How to set library path for qtcreator in Ubuntu ?

[laine]

Hi, I develop software with QtCreator 4.10.2 on Ubuntu 18.04.
It works greatly.

The project is managed by cmake. and the qt version is 5.9.

But I encountered problems when I tried to debug the program.

The message in "Application Output" is error while loading shared libraries: ***.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

But

1. If I started the program from terminal, the program works normally

2. I tried to clear build-directory of project and delete *.user in source directory, but the problem still exists when I rebuild project from source

3. I manually add library paths into PATH in Projects->Run->Run Environment, it still doesn't work.

4. I manually add library paths in to Kit configurations, it still doesn't work.

5. If manually add LD_LIBRARY_PATH in Projects->Run->Run Environment, it works.

---

So, What should I do to let qtcreator load LD_LIBRARY_PATH automatically ?

[SGaist]

Hi,

One way is to start it from the console where you defined that variable.

However if you defined it system wide, it should be picked up automatically unless you modified the environment.

Note that PATH has nothing to do with library loading on Linux. It's only for executable discovery.

[laine]

@SGaist Yeah, I set LD_LIBRARY_PATH for target libraries. And I even reboot ubuntu for several times, but the problem still exists.

I start QtCreator from dock.

Can this be the reason ?

[SGaist]

How did you set that variable ?
By the way, what is that library ?

[laine]

@SGaist my project requires some 3rd libraries to run. Such as qt, vtk, and etc.
First, I set LD_LIBRARY_PATH in ~/.bashrc, which doesnot work, just as I explained before
Then, I manually add LD_LIBRARY_PATH in (current open project of QtCreator) Projects->Run->Run Environment, it works. Just as step 5 shown.

I start QtCreator from Ubuntu dock.
Can this be the reason ?

[jsulm]

@laine said in How to set library path for qtcreator in Ubuntu ?:

I set LD_LIBRARY_PATH in ~/.bashrc

Can you show how exactly you're doing this?

[laine]

@jsulm I set with following code in ~/.bashrc

export PATH=$PATH:~/libraries/qt-5-91/5.9.1/gcc_64/bin
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:~/libraries/qt-5-91/5.9.1/gcc_64/lib
export QTDIR=~/libraries/qt-5-91/5.9.1/gcc_64

By the way, if I start qtcreator from shell, it works.

[paulf]

@laine

Personally I advise against using LD_LIBRARY_PATH in any situation. Here is an example of why you should not do this. At work we use an in house build of GCC that is badly done and relies on LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If I use our standard setup, then I can't execute qtcreator because there is a conflict in the versions of libstdc++ caused by our LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If I unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH, I can run qtcreator fine. But then when I try to build any software, our tools that need their LD_LIBRARY_PATH don't work. In this case I can add the LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the build environment. Alternatively you end up with each app being launched with a wrapper script that sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

There is a better way. RPATH. See this topic on SO. Effectively this bakes in the correct library search path into your executable.

[JonB]

@laine
I don't know if this is your problem/you are already aware, but do you understand that .bashrc is not always read? It's only read in when bash is started interactively (like a terminal shell). Do you need to check if your .profile/.bash_profile is source-ing it?