Linux error while loading shared libraries: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Program is part of the Xenomai test suite, cross-compiled from Linux PC into Linux+Xenomai ARM toolchain.

# echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH                                                                                                                                          
/lib                                                                                                                                                             
# ls /lib                                                                                                                                                        
ld-2.3.3.so         libdl-2.3.3.so      libpthread-0.10.so                                                                                                       
ld-linux.so.2       libdl.so.2          libpthread.so.0                                                                                                          
libc-2.3.3.so       libgcc_s.so         libpthread_rt.so                                                                                                         
libc.so.6           libgcc_s.so.1       libstdc++.so.6                                                                                                           
libcrypt-2.3.3.so   libm-2.3.3.so       libstdc++.so.6.0.9                                                                                                       
libcrypt.so.1       libm.so.6                                                                                                                                    
# ./clocktest                                                                                                                                                    
./clocktest: error while loading shared libraries: libpthread_rt.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Edit: OK I didn’t notice the .1 at the end was part of the filename. What does that mean anyway?

24 thoughts on “Linux error while loading shared libraries: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory”

  1. user

    This might happen if you have recently installed a shared library and didn't run ldconfig(8) afterwards. Do 'ldconfig', there's no harm in it.

    Reply ↓
  2. user

    +1 to @AbiusX comment – running sudo ldconfig (assuming that libraries are in fact where they should be [/usr/bin/lib/, /usr/bin/include/, /usr/local/lib/ and /usr/local/include/ AFAIK], please correct me if I'm wrong) can resolve that problem. Cheers!

    Reply ↓
  3. user

    Note that this error can also arise if the permissions on your lib file got changed somehow. Changing the permissions back to 644 solved it for me.

    Reply ↓
  6. user

    If you are running your application on Microsoft Windows, the path to dynamic libraries (.dll) need to be defined in the PATH environment variable.

    If you are running your application on UNIX, the path to your dynamic libraries (.so) need to be defined in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable.

    Reply ↓
  7. user

    You need to ensure that you specify the library path during
    linking when you compile your .c file:

    gcc -I/usr/local/include xxx.c -o xxx -L/usr/local/lib -Wl,-R/usr/local/lib

    The -Wl,-R part tells the resulting binary to also look for the library
    in /usr/local/lib at runtime before trying to use the one in /usr/lib/.

    Reply ↓
  8. user

    The error occurs as the system cannot refer to the library file mentioned. Take the following steps:

    1. Running locate libpthread_rt.so.1 will list the path of all the files with that name. Let’s suppose a path is /home/user/loc.
    2. Copy the path and run cd home/USERNAME. Replace USERNAME with the name of the current active user with which you want to run the file.
    3. Run vi .bash_profile and at the end of the LD_LIBRARY_PATH parameter, just before ., add the line /lib://home/usr/loc:.. Save the file.
    4. Close terminal and restart the application. It should run.
    Reply ↓
  9. user 
    cd /home/<user_name>/
sudo vi .bash_profile

    add these lines at the end

    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:<any other paths you want>
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
    Reply ↓
  10. user

    Here are a few solutions you can try:

    ldconfig

    As AbiusX pointed out: If you have just now installed the library, you may simply need to run ldconfig.

    sudo ldconfig

    ldconfig creates the necessary links and cache to the most recent
    shared libraries found in the directories specified on the command
    line, in the file /etc/ld.so.conf, and in the trusted directories
    (/lib and /usr/lib).

    Usually your package manager will take care of this when you install a new library, but not always, and it won’t hurt to run ldconfig even if that is not your issue.

    Dev package or wrong version

    If that doesn’t work, I would also check out Paul’s suggestion and look for a “-dev” version of the library. Many libraries are split into dev and non-dev packages. You can use this command to look for it:

    apt-cache search <libraryname>

    This can also help if you simply have the wrong version of the library installed. Some libraries are published in different versions simultaneously, for example, Python.

    Library location

    If you are sure that the right package is installed, and ldconfig didn’t find it, it may just be in a nonstandard directory. By default, ldconfig looks in /lib, /usr/lib, and directories listed in /etc/ld.so.conf and $LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If your library is somewhere else, you can either add the directory on its own line in /etc/ld.so.conf, append the library’s path to $LD_LIBRARY_PATH, or move the library into /usr/lib. Then run ldconfig.

    To find out where the library is, try this:

    sudo find / -iname *libraryname*.so*

    (Replace libraryname with the name of your library)

    If you go the $LD_LIBRARY_PATH route, you’ll want to put that into your ~/.bashrc file so it will run every time you log in:

    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/path/to/library
    Reply ↓
  11. user

    All I had to do was run:

    sudo apt-get install libfontconfig1

    I was in the folder located at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu and it worked perfectly.

    Reply ↓
  12. user

    Another possible solution depending on your situation.

