Oracle 12c on Linux - Fonts Not So Good

Here we go again ….

Installing Oracle 12c on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 box: -

/tmp/database/runInstaller

Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking Temp space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 13067 MB    Passed
Checking swap space: must be greater than 150 MB.   Actual 2076 MB    Passed
Checking monitor: must be configured to display at least 256 colors
    >>> Could not execute auto check for display colors using command /usr/bin/xdpyinfo. Check if the DISPLAY variable is set.    Failed <<<<

Some requirement checks failed. You must fulfill these requirements before

continuing with the installation,

Continue? (y/n) [n] y

>>> Ignoring required pre-requisite failures. Continuing...
Preparing to launch Oracle Universal Installer from /tmp/OraInstall2018-02-23_07-10-09PM. Please wait ...[oracle@bpm86 ~]$ Fontconfig error: "local.conf", line 2: XML or text declaration not at start of entity
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(MethodUtil.java:71)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor2.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(MethodUtil.java:275)
at javax.swing.UIDefaults.getUI(UIDefaults.java:769)
at javax.swing.UIManager.getUI(UIManager.java:1016)
at javax.swing.JComboBox.updateUI(JComboBox.java:266)
at javax.swing.JComboBox.init(JComboBox.java:231)
at javax.swing.JComboBox.<init>(JComboBox.java:183)
at oracle.help.DefaultNavigatorPanel$MinimumSizedComboBox.<init>(Unknown Source)
at oracle.help.DefaultNavigatorPanel.<init>(Unknown Source)
at oracle.help.Help._initHelpSystem(Unknown Source)
at oracle.help.Help.<init>(Unknown Source)
at oracle.help.Help.<init>(Unknown Source)
at oracle.help.Help.<init>(Unknown Source)
at oracle.install.commons.util.HelpManager.loadHelp(HelpManager.java:230)
at oracle.install.commons.util.Application.startup(Application.java:943)
at oracle.install.commons.flow.FlowApplication.startup(FlowApplication.java:181)
at oracle.install.commons.flow.FlowApplication.startup(FlowApplication.java:198)
at oracle.install.commons.base.driver.common.Installer.startup(Installer.java:566)
at oracle.install.ivw.db.driver.DBInstaller.startup(DBInstaller.java:127)
at oracle.install.ivw.db.driver.DBInstaller.main(DBInstaller.java:165)
Caused by: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 0
at sun.font.CompositeStrike.getStrikeForSlot(CompositeStrike.java:75)
at sun.font.CompositeStrike.getFontMetrics(CompositeStrike.java:93)
at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.initMatrixAndMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:359)
at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.<init>(FontDesignMetrics.java:350)
at sun.font.FontDesignMetrics.getMetrics(FontDesignMetrics.java:302)
at sun.swing.SwingUtilities2.getFontMetrics(SwingUtilities2.java:1113)
at javax.swing.JComponent.getFontMetrics(JComponent.java:1626)
at javax.swing.text.PlainView.calculateLongestLine(PlainView.java:639)
at javax.swing.text.PlainView.updateMetrics(PlainView.java:209)
at javax.swing.text.PlainView.updateDamage(PlainView.java:527)
at javax.swing.text.PlainView.insertUpdate(PlainView.java:451)
at javax.swing.text.FieldView.insertUpdate(FieldView.java:293)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$RootView.insertUpdate(BasicTextUI.java:1610)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTextUI$UpdateHandler.insertUpdate(BasicTextUI.java:1869)
at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.fireInsertUpdate(AbstractDocument.java:201)
at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.handleInsertString(AbstractDocument.java:748)
at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.insertString(AbstractDocument.java:707)
at javax.swing.text.PlainDocument.insertString(PlainDocument.java:130)
at javax.swing.text.AbstractDocument.replace(AbstractDocument.java:669)
at javax.swing.text.JTextComponent.setText(JTextComponent.java:1669)
at javax.swing.JTextField.<init>(JTextField.java:243)
at javax.swing.JTextField.<init>(JTextField.java:183)
at com.jgoodies.looks.plastic.PlasticComboBoxUI.<clinit>(PlasticComboBoxUI.java:88)
... 27 more

As ever, Google had the answer ( Google is my friend ) ….

Oracle Database 12 install crashes on Oracle Linux 7u4

The TL;DR; was: -

su -

vi /etc/fonts/local.conf

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>
<fontconfig>
  <alias>
    <family>serif</family>
    <prefer><family>Utopia</family></prefer>
  </alias>
  <alias>
    <family>sans-serif</family>
    <prefer><family>Utopia</family></prefer>
  </alias>
  <alias>
    <family>monospace</family>
    <prefer><family>Utopia</family></prefer>
  </alias>
  <alias>
    <family>dialog</family>
    <prefer><family>Utopia</family></prefer>
  </alias>
  <alias>
    <family>dialoginput</family>
    <prefer><family>Utopia</family></prefer>
  </alias>
</fontconfig>

Job done :-)