configure fails when I include Oracle 8.1.7.
I set both vars below and exported them fist. 
  ORACLE_HOME=/o8/product/8.1.7
  LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/o8/product/8.1.7/lib

I've also tried this with PHP3 and fails during 'make' with a similar message about core4 and nlsrtl3.

The contents of debug.log is below.

CONFIGURE:   './configure' '--without-mysql' '--with-oracle' '--with-apache=../apache_1.3.19' '--enable-track-vars'
CC:         cc
CFLAGS:     -g
CPPFLAGS:   
CXX:        
CXXFLAGS:   
INCLUDES:    -I/ora4/test/apache_1.3.19/src/include 
  -I/ora4/test/apache_1.3.19/src/os/unix  
  -I$(top_builddir)/Zend 
  -I/o8/product/8.1.7/rdbms/public 
  -I/o8/product/8.1.7/rdbms/demo
LDFLAGS:     -R/o8/product/8.1.7/lib -L/o8/product/8.1.7/lib
LIBS:       -lclntsh -lpsa -lcore4 -lnlsrtl3 -lld -lbsd_r 
  -lm -lodm -ldl -lbind -lm -ldl -lcrypt 
DLIBS:      
SAPI:       apache
PHP_RPATHS:  /o8/product/8.1.7/lib
uname -a:   AIX welwyn 3 4 00089E3DA100

cc -o conftest -g   -R/o8/product/8.1.7/lib 
   -L/o8/product/8.1.7/lib conftest.c -lclntsh -lpsa 
   -lcore4 -lnlsrtl3 -lld -lbsd_r -lm -lodm -ldl -lbind 
   -lm -ldl -lcrypt  1>&5
ld: 0706-027 The -R /o8/product/8.1.7/lib flag is ignored.
ld: 0706-006 Cannot find or open library file: -l core4
        ld:open(): No such file or directory
ld: 0706-006 Cannot find or open library file: -l nlsrtl3
        ld:open(): No such file or directory