3. Install Sybase

Download the Sybase-ASE files from linux.sybase.com. Sybase-ASE 11.0.3.3 is free for production. This howto refers to that version.

First, install the Sybase RPMS as root:

    # rpm -ivh sybase-ase-11_0_3_3-6_i386.rpm
    # rpm -ivh sybase-doc-11_0_3_3-6_i386.rpm
    # rpm -ivh sybase-ocsd-10_0_4-6_i386.rpm

For information on how to configure Sybase, read the instructions in the file /opt/sybase/doc/howto/howto-ase-quickstart.html. This document is very good, so we shouldn't need any more information here.

Hint: After you have installed the sample database and run a select against it, you can stop following the instructions. The rest of the howto goes on to uninstall the sample database, but we want to keep it for testing later.

NOTE: Some people have reported problems with the way the Sybase init scripts try to guess the Sybase directory. If you see the following error:
export: sybase-ase-11.0.3.3: not a legal variable name
when trying to run sybinstall.sh, then you need to edit the sybinstall.sh. Open the script and find the following lines (around line 104):
# export SYBASE=/opt/sybase export SYBASE=`rpm -q --queryformat \ '%{installprefix}\n' sybase-ase-11.0.3.3`
Change these lines so they look like this:
export SYBASE=/opt/sybase #export SYBASE=`rpm -q --queryformat \ # '%{installprefix}\n' sybase-ase-11.0.3.3`
This hardcodes the SYBASE path to /opt/sybase. If you did install Sybase somewhere non-standard and you get this error, you will have to change this path to point to your Sybase directory.