Friday, June 21, 2013

Where's SCOTT?

The database on the Developer Days Database App VBox appliance doesn't have the SCOTT schema. This is fair enough, as the sample schemas aren't include by default any more (for security reasons, obviously). I know the official sample schemas used in the documentation - HR, OE, and so on - are more realistic and useful for developing prototypes. But nothing beats the simplicity of SCOTT.EMP for explaining something in an online forum.

So, where is the script for building the SCOTT schema?

Back in the day it was part of the SQL*Plus build: $ORACLE_HOME/sqlplus/demo/demobld.sql (or something, I'm doing this from memory). But in 11gR2 there are no demo scripts in the sqlplus sub-directory. This was also probably the case in 10g but I never had occasion to look for it on that platform. Anyway, in 11gR2 its location is $ORACLE_HOME/admin/rdbms/utlsampl.sql.

Presumably Oracle have obscured it because they want everybody to stop using SCOTT and standardise on the modern samples. But this schema is part of the Oracle heritage. It should have Grade II listed status.

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