Oracle's instructions specify setting DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH. This makes my application dependent on random users' configuration and is very troublesome to set up.
How can I avoid having to set any environment variables?
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/oci/instantclient/htdocs/intel_macsoft.html
related note for linux: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/764871
Oracle's instantclient installation instructions specify that the user set DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH. This is very troublesome to manage for multiple users.
To use the instantclient without setting any environment variables:
Download the instantclient distribution from oracle.com. For doing non-java software development, you will need (assuming Oracle 10.2):
instantclient-basic-macosx-10.2.0.4.0.zip
instantclient-sdk-macosx-10.2.0.4.0.zip
instantclient-sqlplus-macosx-10.2.0.4.0.zip
Unzip the three files. This will give you a directory
instantclient_10_2/
Copy the files to /usr, which is one of the default places the dynamic loader searches.
sudo cp instantclient_10_2/sdk/include/*.h /usr/include
sudo cp instantclient_10_2/sqlplus /usr/bin
sudo cp instantclient_10_2/*.dylib /usr/lib
If you use tnsnames.ora, copy it to /etc, which is the default global place the oracle runtime searches.
sudo cp tnsnames.ora /etc
Test with
/usr/bin/sqlplus scott/tiger@myoracle