problem with different linux distribution with c++ executable

Question

Hi. I have a c++ code that runs perfect on my linux machine (Ubuntu Karmic). When I try to run it on another version, I have all sort of shared libraries missing.

Is there any way to merge all shared libraries into single executable?

Edit: I think I've asked the wrong question. I should have ask for a way to static-link my executable when it is already built. I found the answer in ermine & statifier

Answer 1

What you are describing is the use of static libraries instead of shared libraries.

Answer 2

I am not too sure, but you may want to create your executable by statically linking all the libraries.

Answer 3

There are 3 possible reasons you have shared libraries missing:

• you are using shared libraries which do not exist by default on the other distribution, or you have installed them on your host, but not the other one, e.g. libDBI.so
• you have over-specified the version at link time, e.g. libz.so.1.2.3 and the other machine has an API compatible (major version 1) but different minor version 2.3, which would probably work with your program if only it would link
• the major version of the library has changed, which means it is incompatible libc.so.2 vs libc.so.1.

The fixes are:

• don't link libraries which you don't need that may not be on different distros, OR, install the additional libraries on the other machines, either manually or make them dependencies of your installer package (e.g. use RPM)
• don't specify the versions so tightly on the command line - link libz.so.1 instead of libz.so.1.2.3.
• compile multiple versions against different libc versions.

Answer 4

One alternative is to dynamically load shared libraries using dlopen() and if it fails to load, exit gracefully with the message that the dependent library is required for the executable to work.
The user then may install the appropriate library.

Answer 5

There have been several technical solutions to the original problem noted here, e.g.

compile multiple versions against different libc versions.

or

install the additional libraries on the other machines

but if you're in the position of an ISV, there is really just one sane solution:

Get a clean install of an older system, (e.g. Ubuntu 6.x if you're targeting desktops, perhaps as far back as Red Hat 9 if you're targeting servers) and build your software on that. Generally libraries (and definitely libc) are backwards compatible, so you you won't have problems running on newer systems.

Of course if you have non-standard or recent-version lib dependencies this doesn't completely solve the problem. In that case, as other's have suggested, if you want to be robust it's better to dlopen() and report the problems (or run with reduced functionality).