Handling Some LD_LIBRARY_ERRORS

Question: error while loading shared libraries: libwx_gtk3u_core-3.3.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

\=> Working Answer

The error you're encountering indicates that the dynamic linker is unable to locate the wxWidgets shared library (libwx_gtk3u_core-3.3.so.0) at runtime. This can happen when wxWidgets is installed or built but the system does not know where to find the libraries.

Here are steps to resolve this issue:

1. Check if wxWidgets is Installed Correctly

First, check if the wxWidgets library is installed in the correct location by running:

ldconfig -p | grep libwx_gtk3u_core

If you don’t see the library in the output, it may not be installed in a directory that the system linker checks.

2. Locate the wxWidgets Library

If wxWidgets was built from source, locate where the shared library was installed:

sudo find / -name 'libwx_gtk3u_core-3.3.so.0'

This command will search for the library across the filesystem. Note the path where the library is located.

3. Add the Library Path to LD_LIBRARY_PATH

If the library is installed in a non-standard directory (e.g., /usr/local/lib or another custom location), you need to tell the linker where to find it.

• Assuming you find the library in /usr/local/lib, you can add it to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable:

    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
  

• To make this change permanent, add the above line to your shell profile file (e.g., ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

    echo 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
  

4. Run ldconfig

Alternatively, you can add the directory where the wxWidgets library is located to the system library path by adding it to the /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ configuration and then running ldconfig:

sudo sh -c 'echo "/usr/local/lib" > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/wxWidgets.conf'
sudo ldconfig

This will update the shared library cache, and the system should be able to find the libwx_gtk3u_core-3.3.so.0 library after that.

5. Verify

After doing one of the above steps, you can verify by running your wxWidgets program again:

./your_wxwidgets_program

This should resolve the issue of the missing shared library. Let me know if the error persists!