ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_FILE", line 536 - sql

Question

We're getting the following error in an SQL procedure on Ubuntu. The same procedure is executing properly on Windows. The goal of the procedure is to import a .csv file into an external oracle table.
The Oracle error:
ORA-29283: invalid file operation ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_FILE", line 536 ORA-29283: invalid file operation
This SO question might have been a solution, but even after giving proper permissions chmod 777 (which solved the issue in that case) to the files concerned we are facing the same error.
ORA-29283: invalid file operation ORA-06512: at "SYS.UTL_FILE", line 536
The concerned portion of the procedure is :
for i in c loop
dbms_output.put_line('Inside for loop');
select count(file_name) into f_n from t_filenames_exp e where i.file_name=e.file_name;
if f_n=0 then
dbms_output.put_line('Inside if statement');
insert into t_filenames_exp(file_name,status) values(i.file_name,'need_to_read');
select f_id into f_idn from t_filenames_exp e where e.file_name=i.file_name;
select substr(i.file_name,instr(i.file_name,'exp_'),4) into fchk from dual;
select to_char(to_date(to_char(SEQ_DATE,'dd-MON-yyyy'),'dd-MON-yyyy'),'D') into v_sufix from M_LAB_ID_SEQ_TAB;
if(fchk='exp_') then
file_handle := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('EXP_DATA',i.file_name,'R');
file_handle1 := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('EXP','staging.txt','W');
loop
begin
utl_file.get_line(file_handle,output_line);
utl_file.put_line(file_handle1,output_line);
exception when no_data_found then
exit;
end;
end loop;
if utl_file.is_open(file_handle) then
utl_file.fclose(file_handle);
end if;
if utl_file.is_open(file_handle1) then
utl_file.fclose(file_handle1);
end if;
/*insert into t_files_data_exp(f_id,patient_last_name,patient_name,patient_id_code,method_internal_index,method_acronym,index_repeat,result,unit_of_measurement,minimum_reference_value,maximum_reference_value,date_)
select f_idn,patient_last_name,patient_name,(patient_id_code ||'H'||v_sufix),method_internal_index,method_acronym,index_repeat,result, unit_of_measurement,minimum_reference_value,maximum_reference_value,date_ from files_data;*/
insert into t_files_data_exp(f_id,patient_last_name,patient_name,patient_id_code,method_internal_index,method_acronym,index_repeat,result,unit_of_measurement,minimum_reference_value,maximum_reference_value,date_)
select f_idn,'Unknown','Unknown',(r.patient_id_code ||'H'||v_sufix),m.CANONICAL_ID,r.METHOD_ACRONYM,0,r.RESULT,r.unit_of_measurement,'','','' from files_data r ,M_METHODS_EXP m where m.METHOD_ACRONYM=r.METHOD_ACRONYM;
else
file_handle := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('EXP_DATA',i.file_name,'R');
file_handle1 := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('EXP','staging1.txt','W');
loop
begin
utl_file.get_line(file_handle,output_line);
utl_file.put_line(file_handle1,output_line);
exception when no_data_found then
exit;
end;
end loop;
if utl_file.is_open(file_handle) then
utl_file.fclose(file_handle);
end if;
if utl_file.is_open(file_handle1) then
utl_file.fclose(file_handle1);
end if;
insert into t_files_data_exp(f_id,patient_last_name,patient_name,patient_id_code,method_internal_index,method_acronym,index_repeat,result,unit_of_measurement,minimum_reference_value,maximum_reference_value,date_)
select f_idn,'Unknown','Unknown',r.PATIENT_ID_CODE,m.CANONICAL_ID,r.METHOD_ACRONYM,0,r.RESULT,r.unit_of_measurement,'','','' from rfiles_data r ,M_METHODS_EXP m where m.METHOD_ACRONYM=r.METHOD_ACRONYM;
end if;
-- Check whether the data in csv file is same as data in external table.
if trace='on' then
if(fchk='expr_') then
dbms_output.put_line('**************************************************');
select i.file_name,count(*) into filename,rows_in_file from files_data;
dbms_output.put_line('File name :'||filename);
dbms_output.put_line('Total no of rows :'||rows_in_file);
select replace(filename,'exp','_exp') into new_filename from dual;
file_handle2 := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('EXP_LOG',new_filename,'W');
for i1 in cur loop
/*data:=to_char (i1.patient_last_name||';'||i1.patient_name||';'||i1.patient_id_code||';'||i1.method_internal_index||';'||i1.method_acronym||';'||i1.index_repeat||';'||i1.result||';'||i1.unit_of_measurement||';'||i1.minimum_reference_value||';'||i1.maximum_reference_value||';'||i1.date_);*/
data:=to_char(i1.patient_id_code||';'||i1.method_acronym||';'||i1.result||';'||i1.unit_of_measurement);
utl_file.put_line(file_handle2,data);
end loop;
else
dbms_output.put_line('**************************************************');
select i.file_name,count(*) into filename,rows_in_file from rfiles_data;
dbms_output.put_line('File name :'||filename);
dbms_output.put_line('Total no of rows :'||rows_in_file);
select replace(filename,'expr','_expr') into new_filename from dual;
file_handle2 := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('EXP_LOG',new_filename,'W');
for i1 in cur1 loop
/*data:=to_char (i1.m_id||';'||i1.date_||';'||i1.METHOD_ACRONYM||';'||i1.PATIENT_ID_CODE||';'||i1.TEST_TYPE||';'||i1.UNIT_OF_MEASUREMENT||';'||i1.RESULT||';'||i1.RESULT_FLAG); */
data:=to_char(i1.patient_id_code||';'||i1.method_acronym||';'||i1.result||';'||i1.unit_of_measurement);
utl_file.put_line(file_handle2,data);
end loop;
end if;
if utl_file.is_open(file_handle2) then
utl_file.fclose(file_handle2);
end if;
dbms_output.put_line('*************************************************');
end if;
end if;
end loop;
The line on which the error is occurring is:
file_handle := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('EXP_DATA',i.file_name,'R');
The permissions given to the file is as follows:
-rwxrwxrwx 1 rama rama 240 Feb 26 11:24 exp_41_02_2016.csv`
How to trace the problem which is causing this issue?
Please let me know if you want any other information?

Answer 1

It's an o/s file error...likely from permissions. The owner of the database shadow process that is executing the package is the o/s owner that needs permissions -- that's probably 'oracle'. You can test by logging in as 'oracle' on the database server and see if you can read the file in question. #alex poole offers a great thought to check the permissions of all parent directories.