SQL*Plus 10.2.0.1 Hangs, When System Uptime Is Long Period of Time (Doc ID 338461.1)

Last updated on DECEMBER 25, 2019

Applies to:

Symptoms

Trying to invoke SQL*Plus hangs when machine uptime has been for a long period of time.  There have been cases where problem occurs when uptime reaches 60 days and others as long as 248 days.

Database connection is not relevant as the 'sqlplus' executable itself hangs with or without connection information. It hangs regardless of what parameters are passed in.  For example:

   sqlplus -V

However, the hang does not reproduce with Instant Client version 10.1.0.4

Generating a stack trace using gdb debugger shows:

#0 0x0048a0dd in times () from /lib/tls/libc.so.6
#1 0x01884599 in sltrgatime64 () from ./libclntsh.so.10.1
#2 0x0137d70f in kghinp () from ./libclntsh.so.10.1
#3 0x00f86b47 in kpuinit0 () from ./libclntsh.so.10.1
#4 0x00f85e7a in kpuenvcr () from ./libclntsh.so.10.1
#5 0x01051b5e in OCIEnvCreate () from ./libclntsh.so.10.1
#6 0x0099787e in afidrv () from ./libsqlplus.so
#7 0x009702b9 in safimTerminate () from ./libsqlplus.so
#8 0x0098c246 in afidrv () from ./libsqlplus.so
#9 0x080486f6 in main ()

Running STRACE tool shows:

$ strace $ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus -V 2>&1 |less
......
old_mmap(NULL, 385024, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x41794000
gettimeofday({1122996561, 411035}, NULL) = 0
access("<DIR>/conf/sqlnet.ora", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("<DIR>/lib/oracle/network/admin/sqlnet.ora", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("<DIR>/conf/sqlnet.ora", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
access("<DIR>/lib/oracle/network/admin/sqlnet.ora", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
fcntl64(-1218313656, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = -1 EBADF (Bad file descriptor)
times(NULL) = -1825782405
times(NULL) = -1825782405
times(NULL) = -1825782405
times(NULL) = -1825782405
times(NULL) = -1825782405
times(NULL) = -1825782405
times(NULL) = -1825782405

It is looping on the times() function.

In addition to sqlplus, it has been reported that the netca and dbca tools also hang.

Changes

This may happen with a new installation of Instant Client 10.2.0.1.0 or Oracle 10.2.0.1.0 on UNIX platform, or it can just occur after some period of time with no other changes.

Cause

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