Seems a bit strange that you'd want to connect to an Oracle database but you don't have the Oracle client software. Can't the people who own the database supply you with a copy?

Here's one suggestion to get round it. I haven't tried it, so I've no idea if it will work. You could try to set up some kind of DBD::Proxy/DBI::ProxyServer relay, with DBI::ProxyServer set up on a server that has the Oracle client installed (perhaps even the Oracle server) and DBD::Proxy installed on your local machine.

Not strange at all. The Oracle client kit (at least for 8.1.7 which is what I am using) allows you to work with perl 5.6. So my main production servers are all at 5.6. I would give my right arm to be able to obtain a DBD::Oracle for 5.8.x (ActiveState, as the db server is running on Win32).

I use DBD::Proxy to connnect to the database from FreeBSD machines and it works perfectly, but the performance is pretty awful. Fortunately there's not a lot of traffic that goes through that pipe.

DBD::ODBC a reasonable way to get to 5.8, but it can't match DBD::Oracle in terms of performance. A couple of years ago I heard noises of Oracle and AS coming to an agreement about distributing an DBD::Oracle for 5.8 but I don't think anything ever came of it.

The only legitimate way forward is to compile AS Perl and compile my own DBD::Oracle. This would work, since I have the required headers and libraries. But while I'm quite at home building perl on Unix, the thought of building perl on Windows gives me the Phear.

oh, and getting back to the OP's question, yes, I'm pretty sure having a client is a must, since DBD::Oracle makes calls into libraries supplied by Oracle.

• another intruder with the mooring in the heart of the Perl

I recently finished installing DBD::Oracle at work (on Linux but it should be the same for MS) and my observation is that you do need a client installed for the final result to work.

For this particular case I compiled DBD::Oracle as an rpm on one box for installation on another box (target box has no compilers). I was able to compile against the 10g Instant client so there was no need to do a full blown oracle-installer umpteen MB client install. In the end, installing it on the target box was as easy as installing the (required) instant client and DBD::Oracle rpms.

IIRC the 10g client should work fine for connecting to an 8.1.7 database.

An alternative to davorg's suggestion is to set up ODBC and using DBD::ODBC.

You may still need some drivers installing to get this to work.