PL/SQL variables allowed lengths problem in higher version.

Question

Hi All,
Before getting in to my problem here are two different DBs version.
DB1:
===========
SQL*Plus: Release 9.2.0.1.0
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.3.0 - 64bit
PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.3.0 - Production
CORE 10.2.0.3.0 Production
TNS for Linux: Version 10.2.0.3.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.3.0 - Production
DB2:
===========
SQL*Plus: Release 9.2.0.5.0
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit
PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
CORE 10.2.0.4.0 Production
TNS for Linux: Version 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.4.0 - Production
My problem is plsql block which is working fine in DB1 (which is lower version) is erroring in DB2 (which is higher version).
Below is the block I am running and I have listed the results beneath the same. Please advise me on porting code from DB1 to DB2.
Program:
DECLARE
l_var1 VARCHAR2(32767);
l_clob_var1 CLOB;
l_clob_var2 CLOB;
l_clob_var3 CLOB;
l_clob_var4 CLOB;
l_position NUMBER;
BEGIN
l_position := 0;
FOR i IN 1..8191 LOOP -- This is (2 to the power of 13 )-1
l_clob_var1 := l_clob_var1 || 'a';
END LOOP;
l_position := 1;
FOR i IN 1..8192 LOOP
l_clob_var2 := l_clob_var2 || 'a';
END LOOP;
l_position := 2;
FOR i IN 1..8193 LOOP
l_clob_var3 := l_clob_var3 || 'a';
END LOOP;
l_position := 3;
FOR i IN 1..8617 LOOP
l_clob_var4 := l_clob_var4 || 'b';
END LOOP;
l_position := 4;
l_var1 := l_clob_var1;
l_position := 5;
l_var1 := l_clob_var2; ---- Error reported for this in DB2. Observe the position value 5 in below results.
l_position := 6;
l_var1 := l_clob_var3;
l_position := 7;
l_var1 := l_clob_var4;
l_position := 8;
dbms_output.put_line('No Errors reported');
l_position := 9;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20999,'Error at position '||l_position||', SQLERRM : '||SQLERRM);
END;
Results:
======================================================
DB1:
======================================================
No Errors reported
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
All variable lenghts till 32767 are allowed here.
Db2:
======================================================
DECLARE
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-20999: Error at position 5, SQLERRM : ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value
error
ORA-06512: at line 38
PLSQL variable length till 8191 ((2 to the power of 13 )-1) chars are allowed here.
Thank you.
Mahi.

Answer 1

Here is results:
DB1
================================
SQL> select *from nls_database_parameters
2 where parameter = 'NLS_CHARACTERSET';
PARAMETER VALUE
NLS_CHARACTERSET US7ASCII
SQL> select * from nls_session_parameters
2 where parameter = 'NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS'
3 ;
PARAMETER VALUE
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS BYTE
DB2
============================================
SQL> select *from nls_database_parameters
2 where parameter = 'NLS_CHARACTERSET';
PARAMETER
VALUE
NLS_CHARACTERSET
UTF8
SQL> select * from nls_session_parameters
2 where parameter = 'NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS';
PARAMETER
VALUE
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS
BYTE
Please suggest me on below:
(1) Is this problem because of multicharacter set?
(2) If so, Can I ask my DBA to ask Oracle to fix this problem? Or is my requirements is not genuine?
Please suggest me up on my course of action.
Thank you.