Oracle 8i is not compile/link time compatible with glibc 2.2. It
requires the glibc 2.1 compatibility SDK, i386-glibc-2.1-linux.tar.gz,
to install under systems based on glibc 2.2, like RedHat 7.0. The
following steps work for me

1. Make gcc, cc and ld from the glibc 2.1 SDK available for the Oracle
installer:

cd /
tar xfz ..../i386-glibc-2.1-linux.tar.gz

2. Hide gcc, cc and ld under /usr/bin so that the Oracle installer
won't pick it up by accident with

# gcc ...
# cc ...
# ld ...

Do

cd /usr/bin
mkdir saved
mv gcc cc ld saved
ln -s /usr/i386-glibc-2.1-linux/bin/i386-glibc21-linux-gcc gcc
ln -s gcc cc
ln -s /usr/i386-glibc-2.1-linux/bin/i386-glibc21-linux-ld ld

3. Hide libc.so, libdl.so, libm.so and libpthread.so under /usr/lib so
that the Oracle installer won't pick it up by accident

# gcc -L/usr/lib ...

since -L/usr/lib tells gcc to search /usr/lib first. Neither -L/usr/lib
nor -L/lib are needed under Linux. Do

cd /usr/lib
mkdir saved
mv libc.so libdl.so libm.so libpthread.so saved
mv libc.a libdl.a libm.a libpthread.a saved

4. Install Oracle 8i:

./runInstaller

5. Restore /usr/bin:

cd /usr/bin
rm -f gcc cc ld
cd /usr/bin/saved
mv * ..
cd ..
rm -rf saved

6. Restore /usr/lib:

cd /usr/lib/saved
mv * ..
cd ..
rm -rf saved

Comments on Oracle installation:

1. -L/lib and -L/usr/lib should be removed for Linux. They are not
necessary under Linux and may cause problems for the glibc 2.1 SDK.
2. /lib:/usr/lib should be removed from -Wl,-rpath for Linux. They are
not necessary under Linux and may cause problems for the glibc 2.1 SDK.