Question

I’m using SQL Developer to spool the DDL for some packages, but I cannot identify the location where the server is spooling. Oracle is installed on AIX, but I don’t know the user it’s using to connect to the OS.

Basically, when I run:

spool test.lst

select 1 from dual;

spool off

I get a confirmation message in console

1                      
---------------------- 
1          

and whenever I try to give a path, I’d get an error, probably because of user rights:

spool /tmp/test.lst
select 1 from dual;
spool off


Cannot create SPOOL file /tmp/test.lst 
1                      
---------------------- 
1             

So my question is where is test.lst?

Answer 1

Spool is a client activity, not a server one; the .lst file will be created on the machine that SQL Developer is on, not the server where the database it’s connecting to resides.

Under Windows 7 and SQL Developer 3.1, by default for me that seems to store the .lst in %APPDATA%\Sql Developer\

You can spool to a specific directory, e.g. spool c:\windows\temp\test.lst, and if you have it set up can use something like spool \\<aix-server>\<dir>\test.lst. Paths vary according to your client OS, of course.