oraInst.loc
oraInst.loc stores Oracle product inventory path and installation group. For different OS, the location of oraInst.loc could vary.
Here is the list to show Oracle oraInst.loc location in some operating systems.
| Operating System | oraInst.loc Location |
|---|---|
| Linux |
|
| AIX |
|
| HP/UX |
|
| Solaris |
|
| Windows | There's no such oraInst.loc, because it uses registry to keep all necessary information about Oracle database(s). Oracle registry inst_loc specifically stores the location of inventory. |
After a quick glance, we can explain them in more details now.
Windows Platform Explained
After we open registry editor, we navigate the registry path to:
The registry of Oracle inventory location is called inst_loc and it looks like this:
Oracle Registries on Windows - Inventory Location
As we can see, the inventory location is at C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory which is the default value.
Linux and Unix Platform Explained
There're 3 oraInst.loc files. The first one is owned by root, which is created by running /u01/app/oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh during the post-installation phase of Oracle software.
The second one is owned by oracle which is more important and usually used by OPatch utility.
As for the third one, we haven't discovered any usage yet, it could be the very initial file for copy, please leave a comment if you know it.
What I'm trying to say is that if you moved Oracle central inventory to another place, then you should update those files afterwards.