lib/libsqora.so.11.1
> #Setup          = /usr/local/easysoft/oracle/libesoraclesetup.so
> DontDLClose             = 1
> FileUsage               = 2
>
>
> Can anyone point me to what I'm doing wrong?

The short answer is no, but running under gdb and getting a backtrace will 
show what is going wrong.

My experience suggestst that this is almost certainly a bug in the ODBC 
driver.  (RODBC asks the driver for more info than most applications, and 
that often stresses badly written drivers.)  So it is very likely that you 
are doing nothing wrong, but one of your tools is letting you down.

>
> Version of R = R version 2.8.0 (2008-10-20)
>
> Cheers
>
> Simon
>
> Dr S J Collins
> Grid data consultant
> University Manchester
>
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-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595