Oracle SQL Developer on Ubuntu 10.04 and 12

After messing about for a couple of days using folders, SQLPlus and my own sad excuse for code-control, I decided to download Oracle SQL Developer and learn to use it. My big issue though, is that I use Ubuntu Linux on my desktop (Ubuntu 12) and my laptop (Ubuntu 10.04), so it was always going to be an interesting build.

I've put off this installation since moving from Windows as I knew some people had issues with the de-support of the JRE on Ubuntu by Oracle. After messing about using several different web sites and having to change my translations from forum sites (not everyone has English as their first language!) into hard instructions, I finally got it working on my laptop.

I filtered the instructions into a file then ran them against my desktop. I had one small edit and the result is here for you to have.

Let me know if it helps.

Phiz

1. Sign up with Oracle Technical Network and go to download page - http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer/downloads/index.html
2. Accept License Agreement
3. Use link Oracle SQL Developer for other platforms (This zip does not include a JDK) for download.
4. Use Ubuntu Software Center and download and install Java (as Oracle no longer provide a JRE for Ubuntu, use java-6-openjdk)
5. Edit the ~/.bash_profile file and include the following two lines:
   export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun
   export PATH=$PATH:$JAVA_HOME/bin
6. Create a directory in home directory to hold the binaries – mine was /home/phiz/sqldeveloper
7. Copy the downloaded file to the new directory
8. Unzip the file in the new directory unzipsqldeveloper-”version_number”-no-jre.zip
9. Change the privs on the directory and files

   $ chmod -R a+rwx sqldeveloper

10. Add the menu bar icon and make sure it works! Enter the following lines at the prompt as they are here:

    cat > sqldeveloper.desktop <<EOF

                 [Desktop Entry]
    

    Exec=/usr/local/SQLDev/sqldeveloper/sqldeveloper.sh %U

    Terminal=false

    StartupNotify=true

    Categories=GNOME;Oracle;

    Type=Application

    Icon=/usr/local/SQLDev/sqldeveloper/icon.png

    Name=Oracle SQL Developer

    EOF

11. Move to the source directory you created earlier:

    $ cd sqldeveloper 

12. Run the startup script
              ./sqldeveloper.sh 
13. At the prompt to add the location of Java I added my install location:
              /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk 

Bingo! Now you are running Oracle SQL Developer.

I'd be pleased to have your feedback.