I’ve seen a lot of interest in the create_home mode of AutoUpgrade. It allows you to easily provision new Oracle homes and the feedback has been very positive.

A few customers reported an error during installation of an Oracle home on Oracle Linux 9.

Errors in database [create_home_1]
Stage              [OH_PATCHING]
Operation          [STOPPED]
Status             [ERROR]
Info               [Exception: PATCH111
Err message: AutoUpgradePatchingException [OPatch failed to install ...]	

Digging into the referenced log file revealed:

[Jun 25, 2025 10:48:51 AM] [WARNING]OUI-67200:Make failed to invoke "/usr/bin/make -f ins_rdbms.mk javavm_refresh ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/dbhome_1927 OPATCH_SESSION=apply"....'Can't locate File/Copy.pm in @INC (you may need to install the File::Copy module) (@INC contains: /usr/local/lib64/perl5/5.32 /usr/local/share/perl5/5.32 /usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib64/perl5 /usr/share/perl5) at /u01/app/oracle/product/dbhome_1927/javavm/install/update_javavm_binaries.pl line 64.
                                    BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /u01/app/oracle/product/dbhome_1927/javavm/install/update_javavm_binaries.pl line 64.
                                    make: *** [ins_rdbms.mk:573: javavm_refresh] Error 2

The Workaround

You can avoid the problem by installing Perl before you start AutoUpgrade:

dnf -y install perl-core

Big shoutout to Martin Berger for providing a workaround.

Is My Server Affected

Use this command to test whether your server is affected:

perl -e 'use File::Copy;'

If it returns without any error or output, everything is fine. If you get an error, you must install Perl before proceeding:

perl -e 'use File::Copy;'
Can't locate File/Copy.pm in @INC (you may need to install the File::Copy module) (@INC contains: /usr/local/lib64/perl5/5.32 /usr/local/share/perl5/5.32 /usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib64/perl5 /usr/share/perl5) at -e line 1.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at -e line 1.

Why Does It Happen

• AutoUpgrade starts by installing the Oracle home and in some cases also applies the Release Update using the -applyRU command line parameter.

• Next, it installs additional patches using OPatch. Some patches, like the OJVM bundle patch, requires a compilation using make. This process fails if there’s no usable Perl installation.

• There are several MOS notes on this specific issues advising to set the PERL5LIB environment variable (Patching fails during relink , with error code 102 :: Fatal error: Command failed for target `javavm_refresh’ (Doc ID 2002334.1)).

• To solve an unrelated issue, AutoUpgrade doesn’t always set PERL5LIB when calling OPatch and this leads to this error during the compilation.

• We’re trying to find a smart way to handle this (without re-introducing the other issue).

To summarize, you get this error when:

• Your operating system doesn’t have a normal Perl installation. You might have the perl executable, but not the normal modules.
• You install the OJVM bundle patch.

The Rabbit Hole

I learned something new about Perl today. Do you dare walking down that rabbit hole with me? I’ll make it short.

• The error from make mentions the missing Perl module, File::Copy:

  /usr/bin/make -f ins_rdbms.mk javavm_refresh ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/dbhome_1927 OPATCH_SESSION=apply"....'Can't locate File/Copy.pm in @INC (you may need to install the File::Copy module)
  

• A Perl module can be loaded from disk. Perl automatically attempts to find the file in the following locations:

  perl -e 'print "@INC\n"'
  /usr/local/lib64/perl5/5.32
  /usr/local/share/perl5/5.32
  /usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl
  /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl
  /usr/lib64/perl5
  /usr/share/perl5
  

• So, I can check these directories for the Perl module. To find the File::Copy module, I need to check in the File subdirectory for the file Copy.pm:

  ll /usr/local/lib64/perl5/5.32/File/Copy.pm
  ll /usr/local/share/perl5/5.32/File/Copy.pm
  ll /usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Copy.pm
  ll /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Copy.pm
  ll /usr/lib64/perl5/File/Copy.pm
  ll /usr/share/perl5/File/Copy.pm
  ls: cannot access '/usr/local/lib64/perl5/5.32/File/Copy.pm': No such file or directory
  ls: cannot access '/usr/local/share/perl5/5.32/File/Copy.pm': No such file or directory
  ls: cannot access '/usr/lib64/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Copy.pm': No such file or directory
  ls: cannot access '/usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/File/Copy.pm': No such file or directory
  ls: cannot access '/usr/lib64/perl5/File/Copy.pm': No such file or directory
  ls: cannot access '/usr/share/perl5/File/Copy.pm': No such file or directory
  

• The file is not found in any of the directories, so Perl will fail to load the module.

• Had the file been found in just one location, all would be good.

Happy patching!