Thanks folks, i got it. Our Basis folks put the Oracle Instant Client location in the front of my LD_LIBRARY_PATH and LIBPATH. I've modified those paths and now I get the expected results. Really appreciate the help. Stimulated my brain and got me moving in the right direction. Sixth Law: A working example is worth a thousand manual pages. On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 12:20 PM, Bobak, Mark <Mark.Bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote: > David, > > > > One thing you could try, which may help, if you know how to interpret it, > is to do a trace on sqlplus. > > > > <trace_cmd> sqlplus > > > > Where <trace_cmd> is strace, or truss, or tusc, or something like that….not > sure what the command is for AIX. It may reveal what's going on, but, > again, the output may not be very readable, particularly if you've never > used it before. > > > > -Mark > > > > *-- > Mark J. Bobak* > *Senior Database Administrator, System & Product Technologies* > ProQuest > 789 E. Eisenhower, Parkway, P.O. Box 1346 > Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 > +1.734.997.4059 or +1.800.521.0600 x 4059 > mark.bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mark.bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > www.proquest.com > www.csa.com > > *ProQuest...*Start here. > > > > *From:* oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto: > oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *David Barbour > *Sent:* Tuesday, November 04, 2008 12:09 PM > *To:* nigel.cl.thomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx > *Cc:* ORACLE-L > *Subject:* Re: Somewhat Perplexed - Very Sheepish - Totally > Ignorant:SQPLUS after 10.2.0.4 Upgrade > > > > Rats! > > orapr1@r3prdci1>which sqlplus > > /oracle/PR1/920_64/bin/sqlplus > > orapr1@r3prdci1>whence sqlplus > > /oracle/PR1/102_64/bin/sqlplus > > orapr1@r3prdci1>sqlplus > > > > SQL*Plus: Release *10.2.0.4.0* - Production on Tue Nov 4 11:33:50 2008 > > > > And I tried the whole thing on the QA server (which was upgraded at the > beginning of September and I have the same issue. Ditto with the > development server that was upgraded in August. Interestingly enough, I do > not have the issue on our 'new' sandbox. > > orasbx@sapsand>sqlplus / as sysdba > > SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Tue Nov 4 12:07:14 2008 > > Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All Rights Reserved. > > > Connected to: > Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit > Production > With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing > options > > SQL> !ls > 102_64 sapbackup > Mail sapcheck > SAPupg sapdata1 > brconnect_091708_1458.log sapdata2 > dead.letter sapdata3 > mbox sapdata4 > mirrlogA sapreorg > mirrlogB saptrace > oraInventory smit.log > oraarch smit.script > origlogA smit.transaction > origlogB sqlnet.log > saparch upgrade > > SQL> > > Now at least I have a known 'good' set of pathing and variables to check > against. > > On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 10:21 AM, David Barbour <david.barbour1@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote: > > Bingo. > > orapr1@r3prdci1>which sqlplus > /oracle/PR1/920_64/bin/sqlplus > > > Now the problem is why the heck is that still in the path. I suspect it > has to do with our AIX Systems Administrators and their invocation of HACMP > (which was dismantled but all the scripts left in place). > > orapr1@r3prdci1>echo $PATH > > /oracle/PR1/102_64/bin:/usr/sap/PR1/SYS/exe/run:/usr/bin:/etc:/usr/sbin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin/X11:/sbin:/usr/java14/jre/bin:/usr/java14/bin:/usr/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin:/usr/tivoli/tsm/client/oracle/bin64:/usr/local/scripts:/usr/local/scripts/operator:/opt/CA/UnicenterNSM/atech/services/bin > > > > > On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 3:41 AM, Nigel Thomas < > nigel.cl.thomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > David > > > > None of your tests so far show you which directory you are actually in. It > is possible that some kind soul has put a sqlplus shell script earlier in > the PATH than the Oracle sqlplus executable which does something like: > > > > cd some-directory > > $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/bin/sqlplus > > > > So: to check this, you try the following: > > > > orapr1@r3prdci1> *which sqlplus* > > > > On most unixes *which* should tell you if you have a script in the way > (and where it is hiding). > > > > Otherwise, try > > > > orapr1@r3prdci1> *pwd* > > > > orapr1@r3prdci1> *sqlplus user/pass* > > SQL>* !pwd* > > > > Are you in the same directory as before? > > > > Another way you could end up in a different directory is if your shell (eg > ksh) runs a login, .profile, or other startup file (like .bashrc) which > includes a *cd* command. Check *man ksh* for the files that are executed > when you launch a new shell. > > > > HTH > > > > Regards Nigel > > > > > > >