I've been using softlinks to Oracle home for years.
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 23 Feb 4 2001 u01 -> /xy/bfd/oracle_base/u01
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 23 Feb 4 2001 u02 -> /xy/bfd/oracle_base/u02
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 23 Feb 4 2001 u03 -> /xy/bfd/oracle_base/u03
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 23 Feb 4 2001 u04 -> /xy/bfd/oracle_base/u04
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 23 Feb 4 2001 u05 -> /xy/bfd/oracle_base/u05
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 24 Oct 31 2001 u06 -> /xy/bfd2/oracle_base/u06
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 24 Oct 31 2001 u07 -> /xy/bfd2/oracle_base/u07
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 24 Oct 31 2001 u08 -> /xy/bfd2/oracle_base/u08
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 21 Mar 24 2004 u09 -> /xy/H/oracle_base/u09
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 21 Mar 24 2004 u10 -> /xy/I/oracle_base/u10
$ echo $ORACLE_HOME
/u01/app/oracle/product/8.1.7