8.1.6 and 8.1.7 require a particilar JRE be installed. Download jre118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar.bz2 (not a newer version). This jre is hard to come by these days but can currently be downloaded from vim. Download it and execute the following commands as root.
mv jre118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar.bz2 /usr/local
cd /usr/local
bunzip2 jre118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar.bz2
tar xf jre118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar
ln -s jre118_v3 java
rm jre118_v3-glibc-2.1.3.tar
Now, log in as the oracle user.
Since Oracle 8.1.6 and 8.1.7 use a graphical installer, you need to be running X Windows or point the DISPLAY environment variable to an X Windows session running somewhere.
I have had problems with the graphical installer on enlightenment and fluxbox window managers in the past, though they may work for you.
Installing Oracle 8.1.7 tends to be easy and painless. If you have a CD, mount it and cd to the mount point. If you have a tar.gz distribution, extract it using tar xfz and cd to the Disk1 directory created by the extraction.
Type ./runInstallerOn the Welcome screen click Next
On the File Locations screen...
Check the Destination, it should be the same as the ORACLE_HOME Environment variable.
Click Next
On the Available Products screen...
Select Oracle8i Enterprise Edition 8.1.7
Click Next
On the Installation Types screen
Select Typical
Click Next
On the Database Identification screen...
Enter ora1 for Global Database Name and SID
Click Next
On the Database File Location screen...
For Directory for Database Files enter /u01
Click Next
On the Choose JDK Home Directory screen...
For Enter JDK Home enter /usr/local/java
Click Next
On the Summary screen click Install
The Install screen will show the installation progress
If you get an error such as "Error invoking target install of makefile /u01/app/oracle/product8/8.1.7/ctx/lib/ins_ctx.mk", switch to another screen and edit the file /u01/app/oracle/product8/8.1.7/ctx/lib/env_ctx.mk. Search for a line starting with INSO_LINK and append $(LDLIBFLAG)dl to the end of the line. Then click Retry.
At the end of the installation, a Dialog will pop up asking you to run root.sh. Just follow the directions on the dialog and click Ok
On the Configuration Tools screen, the Net8 Configuration Dialog will pop up
Check Perform typical configuration
Click Next
A dialog will pop up indicating that a database is being created
After a while, a dialog will pop up indicating that database creation completed
Click Ok On the End Of Installation screen click Exit
On the Do you really want to exit? dialog click Yes
