Install Oracle-XE on incus/debian13

TL;DR

wget https://oss.oracle.com/debian/dists/unstable/non-free/binary-i386/oracle-xe_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb
dpkg --add-architecture "i386"
apt-get update
apt install libc:i386
wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/liba/libaio/libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb
apt install ./libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb
/etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure

Intro

I had to install on some local incus instance an oracle db server. Just to test a storage procedure behavior with a Springboot(c) backend. I remembered had already done that years ago on a local debian box to test my vscode plugin but didn’t figure out the details anymore. So I’ve searched and find out the (great) post of Todd Trichler on oracle.com/articles and I immediatly recognized the one I’d followed at hte time to succeed in. So I mark it now as personal reference.

My first attempt to install a db oracle Free (sic - it still seems weird to place oracle and free in the same sentence) lead me to this two websites:

26ai free 26ai
eXpress Edition XE

The first is still distributed at this time under rpm packages for redhat/CentOS, oralinux or suze.

For a quick test, the express edition appeared perfect.

Download packages

So I downloaded the package:

root@ora:~# wget https://oss.oracle.com/debian/dists/unstable/non-free/binary-i386/oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb
--2025-12-09 12:13:07--  https://oss.oracle.com/debian/dists/unstable/non-free/binary-i386/oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb
Resolving oss.oracle.com (oss.oracle.com)... 138.1.117.31
Connecting to oss.oracle.com (oss.oracle.com)|138.1.117.31|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Syntax error in Set-Cookie: HttpOnly;Secure at position 9.
Length: 262441286 (250M) [application/vnd.debian.binary-package]
Saving to: ‘oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb’

oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb   100%[========================================================================================>] 250.28M  11.2MB/s    in 23s     

2025-12-09 12:13:31 (10.7 MB/s) - ‘oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb’ saved [262441286/262441286]

and I temped a first try.

root@ora:~# apt install ./oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb 
Note, selecting 'oracle-xe-universal:i386' instead of './oracle-xe-universal_10.2.0.1-1.1_i386.deb'
Solving dependencies... Error!
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

Unsatisfied dependencies:
 oracle-xe-universal:i386 : Depends: libc6:i386 (>= 2.3.2) but it is not installable
                            Depends: libaio:i386 (>= 0.3.96) but it is not installable or
                                     libaio1:i386 (>= 0.3.96) but it is not installable
Error: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
Error: The following information from --solver 3.0 may provide additional context:
   Unable to satisfy dependencies. Reached two conflicting decisions:
   1. oracle-xe-universal:i386=10.2.0.1-1.1 is selected for install
   2. oracle-xe-universal:i386 Depends libc6:i386 (>= 2.3.2)
      but none of the choices are installable:
      [no choices]

Needed libraries

So I’ve first just gone with a search for that libraries:

root@ora:~# apt search ^libc6.i386
libc6-i386/stable 2.41-12 amd64
  GNU C Library: 32-bit shared libraries for AMD64

libc6-i386-amd64-cross/stable 2.41-11cross1 all
  GNU C Library: 32-bit shared libraries for AMD64 (for cross-compiling)

libc6-i386-cross/stable 2.41-11cross1 all
  GNU C Library: Shared libraries (for cross-compiling)

libc6-i386-x32-cross/stable 2.41-11cross1 all
  GNU C Library: 32-bit shared libraries for AMD64 (for cross-compiling)

and install them, But Still the same error. Oops effectively I didn’t notice in my hurry the i386 mention that mean I have to to activate the multiarch option. As described here in the wiki multi arch.

Switch to multiarch

dpkg --add-architecture "i386"
apt-get update
apt install -y libc6:i386

I didnt get result for libai:i386 so I downloaded the package directly

wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/liba/libaio/libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb
--2025-12-09 12:30:01--  http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/liba/libaio/libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb
Resolving http.us.debian.org (http.us.debian.org)... 208.80.154.139, 64.50.233.100, 64.50.236.52, ...
Connecting to http.us.debian.org (http.us.debian.org)|208.80.154.139|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 13504 (13K) [application/vnd.debian.binary-package]
Saving to: ‘libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb’

libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb                  100%[========================================================================================>]  13.19K  --.-KB/s    in 0.001s  

2025-12-09 12:30:01 (12.1 MB/s) - ‘libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb’ saved [13504/13504]

root@ora:~# apt install ./libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb 
Note, selecting 'libaio1:i386' instead of './libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb'
Installing:
  libaio1:i386

Summary:
  Upgrading: 0, Installing: 1, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
  Download size: 0 B / 13.5 kB
  Space needed: 37.9 kB / 205 GB available

Get:1 /root/libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb libaio1 i386 0.3.113-4 [13.5 kB]
Selecting previously unselected package libaio1:i386.
(Reading database ... 12898 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb ...
Unpacking libaio1:i386 (0.3.113-4) ...
Setting up libaio1:i386 (0.3.113-4) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.41-12) ...
Notice: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/root/libaio1_0.3.113-4_i386.deb' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)