Compiling and installing DBD::Oracle on Linux requires that the Oracle OCI needs to be installed. Basically its the oracle C libraries and header files. These are located on the oracle install media, but are only visible under the advanced install options.

So yes, some oracle stuff needs to be installed before you can use DBD::Oracle, but there will not be an oracle server running on your linux box and it will not require an oracle license (unless youre under oracle client licensing).

L