Problem: Installing Informix Client on Debian

haertig · 05-08-2007, 06:14 PM

I've "pretty much" gotten Informix Client installed (see installation details below) on my Debian (Sarge) box, but I'm getting an error message when trying to run a simple test: /opt/informix/bin/esql. This returns a usage message, followed by:

Quote:

Invalid serial number. Check your installation instructions.

I think the problem is that the Informix download for Linux assumes everyone uses an rpm-based distro. I have read the instructions many times, and followed them as closely as possible, except to the adjustment I had to make for Debian's non-rpm package management.

Here's what I did (all as 'root'):

Code:

Downloaded clientsdk.2.90.UC4.LINUX.tar and untarred that to /opt/informix.
Set $INFORMIXDIR to /opt/informix and exported
Added $INFORMIXDIR/bin to the front of $PATH and exported
Found that ./installclientsdk failed with rpm errors
Ditto for ./install_rpm
Downloaded and installed rpm and alien from official Debian repo
Looked at install_rpm script, found that it does some verifications, and then:
  rpm -i --nodeps --force --prefix /opt/informix message.rpm
  rpm -i --nodeps --force --prefix /opt/informix gls.rpm
  rpm -i --nodeps --force --prefix /opt/informix clientsdkcontent.rpm
Commented out those rpm lines, leaving the rest of the script intact
Ran ./install_rpm -acceptlicense=yes
Ran alien -i message.rpm
Ran alien -i gls.rpm
Ran alien -i clientsdkcontent.rpm

After the above, all looked to be what I'd expect in my /opt/informix directory. But I get the "Invalid serial number" error message. I've done this install successfully several times on Solaris boxes, but never on a Linux one. (On Solaris, the installclientsdk works, but this doesn't on Debian.)

So what am I missing? Given the error message, I'm assuming it's something in the license agreement step possibly.

haertig · 05-26-2007, 05:03 PM

Not exactly the Debian way of doing things, but it worked:

Code:

apt-get install rpm
mkdir /var/lib/rpm
rpm --initdb
rpm -qa
cd $INFORMIXDIR
./install_rpm -acceptlicense=yes

Looks like what I was missing was just letting rpm do it's thing. I was trying to convert packages from rpm->deb using alien, and then use Debian's native package management. I guess it's sometimes better to just give up and use rpm directly. Sigh.