PHP oci8 installation fails on openSUSE - linux

Question

Running on openSUSE Leap 15 with php8
pecl install oci8
I got this console output:
downloading oci8-3.2.1.tgz ...
Starting to download oci8-3.2.1.tgz (190,781 bytes)
.........................................done: 190,781 bytes
13 source files, building
running: phpize
Configuring for:
PHP Api Version: 20210902
Zend Module Api No: 20210902
Zend Extension Api No: 420210902
Please provide the path to the ORACLE_HOME directory. Use 'instantclient,/path/to/instant/client/lib' if you're compiling with Oracle Instant Client [autodetect] : /path/to/instant/client/lib
building in /tmp/pear/temp/pear-build-rootdGCc7O/oci8-3.2.1
running: /tmp/pear/temp/oci8/configure --with-php-config=/usr/bin/php-config --with-oci8=/path/to/instant/client/lib
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /usr/bin/grep
checking for egrep... /usr/bin/grep -E
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /usr/bin/sed
checking for pkg-config... /usr/bin/pkg-config
checking pkg-config is at least version 0.9.0... yes
checking for cc... cc
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking for suffix of executables...
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether cc accepts -g... yes
checking for cc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking how to run the C preprocessor... cc -E
checking for icc... no
checking for suncc... no
checking for system library directory... lib
checking if compiler supports -Wl,-rpath,... yes
checking build system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking target system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking for PHP prefix... /usr
checking for PHP includes... -I/usr/include/php8 -I/usr/include/php8/main -I/usr/include/php8/TSRM -I/usr/include/php8/Zend -I/usr/include/php8/ext -I/usr/include/php8/ext/date/lib
checking for PHP extension directory... /usr/lib64/php8/extensions
checking for PHP installed headers prefix... /usr/include/php8
checking if debug is enabled... no
checking if zts is enabled... no
checking for gawk... gawk
checking for Oracle Database OCI8 support... yes, shared
checking PHP version... 8.1.12, ok
checking OCI8 DTrace support... no
checking size of long... 8
checking if we're at 64-bit platform... yes
checking Oracle ORACLE_HOME install directory... /path/to/instant/client/lib
checking ORACLE_HOME library validity... configure: error: /path/to/instant/client/lib is not a directory
ERROR: `/tmp/pear/temp/oci8/configure --with-php-config=/usr/bin/php-config --with-oci8=/path/to/instant/client/lib' failed
What this issue is about?
The oracle db is running in a docker container:
docker run -d -p 49161:1521 oracleinanutshell/oracle-xe-11g

Answer 1

I assume you are installing PHP on the same machine as the database.
Do you actually see the text /path/to/instant/client/lib or did you obfuscate something? Did you enter text when prompted for the path? Make sure you set valid values for ORACLE_HOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH before running pecl if you are letting things default. With XE 11.2 do this by running
source /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/bin/oracle_env.sh
(With other versions of the DB you would use source /usr/local/bin/oraenv).
Finally, why use Oracle XE 11.2 when you can use version 21. Try docker pull docker.io/gvenzl/oracle-xe:21-slim
If you are running PHP on a different container to the database container, don't forget to install Oracle Instant Client.