    If you know that libpthread_rt.so.1 is the same as libpthread_rt.so then you can create a symlink by:

    ln -s /lib/libpthread_rt.so /lib/libpthread_rt.so.1

    Then ls -l /lib should now show the symlink and what it points to.

    Reply ↓
  14. user

    Your library is a dynamic library.
    You need to tell the operating system where it can locate it at runtime.

    To do so,
    we will need to do those easy steps:

    (1 ) Find where the library is placed if you don’t know it.

    sudo find / -name the_name_of_the_file.so

    (2) Check for the existence of the dynamic library path environment variable(LD_LIBRARY_PATH)

    $ echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH

    if there is nothing to be displayed, add a default path value (or not if you wish to)

    $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib

    (3) We add the desire path, export it and try the application.

    Note that the path should be the directory where the path.so.something is.
    So if path.so.something is in /my_library/path.so.something it should be :

    $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/my_library/
$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
$ ./my_app

    source : https://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/doc/html/usage.html#shared-libraries

    Reply ↓
  15. user

    Try adding LD_LIBRARY_PATH, which indicates search paths, to your ~/.bashrc file

    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/path_to_your_library

    It works!

    Reply ↓
  16. user

    Update
    While what I write below is true as a general answer about shared libraries, I think the most frequent cause of these sorts of message is because you’ve installed a package, but not installed the “-dev” version of that package.

    Well, it’s not lying – there is no libpthread_rt.so.1 in that listing. You probably need to re-configure and re-build it so that it depends on the library you have, or install whatever provides libpthread_rt.so.1.

    Generally, the numbers after the .so are version numbers, and you’ll often find that they are symlinks to each other, so if you have version 1.1 of libfoo.so, you’ll have a real file libfoo.so.1.0, and symlinks foo.so and foo.so.1 pointing to the libfoo.so.1.0. And if you install version 1.1 without removing the other one, you’ll have a libfoo.so.1.1, and libfoo.so.1 and libfoo.so will now point to the new one, but any code that requires that exact version can use the libfoo.so.1.0 file. Code that just relies on the version 1 API, but doesn’t care if it’s 1.0 or 1.1 will specify libfoo.so.1. As orip pointed out in the comments, this is explained well at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Program-Library-HOWTO/shared-libraries.html.

    In your case, you might get away with symlinking libpthread_rt.so.1 to libpthread_rt.so. No guarantees that it won’t break your code and eat your TV dinners, though.

    Reply ↓
  17. user

    The linux.org reference page explains the mechanics, but doesn’t explain any of the motivation behind it 🙁

    For that, see Sun Linker and Libraries Guide

    In addition, note that “external versioning” is largely obsolete on Linux, because symbol versioning (a GNU extension) allows you to have multiple incompatible versions of the same function to be present in a single library. This extension allowed glibc to have the same external version: libc.so.6 for the last 10 years.

    Reply ↓
  18. user

    Wanted to add, if your libraries are in a non standard path, run ldconfig followed by the path.

    For instance I had to run:

    sudo ldconfig /opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/2021.2.0/lib/intel64

    to make R compile against Intel MKL

    Reply ↓
  19. user

    I use Ubuntu 18.04

    Installing the corresponding “-dev” package worked for me,

    sudo apt install libgconf2-dev

    I was getting the below error till I installed the above package,

    turtl: error while loading shared libraries: libgconf-2.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
    Reply ↓
  20. user

    I had this error when running my application with Eclipse CDT on Linux x86.
    To fix this:

    1. In Eclipse:

      Run as -> Run configurations -> Environment

    2. Set the path

      LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/my_lib_directory_path
    Reply ↓
  21. user

    I had a similar error and it didn’t fix with giving LD_LIBRARY_PATH in ~/.bashrc .
    What solved my issue is by adding .conf file and loading it.
    Go to terminal an be in su.

    gedit /etc/ld.so.conf.d/myapp.conf

    Add your library path in this file and save.(eg: /usr/local/lib).
    You must run the following command to activate path:

    ldconfig

    Verify Your New Library Path:

    ldconfig -v | less

    If this shows your library files, then you are good to go.

    Reply ↓
  22. user

    I got this error and I think its the same reason of yours

    error while loading shared libraries: libnw.so: cannot open shared object 
file: No such file or directory

    Try this. Fix permissions on files:

    cd /opt/Popcorn (or wherever it is) 
chmod -R 555 * (755 if not ok) 
chown -R root:root *

    “sudo su” to get permissions on your filesystem.

    Reply ↓
  23. user

    I got this error and I think its the same reason of yours

    error while loading shared libraries: libnw.so: cannot open shared
    object file: No such file or directory

    Try this. Fix permissions on files:

    cd /opt/Popcorn (or wherever it is) 
chmod -R 555 * (755 if not ok)
    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.