# Issues building Julia 0.7 with Intel MKL on macOS

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159>\
**Category:** Internals & Design\
**Tags:** build\
**Created:** [April 4, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159 "2018-04-04T14:11:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pablosanjose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pablosanjose/32/7006_2.png) [@pablosanjose](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pablosanjose)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/1 "2018-04-04T14:11:56Z")

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I see quite a few people were successful building Julia 0.7 using the Intel MKL on Linux. I have tried the same on macOS many times with many variations and pursued many threads, but never managed to do it. I suspect there is a mistake in some make file, or in the julialang instructions page somewhere, though it can also be that I’m doing something really stupid or that my installation is somehow screwed. Since I’ve run out of things to try I resort to the community. Let me explain the problems I have.

I’m using the latest High Sierra 10.13.4, and installed the latest version (2018.2.164) of the free Intel MKL library. I ran `xcode-select --install`, made a `make.user` on a fresh clone of julia master containing

```julia
USE_INTEL_MKL = 1
USE_INTEL_LIBM = 1

```

I installed `gfortran` and `cmake` with `brew` (`brew install cmake` and `brew install gcc`). I added `source /opt/intel/bin/compilervars.sh intel64 -platform mac` to my `.bash_profile`. The script is included with the MKL libraries.

After doing that the environment variable `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` is populated with the following:

```julia
/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2018.2.164/mac/compiler/lib:/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2018.2.164/mac/compiler/lib/intel64:/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2018.2.164/mac/tbb/lib:/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2018.2.164/mac/compiler/lib:/opt/intel/compilers_and_libraries_2018.2.164/mac/mkl/lib

```

The julialang build instructions for macOS indicates that it should be empty, but the build error I get happens also if I reset it to and empty string.

Now, when I do `make` I first run into the following error

```julia
make[1]: *** [/Users/pablo/build/juliamkl/usr/lib/julia/libimf.dylib] Error 1

```

So, it seems MKL does not include the Intel LIBM. Hence I comment out `USE_INTEL_LIBM = 1` in `make.user`. Then `make` runs into

```julia
make[1]: *** [/Users/pablo/build/juliamkl/usr/lib/julia/libmkl_rt.dylib] Error 1

```

This file does exist in `/opt/intel/mkl/lib`, so I suspect something is broken with my path somehow. Since resetting `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` does not help (I get the same error), I try copying by hand `/opt/intel/mkl/lib` into `/Users/pablo/build/juliamkl/usr/lib/julia/`. Desperate, I know. That gets me a bit further, but eventually the build fails right at the end with

```julia
    LINK usr/lib/julia/sys.dylib
Intel MKL FATAL ERROR: Cannot load libmkl_intel_thread.dylib.
make: *** [julia-base-cache] Error 2

```

That file is actually in `/Users/pablo/build/juliamkl/usr/lib/julia/`, but linking to it must be failing for some reason.

That is as far as I got. Any pointers would be immensely appreciated!

---

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**Author:** ![EthanAnderes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ethananderes/32/2028_2.png) [@EthanAnderes](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/EthanAnderes)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/2 "2018-04-04T23:35:06Z")

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I’m getting similar errors which I only get in v0.7 (for v0.6 everything works fine).

```julia
make[1]: *** [/Users/ethananderes/Software/juliaMaster/usr/lib/julia/libmkl_rt.dylib] Error 1
make: *** [julia-base] Error 2

```

---

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**Author:** ![SebastianM-C](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/sebastianm-c/32/2480_2.png) [@SebastianM-C](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/SebastianM-C)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/3 "2018-04-05T07:46:09Z")

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I had issues with libm when I built MKL on Linux, but they were solved by installing the compiler runtime libs ([Intel Developer Zone](https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/installing-intel-parallel-studio-xe-runtime-2018-using-yum-repository)).

I am not sure if there is something similar for macOS.

---

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**Author:** ![pablosanjose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pablosanjose/32/7006_2.png) [@pablosanjose](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pablosanjose)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 8:24am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/4 "2018-04-05T08:24:57Z")

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Were they the same issues above? I did try installing the full Parallel Studio suite, using our institutional license, but it didn’t solve the problems. I suspect a problem somewhere in the make system instead…

---

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**Author:** ![SebastianM-C](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/sebastianm-c/32/2480_2.png) [@SebastianM-C](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/SebastianM-C)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 8:50am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/5 "2018-04-05T08:50:55Z")

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My issue was that libm was missing from MKL and I could build with `USE_INTEL_LIBM = 0`. (and after installing the runtime libs I could use `USE_INTEL_LIBM = 1`)  
If you installed the full suite and it did not work, then the issue may be somewhere else as you said. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be more helpful.

---

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**Author:** ![pablosanjose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pablosanjose/32/7006_2.png) [@pablosanjose](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pablosanjose)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2018, 9:06am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/6 "2018-04-05T09:06:36Z")

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Ok, thanks for the info! So indeed, it seems a macOS-specific thing. And thanks also to EthanAnderes for reproducing this, I was fearing I had screwed up something in my setup.

---

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**Author:** ![Mason](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mason/32/2423_2.png) [@Mason](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Mason)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/7 "2018-05-25T22:03:16Z")

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Did you ever end up getting your Julia install working with MKL? I’m currently running into the exact same problem.

