Removing the database from Linux

Question

What I have to delete (files) in order to remove my database from my computer (Linux) ?
Thanks,
Paul

Answer 1

Sounds like you want a clean system ... no trace of Oracle. Under Linux, the correct way of doing that would be
1) For each database, use DBCA to remove/drop the database.
Depending on the version of the DBCA, you may need to follow up with manually removing the "Oracle Data" directories, the "Flashback" directories (especially if they changed over time), and the "Admin" directories (where the alert.log and other trace files are kept)
2) For each set of software (ORACLE_HOME), use the Oracle Universal Installer to remove the Oracle software.
Depending on the version of the Oraclee Universal Installer, and which patches have been applied, you may need to manually remove the directories under the ORACLE_HOME
3) Manually remove the Oracle Inventory, as identified by the oraInst.loc file
4) Manually remove the /etc/oratab, /etc/oraInst.log and (if RAC has been installed) the /etc/oracle directory tree.
Under Linux, you can cheat - skip the DBCA and OUI portions of the first 2 steps and go to the manual deletes.
In Linux, I typically install everything Oracle under /u01/app/oracle as my ORACLE_BASE ... to clean the system, I simply "rm -rf /u01/app/oracle /etc/oratab /etc/oraInst.loc /etc/oracle"
Or better, just start up a saved VMWare clone, if this is not a real system.