DPI-1047 persists with Python 3.12 + Instant Client 21.x in Docker #539
Description
DPI-1047: Cannot locate 64-bit Oracle Client in Docker container with Instant Client 21.19
I am experiencing the same issue described in issue #243: when using oracledb.init_oracle_client(lib_dir=...) inside a Docker container, I get the error:
1. Versions
- Oracle Database: legacy clients (various versions that do not accept Thick mode)
- Oracle Instant Client: 21.19
- Python: 3.12.9
- python-oracledb: latest available (1.x)
- OS: Debian Bookworm base image in Docker
- Docker container: airflow 2.10.5 official
2. Type of issue
Error (not a crash or hang)
3. Error(s) or behavior
running:
python3 -c "import oracledb; oracledb.init_oracle_client(lib_dir='/opt/oracle/instantclient_21_19')"
Produces:
oracledb.exceptions.DatabaseError: DPI-1047: Cannot locate a 64-bit Oracle Client library: "/opt/oracle/instantclient_21_19/libclntsh.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory"
Even after:
• Setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/oracle/instantclient_21_19:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
• Installing libaio1 and libnsl-dev
• Running tests as root or airflow user inside the container
• Verifying with file that libclntsh.so.21.1 is ELF 64-bit
4. Does your application call init_oracle_client()?
import oracledb oracledb.init_oracle_client(lib_dir="/opt/oracle/instantclient_21_19")
5. Minimal Python script to reproduce
`import oracledb
Initialize Oracle client
oracledb.init_oracle_client(lib_dir="/opt/oracle/instantclient_21_19")
Test connection (replace with actual DSN)
conn = oracledb.connect(user="user", password="pass", dsn="host:1521/service")
cur = conn.cursor()
cur.execute("SELECT 1 FROM dual")
print(cur.fetchone())`
6. Additional notes
• The issue appears specifically in Docker containers with Python >= 3.12.
• Running ldd on libclntsh.so.21.1 returns “not a dynamic executable”.
• Likely a compatibility problem with how python-oracledb finds libraries in some Docker environments.
• Important: The databases being connected to do not accept Thick mode connections, so Thin mode is not an option for some legacy clients.
• Observation: The same code runs successfully on Windows with the same Instant Client version without any issues. This seems to indicate the problem is specific to the Linux/Docker environment.