# Cannot run basic embedded Julia example
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cannot-run-basic-embedded-julia-example/51399
**Category:** New to Julia
**Created:** [December 7, 2020, 1:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cannot-run-basic-embedded-julia-example/51399 "2020-12-07T13:12:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@circonflexe](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/circonflexe)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2020, 1:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cannot-run-basic-embedded-julia-example/51399/1 "2020-12-07T13:12:59Z")
I am trying the [basic example](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/manual/embedding/) of embedding Julia in C:
file `a.c` contains
```
#include
int main(void) {
jl_init();
(void) jl_eval_string("print(sqrt(2.))");
return 0;
}
```
and the Makefile is also copy-pasted from the example:
```
JL_SHARE = $(shell julia -e 'print(joinpath(Sys.BINDIR, Base.DATAROOTDIR, "julia"))')
CFLAGS += $(shell $(JL_SHARE)/julia-config.jl --cflags)
CXXFLAGS += $(shell $(JL_SHARE)/julia-config.jl --cflags)
LDFLAGS += $(shell $(JL_SHARE)/julia-config.jl --ldflags)
LDLIBS += $(shell $(JL_SHARE)/julia-config.jl --ldlibs)
all: a
```
The thing compiles fine, yet on execution fails with
```
ERROR: could not load library "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/../bin/../lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/julia/sys.so"
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/../bin/../lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/julia/sys.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
```
This is a plain Debian testing installation, with Julia from the Debian repository; version 1.5.3. The correct location for `sys.so` would be `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/julia/sys.so`; yet the path used above has either an extra `/bin` component, or is lacking one `/..`.
The output of `julia-config.jl --allflags` seems fine:
```
-std=gnu99 -I'/usr/include/julia' -fPIC -L'/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu' -Wl,--export-dynamic -Wl,-rpath,'/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu' -Wl,-rpath,'/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/julia' -ljulia
```
and the binary `./a` is also able to find `libjulia.so.1`. So the path confusion likely happens somewhere inside libjulia. What did I do wrong, and how can I fix this?
_(apart from creating a stupid symlink to add a file in the wrong place in the filesystem, of course)_
The `julia` binary itself, of course, works well and can even correctly locate `sys.so`:
```
julia> Libdl.dlpath("sys.so")
"/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/julia/sys.so"
```
---
### Author:  [@GunnarFarneback](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GunnarFarneback)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cannot-run-basic-embedded-julia-example/51399/2 "2020-12-07T14:27:27Z")
The safest bet is to either use a Julia you have built from source or an official binary from the Julia Downloads web page.
The problem with the Debian Julia installation is that is uses a file layout that doesn’t match some of the assumptions of the embedding functionality, such as `../bin` moving from the directory of `libjulia` to the directory of `julia`: [https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/788b2c77c10c2160f4794a4d4b6b81a95a90940c/src/jlapi.c#L94](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/788b2c77c10c2160f4794a4d4b6b81a95a90940c/src/jlapi.c#L94).
If you need to use the Debian Julia installation it _might_ be possible to workaround by replacing `jl_init` with `jl_init_with_image` and setting the environment variable `JULIA_BINDIR`, [https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/788b2c77c10c2160f4794a4d4b6b81a95a90940c/src/init.c#L564](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/788b2c77c10c2160f4794a4d4b6b81a95a90940c/src/init.c#L564).
Relevant reading: [https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/32614#issuecomment-722706116](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/32614#issuecomment-722706116)
---
### Author:  [@circonflexe](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/circonflexe)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/cannot-run-basic-embedded-julia-example/51399/3 "2020-12-07T15:13:10Z")
Thanks for your answer! Since I am trying to (ultimately) add Julia embedding to a program that would run on other people’s computers, I am unable to decide how their Julia directories are laid out.
I managed to pseudo-solve this (at least on my machine) by asking for the location of `sys.so` at configure time:
```
realpath --relative-to=$(dirname $(which julia)) \
$(julia -e 'using Libdl; print(Libdl.dlpath("sys.so"))')
```
Then indeed I pass this (and the Julia binary location) to `jl_init_with_image()`. This is also probably quite robust for porting to another computer, as long as that computer has a working Julia binary and is able to find `sys.so`.
Maybe something comparable to that fix this should be ported into the `jl_init()` function? it is quite simple (assuming that replicating the `Libdl` functionality in C is), does not make any assumptions about the layout (as long as the `julia` binary works, this should too), and solves some portability issues. (I would also argue that solving this on the Julia side rather than the Debian one would be better; fixing the Debian side would probably be a matter of changing another hardcoded relative path somewhere, while fixing this would reduce the number of hardcoded relative paths, and thus be more robust to future changes).