Linux SFML - Cannot Open Shared Object File

Question

Using Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon 64-Bit

I am having issues trying to get SFML to work. I am trying to compile from the command line with g++.

My file is /home/joe/Desktop/SFML/test/main.cpp

My SFML Folder is at /usr/lib/SFML-2.4.1

If I run g++ -c main.cpp -I/usr/lib/SFML-2.4.1/include it compiles fine. Then I run g++ main.o -o sfml-app -L/usr/lib/SFML-2.4.1/lib -lsfml-graphics -lsfml-system -lsfml-window -lsfml-audio This had problems before but after using the -L command it works fine now.

howerver when I run ./sfml-app I get the error ./sfml-app: error while loading shared libraries: libsfml-graphics.so.2.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Now in the /usr/lib/SFML-2.4.1/lib directory libsfml-graphics.so.2.4 is a symlink with the following chain( all files in this directory.

libsfml-graphics.so -> libsfml-graphics.so.2.4 -> libsfml-graphics.so.2.4.1

So can anyone explain to me why the object file can not be found? Thanks

Answer 1

The problem you're running into is the fact that you're telling the linker where to find the library files/information, but when running the program your system won't know where to find the shared libraries belonging to SFML.

The quickest fix is to create a small shell script to run your program which sets the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH .

Something like this should work (untested):

#!/usr/bin/bash
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/SFML-2.4.1/bin ./sfml-app

As an alternative, I'd recommend you compile and install SFML from sources . It's not that complicated. The hardest part is determining all dependencies and get those installed first (preferably using your package manager).

It's also possible to install SFML using apt-get , but I'm not 100% sure their version is up to date: sudo apt-get install libsfml-dev