Bug#1016992: libdbd-oracle-perl: Built against unsupported Oracle Instant Client 12.1

[Daniel Lewart]

Package: libdbd-oracle-perl
Version: 1.80-3
Severity: normal

Debian Perl Group,

OIC = Oracle Instant Client

libdbd-oracle-perl has been built against OIC 12.1
since version 1.66-1 (Aug 30, 2013).

Oracle's "Release Schedule of Current Database Releases":
https://support.oracle.com/knowledge/Oracle%20Database%20Products/742060_1.html
says "Patching End Dates" are:
* 12.1 - Jul 31, 2022
* 19c - Apr 30, 2024
* 21c - Apr 30, 2024

Upstream DBD::Oracle 1.81 introduced support for OIC 21.

Could the following two changes be made?
1) Import upstream version 1.83
2) Build against OIC 19c (Version 19.16) or 21c (Version 21.7)

However, two problems remain:
1) Bookworm will be supported well beyond Apr 30, 2024
2) Oracle may release higher 19.xx and 21.x versions

Perhaps the only solution is for the user to build from source?

Thank you!
Daniel Lewart
Urbana, Illinois

[Alex Muntada]

Hi Daniel,

> libdbd-oracle-perl has been built against OIC 12.1
> since version 1.66-1 (Aug 30, 2013).
>
> Oracle's "Release Schedule of Current Database Releases":
> https://support.oracle.com/knowledge/Oracle%20Database%20Products/742060_1.html
> says "Patching End Dates" are:
> * 12.1 - Jul 31, 2022
> * 19c - Apr 30, 2024
> * 21c - Apr 30, 2024

Thanks for sharing that URL above. After reading it, let me
expand on the support details for the record of this bug:

* 12.1.0.2 (Terminal Release) "Patching End Dates":
- Jul 31, 2022 with paid ES, ULA, or EBS waiver
- Dec 31, 2023 (with a Custom Market Driven Support Contract)
* 19c (Long Term Release)
- April 30, 2025 with no ES/ULA
(see that you wrote **2024** here!)
- April 30, 2027 with ES/ULA
* 21c (Innovation Release)
- April 30, 2024

> Upstream DBD::Oracle 1.81 introduced support for OIC 21.
>
> Could the following two changes be made?
> 1) Import upstream version 1.83
> 2) Build against OIC 19c (Version 19.16) or 21c (Version 21.7)
>
> However, two problems remain:
> 1) Bookworm will be supported well beyond Apr 30, 2024
> 2) Oracle may release higher 19.xx and 21.x versions

Seeing the above end dates, my bet is on 19c right now for two
reasons: 1) is the longest supported version right now, and 2)
is a Long Term Release, which means that they may extend its
support longer as they did with 12.1.

Cheers,
Alex

--
⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Alex Muntada <al...@debian.org>
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋ Debian Developer 🍥 log.alexm.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[Alex Muntada]

Hi Daniel, last time I said:

> Seeing the above end dates, my bet is on 19c right now for two
> reasons: 1) is the longest supported version right now, and 2)
> is a Long Term Release, which means that they may extend its
> support longer as they did with 12.1.

It turns out that 19.18 was released this month for x86_64
(amd64), but not for x86 (i386), which remains at 19.17.

Since having the deps for amd64 and i386 differ was a bad idea,
and after noticing that from release 21 onwards the package name
has no release number included, I decided to upgrade OCI deps to
release 21.