sqldeveloper-package is a small script that will build a Debian package from Oracle‘s SQL Developer.

This utility makes it possible to build a Debian package of Oracle SQL Developer. The Oracle SQL Developer program is governed by the copyright holder (Oracle USA, Inc.), so you may be limited as to what you can do with the resulting package (i.e. no redistribution, etc). This utility will simply help you create the Debian package, it is your responsibility to use the resulting package acordingly with the OTN license, a copy of which is included in the created package, that you must agree on when downloading the source.

This utility will require you to download the architecture independent archive from <http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer>, identified as “Oracle SQL Developer for other platforms”, “Oracle SQL Developer for Multiple Platforms” or “Oracle SQL Developer for Linux and Unix” (depending on which version you are building), to create the Debian package from.

In order to run Oracle SQL Developer you’ll need a full working JDK. The versions that are compatible with SQL Developer are any JDK 1.5.0_06 or above or JDK 1.6.0_03 or above for SQL Developer versions up to 1.5.5. SQL Developer versions from 2.1 to 3.1 are compatible with JDK 1.6.0_11 or above and SQL Developer version 3.2 is compatible with JDK 1.6.0_04 or above. SQL Developer version 4.0 is compatible with JDK 1.7 (JDK7.0) series and SQL Developer versions from 4.1 to 17.3 are compatible with JDK 1.8 (JDK8.0) series or newer.

Note that Oracle SQL Developer prior to version 4.0 is not compatible with JDK 1.7 (JDK7.0) or newer and prior to version 4.1 is not compatible with JDK 1.8 (JDK8.0) or newer.

After installing a compatible JDK simply launch SQL Developer through the graphical interface or by invoking /usr/bin/sqldeveloper and supply the path where the JDK was installed when prompted.