Reference: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Oracle%20Instant%20Client

Tested on: Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04

1. Decide which version of the Oracle client to install
    - Each version of the client supports certain versions of the database; for example, Oracle client 12.1 supports Oracle database 10.2 - 19c
    - See here for more information: http://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?id=207303.1

1. Download the Oracle client packages
    - Go here and download the desired RPM package(s): https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/instant-client/downloads.html
    - At a minimum you'll need either the `basiclite` package (for English error messages and Western language character sets) or the `basic` package (to support all languages)
    - Get the `sqlplus` package if you'd like to use the `sqlplus` command
    

1. Install prerequisites

    ```
    sudo apt install alien libaio1
    ```

1. Install the Oracle client package(s)

    ```
    sudo alien -i oracle-instantclient19.12-basiclite-19.12.0.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm
    ```

1. Update the system library path to include the oracle libraries

   **Note:** This doesn't seem to be necessary any more; maybe it's included in the newer versions of the Oracle library package now?

    ```
    sudo sh -c 'echo /usr/lib/oracle/19.12/client64/lib/ > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle.conf'
    sudo ldconfig
    ```