ORA-00988: missing or invalid password(s)

[nontrad]

I am trying to create usernames and let the users pick their passwords the first time they log on for security purposes. So far, I have not been able to get this to work. I was using the syntax that was given in the Oracle books. My steps are below....


SQL> create user tester identified by xxxx
2 password expire;

User created.

SQL> commit;

then when I try to log on under this username.......

bash-2.03$ sqlplus

SQL*Plus: Release 8.1.6.0.0 - Production on Mon Mar 19 12:39:43 2001

(c) Copyright 1999 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved.

Enter user-name: tester
Enter password: xxxx
Changing password for tester
New password: qqqq
Retype new password: qqqq
ERROR:
ORA-00988: missing or invalid password(s)

What is the problem? Why won't it change the password?

 

[karluk]

This looks like an 8.1.6 bug, based on what I see in Metalink. Bug 1225555 exhibits this behavior, and affects Oracle 8.1.6. Earlier releases of SQL*Plus work ok.

The bug is supposed to be fixed in 8.1.7. I can't find any documentation that there's a patch available for 8.1.6. The suggested work-around is to use Server Manager instead of SQL*Plus. That's not too good of a work-around, considering that Oracle is planning on eliminating Server Manager. You wouldn't want to get your customers used to using a product that's going away soon.