Run UNIX shell script from Stored Procedure via DBMS_SCHEDULER

When you try to run a UNIX shell script directly from DBMS_SCHEDULER it runs as the UNIX owner nobody:nobody, which means it will likely have permissions problems and give the error ORA-27369. It is possible to configure DBMS_SCHEDULER so it will run as the oracle user (Metalink Doc ID 389685.1) but if you can't or don't want to do that you can do this:

First you have to give Java permission to access the script:

begin
dbms_java.grant_permission
('SYS',
 'java.io.FilePermission',
 '[path]/test.sh',
 'execute');

dbms_java.grant_permission
('SYS',
 'java.lang.RuntimePermission',
 '*',
 'writeFileDescriptor' );
end;

After that create the Java procedure itself:

create or replace and compile
java source named "Util"
as
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.*;

public class Util extends Object
{
public static int RunThis(String args)
{
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
int        rc = -1;

try
{
   Process p = rt.exec(args);

   int bufSize = 4096;
   BufferedInputStream bis =
    new BufferedInputStream(p.getInputStream(), bufSize);
   int len;
   byte buffer[] = new byte[bufSize];

   // Echo back what the program spit out
   while ((len = bis.read(buffer, 0, bufSize)) != -1)
      System.out.write(buffer, 0, len);

   rc = p.waitFor();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
   e.printStackTrace();
   rc = -1;
}
finally
{
   return rc;
}
}
}
/

Then a function that calls the java procedure:

create or replace
function RUN_CMD(p_cmd in varchar2) return number
as
language java
name 'Util.RunThis(java.lang.String) return integer';
/

And finally the stored procedure:

create or replace procedure RC(p_cmd in varchar2)
as
x number;
begin
x := run_cmd(p_cmd);
end;
/

After that it can be run from DBMS_SCHEDULER like this:

SQL>BEGIN
  DBMS_SCHEDULER.create_job (
    job_name        => 'MyJob',
    job_type        => 'PLSQL_BLOCK',
    job_action      => 'BEGIN  rc(''[path]/test.sh''); END;',
    start_date      => SYSTIMESTAMP,
    end_date        => NULL,
    enabled         => TRUE,
    comments        => 'UNIX shell script run from stored procedure');
  END;
  /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Of course it can also be set up with a schedule, etc. like any other stored procedure.