install/configure OCI8, Instant Client, php 5.3.1

[allmessedup]

Hello,

 

I'm running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.3 with php 5.3.1, apache 2.2.14, and mysql 5.1.42.  I'm trying to install/configure the OCI8 extension so that our database admin can run queries on an Oracle database.  I believe that php was installed from RPMs because I can't find the source directory (it should be in /usr/src, right?).  So, I'm trying to find a way to get OCI8 working without having to uninstall the RPMs and install php from source.  I'm a newbie when it comes to php, so I don't want to hose things up if I can avoid it.  From what I've read, I think I found a way around this problem, but would like to know if someone can verify it for me before I proceed.

 

According to this, I should first install Instant Client Basic:  http://us.php.net/manual/en/oci8.requirements.php

 

Then, since I can't run ./configure on php (again, because I believe it was installed from RPM) I should be able to do a manual install from PECL, according to the section titled "Installing OCI8 from PECL" here:  http://us.php.net/manual/en/oci8.installation.php

 

And the PECL .tgz that I need should be one of these:  http://www.pecl.php.net/package/oci8

 

Then again, I read that php 5.3 comes with OCI8, so perhaps these instructions are only for users with older versions of php?

 

Does the procedure that I outlined look right, or am I going about it all wrong?  Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

Dan