# \`Libdl.dlopen\` versus \`dlfcn.h\`'s \`dlopen\`

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/libdl-dlopen-versus-dlfcn-h-s-dlopen/111331>\
**Category:** Internals & Design\
**Created:** [March 8, 2024, 2:35am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/libdl-dlopen-versus-dlfcn-h-s-dlopen/111331 "2024-03-08T02:35:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![goretkin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/goretkin/32/167_2.png) [@goretkin](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/goretkin)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 2:35am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/libdl-dlopen-versus-dlfcn-h-s-dlopen/111331/1 "2024-03-08T02:35:25Z")

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On my system, I see

```c
// Build with
// `gcc test_libpython.c -ldl`

#include <stdio.h>
#include <dlfcn.h>

int main() {
    void* handle = dlopen("/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3.10.so.1.0", RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_DEEPBIND | RTLD_GLOBAL);
    if (!handle) {
        fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", dlerror());
        return 1;
    }
    printf("Library loaded successfully\n");
    dlclose(handle);
    return 0;
}

```

```julia
$ gcc test_libpython.c -ldl
$ ./a.out 
Library loaded successfully

```

but I see

```julia
julia> using Libdl: dlpath, dlopen, dlopen_e, dlclose, dlsym, dlsym_e, RTLD_LAZY, RTLD_DEEPBIND, RTLD_GLOBAL

julia> lib_path = "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3.10.so.1.0"
"/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3.10.so.1.0"

julia> dlopen_flags = RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_DEEPBIND | RTLD_GLOBAL
0x00000046

julia> dlopen(lib_path, dlopen_flags)
ERROR: could not load library "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3.10.so.1.0"
libexpat.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Stacktrace:
 [1] dlopen(s::String, flags::UInt32; throw_error::Bool)
   @ Base.Libc.Libdl ./libdl.jl:117
 [2] dlopen(s::String, flags::UInt32)
   @ Base.Libc.Libdl ./libdl.jl:116
 [3] top-level scope
   @ REPL[4]:1

shell> ldd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3.10.so.1.0
	linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffc33319000)
	libexpat.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexpat.so.1 (0x00007fa6b229e000)
	libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007fa6b2282000)
	libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007fa6b219b000)
	libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fa6b1f70000)
	/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fa6b28cd000)

julia> dlopen("/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexpat.so.1", dlopen_flags)
Ptr{Nothing} @0x0000000007dec090

julia> dlopen(lib_path, dlopen_flags)
Ptr{Nothing} @0x0000000007c7d0c0

```

Note that `libpython` does load correctly after loading `libexpat` explicitly.

This is within an Ubuntu docker image, so I imagine something is misconfigured, but it is hard to understand what since the “analogous” C code is working. Or so I think. There is much more going on in [`jl_load_dynamic_library`](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/f6504e4af93a3ce33391b2bd858c1a3e9fb9fe54/src/dlload.c#L262), so I don’t know what the right test is.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fatteneder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/fatteneder/32/33991_2.png) [@fatteneder](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/fatteneder)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 8:55am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/libdl-dlopen-versus-dlfcn-h-s-dlopen/111331/2 "2024-03-08T08:55:41Z")

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Does it work if you add `/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu` to `DL_LOAD_PATH`?

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**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/libdl-dlopen-versus-dlfcn-h-s-dlopen/111331/3 "2024-03-08T12:03:33Z")

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jl\_dlopen calls the real dlopen here:

> <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/f6504e4af93a3ce33391b2bd858c1a3e9fb9fe54/src%2Fdlload.c#L200-L216>

Have you checked if the LD\_LIBRARY\_PATH and PATH environment variables are the same in both circumstances?

You may want to run julia via `LD_DEBUG=all julia` to diagnose.

Chdck the manpage for additional options:  
[https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/ld.so.8.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![goretkin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/goretkin/32/167_2.png) [@goretkin](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/goretkin)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/libdl-dlopen-versus-dlfcn-h-s-dlopen/111331/4 "2024-03-08T13:26:12Z")

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> [@mkitti](#):
>
> `LD_DEBUG=all julia`

This was helpful. It reminded me that Julia was installed via Nix in this environment, with output like

```julia

    197293:	symbol=stderr; lookup in file=/nix/store/8mc30d49ghc8m5z96yz39srlhg5s9sjj-glibc-2.38-44/lib/libc.so.6 [0]

```

and that is why it couldn’t find any of the system libraries that were not explicit dependencies.

Thanks!