---

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**Author:** ![pablosanjose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pablosanjose/32/7006_2.png) [@pablosanjose](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pablosanjose)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/8 "2018-05-25T22:19:58Z")

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Hi @Mason, I’m trying precisely now. No luck yet. We’re discussing it also over at [https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/15133#issuecomment-392138864](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/15133#issuecomment-392138864)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pablosanjose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pablosanjose/32/7006_2.png) [@pablosanjose](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pablosanjose)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 11:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/9 "2018-06-09T23:11:21Z")

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An update: I believe I finally managed to build current master with MKL, see the github issue above.

Now, to my great surprise, I now find much less of a performance advantage of MKL (if any) respect to the new OpenBLAS 3.0 in current master, at least computing a few eigenvalues of a sparse matrix. I have to check more thoroughly, but I’m seeing this kind of pattern for the following quick benchmark

```julia
julia> gc(); srand(123); s = sprand(10_000,10_000, 1E-4); @benchmark eigs(s, nev=2)

```

Julia 6.1 (OpenBLAS 2)

```julia
BenchmarkTools.Trial: 
  memory estimate: 4.12 MiB
  allocs estimate: 2089
  --------------
  minimum time: 42.201 ms (0.00% GC)
  median time: 82.471 ms (0.00% GC)
  mean time: 93.641 ms (0.28% GC)
  maximum time: 244.257 ms (0.00% GC)
  --------------
  samples: 54
  evals/sample: 1

```

JuliaPro 6.2 (with MKL)

```julia
BenchmarkTools.Trial:
  memory estimate: 4.09 MiB
  allocs estimate: 1081
  --------------
  minimum time: 18.286 ms (0.00% GC)
  median time: 74.488 ms (0.00% GC)
  mean time: 86.996 ms (0.31% GC)
  maximum time: 235.768 ms (0.00% GC)
  --------------
  samples: 58
  evals/sample: 1

```

current master (MKL 2018.2.164)

```julia
BenchmarkTools.Trial: 
  memory estimate: 4.09 MiB
  allocs estimate: 1391
  --------------
  minimum time: 18.144 ms (0.00% GC)
  median time: 25.967 ms (0.00% GC)
  mean time: 31.886 ms (1.37% GC)
  maximum time: 103.709 ms (0.00% GC)
  --------------
  samples: 157
  evals/sample: 1

```

current master (OpenBLAS 3.0)

```julia
BenchmarkTools.Trial: 
  memory estimate: 4.09 MiB
  allocs estimate: 1400
  --------------
  minimum time: 21.629 ms (0.00% GC)
  median time: 26.397 ms (0.00% GC)
  mean time: 32.254 ms (1.41% GC)
  maximum time: 113.506 ms (1.10% GC)
  --------------
  samples: 155
  evals/sample: 1

```

I am not 100% sure that I’m actually measuring MKL vs OpenBLAS performance with this test, though. In any case, I’m quite pleased by the performance boost!

---

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**Author:** ![Ralph\_Smith](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ralph_smith/32/10344_2.png) [@Ralph\_Smith](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Ralph_Smith)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/10 "2018-06-09T23:51:37Z")

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`eigs` may not be a good test; most of its time should be spent in native Julia sparse matrix-vector products. Try `peakflops` or some dense QR factorizations (MKL is reputed to be especially good at the latter, IIRC).

---

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**Author:** ![pablosanjose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pablosanjose/32/7006_2.png) [@pablosanjose](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pablosanjose)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/11 "2018-06-10T17:38:10Z")

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Good to know! My main application hinges on `eigs` of `SparseMatrixCSC`, so that’s what matters most for me, but here is a test with `peakflops`, second run

Julia 6.1 (OpenBLAS 2)

```julia
julia> peakflops(10000)
4.2177837966089615e10

```

JuliaPro 6.2 (with MKL)

```julia
julia> peakflops(10000)
1.6368673276867664e11

```

current master (MKL 2018.2.164)

```julia
julia> peakflops(10000)
2.0221255393426257e11

```

current master (OpenBLAS 3.0)

```julia
julia> peakflops(10000)
1.8384187931521338e11

```

Wow!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RoyiAvital](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/royiavital/32/571_2.png) [@RoyiAvital](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RoyiAvital)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/12 "2018-06-10T20:22:20Z")

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Could you try [Matlab & Julia Matrix Operations Benchmark](https://github.com/RoyiAvital/MatlabJuliaMatrixOperationsBenchmark) with the different packages?  
It is seems there is a big regression in the latest Intel MKL.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pablosanjose](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pablosanjose/32/7006_2.png) [@pablosanjose](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pablosanjose)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 9:36am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/13 "2018-06-12T09:36:16Z")

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I’m afraid your benchmarks don’t run on 0.7 for me, they probably need some updating…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RoyiAvital](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/royiavital/32/571_2.png) [@RoyiAvital](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RoyiAvital)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issues-building-julia-0-7-with-intel-mkl-on-macos/10159/14 "2018-06-13T12:03:11Z")

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I was under the impression they are so simple they would work.

Once 0.7 is out I will update them.