Oracle 10R2 on Mac OS X

I wanted to install Oracle 10.2 on Mac OS X 10.6.6 64Bit and found a couple of issues that you might encounter as well. I could not get it to link the Oracle binaries, so this is all a bit moot, for the moment. Will post as soon as I have found a solution for that - I use db2 instead, also a post on installing db2 on darwin in the works.

First of all, create the users and groups as described in the installation instructions:
1. find free id's for groups:

dscl . -list /groups gid | awk '{print $2}' | sort -n

2. find free id's for oracle user:

dscl . -list /users uid | awk '{print $2}' | sort -n

I used uid/gid's 300, 301, 301 for oracle and oinstall, dba, oper, respectively

3. create the groups

dscl . -create /groups/oinstall
dscl . -append /groups/oinstall gid 300
dscl . -append /groups/oinstall passwd "*"


dscl . -create /groups/dba
dscl . -append /groups/dba gid 301
dscl . -append /groups/dba passwd "*"
dscl . -append /groups/dba GroupMembership hans

dscl . -create /groups/oper
dscl . -append /groups/oper gid 302
dscl . -append /groups/oper passwd "*"
dscl . -append /groups/oper GroupMembership hans

4. create the oracle user

You could also use system preferences to create the user, in which case you only have to execute the last three of the dscl commands.

dscl . -create /users/oracle
dscl . -append /users/oracle uid 300
dscl . -append /users/oracle shell /bin/bash
dscl . -append /users/oracle home /Users/oracle
dscl . -append /users/oracle realname "Oracle software owner"

dscl . -append /users/oracle gid 302
dscl . -append /groups/dba GroupMembership oracle
dscl . -append /groups/dba GroupMembership hans

mkdir /Volumes/oracle
chown oracle:oinstall /Volumes/oracle
passwd oracle

5. Next, specify the kernel parameters:

I created a file named /etc/sysctl.conf with the following contents:

kern.sysv.semmsl=87381
kern.sysv.semmns=87381
kern.sysv.semmni=87381
kern.sysv.semmnu=87381
kern.sysv.semume=10
kernel.shmall=2097152
kernel.sys.shmmax=2147483648
kernel.sys.shmmni=4096
kern.maxfiles=65536
kern.maxfilesperproc=65536
net.inet.ip.portrange.first=1024
net.inet.ip.portrange.last=65000
kern.corefile=core
kern.maxproc=2068
kern.maxprocperuid=2068

6. Reboot, log on as oracle
In terminal, you want to start the 32bit Java VM:
Run:

java -version

If java -version shows it is running a 64Bit JVM, you need the 32Bit one:

./runInstaller -J-d32

I got the following error when trying to start runInstaller with the 64Bit JVM:

Install2011-02-08_07-12-16AM/oui/lib/mac_osx/liboraInstaller.dylib:  no suitable image found.  Did find:  /private/tmp/OraInstall2011-02-08_07-12-16AM/oui/lib/mac_osx/liboraInstaller.dylib: mach-o, but wrong architecture

Sony Ericsson Xperia and PC Suite or Outlook

My partner had a Sony Ericesson 850i, or something similar. I made her create a backup of that phone about a year ago. Last week she lost it and got an SE Xperia 10. Since she lost her sim with her old phone, she ordered a new one, but lost all her contacts, or so she thought ...

Her phone came with "Sony Ericsson PC Suite 6.0", so that is what I used to make a backup.

I connected her 850i phone and did not mount it!!! Once I opened PC Suite, I went to "Tools > Backup n Restore" and created a backup.

When I open PC Suite now and click on "Backup n Restore" I see the backup that was made. If I click "Modify properties of the backup" (Sorry, the translation might vary, I have it in French) a properties-like dialog opens, and I can see the location of the backup, I click the browse button next to the location path and an explorer window opens with the backup.

Here comes the magic! So, opening the "dbk" file with notepad, I notice it is a pkzip file or, in other words, a simple ZIP file. I make a copy of it, for safety, named "Copie de 20100627.zip" ... excuse my French, it is a French OS.

This I can open in Windows, the first things I see is "contacts.vcf", which like its name suggests, contains all the contacts that were in the 850i. The first thing I do is, I drag this file onto the desktop, go into Outlook, Click "File > Import Export" and choose "Import a VCF file" and browse to the file.

The real pain is, for some weird reason, Outlook does not display contacts that do not have an email address .... but they are there! To make sure, just export your contacts into a CSV file - you'll notice that unlike most email clients, you cannot export your contacts into vcf file - Outlook is an evil piece of crap, don't start using it, if you can help it!!!!

This contacts.vcf you can also import into gmail, then sync you phone with gmail. In gmail, go to "Contacts", then "Import Contacts", click "Choose a file" and navigate to your VCF file, optionally choose a group name and click import.

For those upset about putting their contacts into gmail, the other option with this android, from what I have seen using it for 5 minutes, is sony ericsson's website ... don't ask me what is worse, I do not know.