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Description of problem: RedHat's version of _struct.so fails to link against libpython2.7 despite requiring symbols defined by it, i.e. it has been linked incorrectly, leaving symbols unresolved. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): python-2.7.5-68.el7.x86_64 python-libs-2.7.5-68.el7.x86_64 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: pythontest.c: #include <dlfcn.h> int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { void *pylib = dlopen("libpython2.7.so.1.0", RTLD_LOCAL | RTLD_NOW); void (*Py_Initialize)(void) = dlsym(pylib, "Py_Initialize"); Py_Initialize(); int (*PyRun_SimpleStringFlags)(const char *, void *) = dlsym(pylib, "PyRun_SimpleStringFlags"); PyRun_SimpleStringFlags("import json\n", 0); return 0; } 2. Compile with "gcc -Wall -o pythontest pythontest.c -ldl -g" 3. Run ./pythontest - Actual results: it will fail with ImportError: /usr/lib64/python2.7/lib-dynload/_struct.so: undefined symbol: PyFloat_Type Expected results: No error Additional info: (optionally) change RTLD_LOCAL to RTLD_GLOBAL and see that it works, indicating that python fails to ensure the symbols it needs are actually available in the appropriate symbol namespace - Reproducer code runs proper with arm python same version LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/arm/tools/python/python/2.7.5/rhe7-x86_64/lib/ and see that it works (no errors printed)
I compiled Python 2.7 manually on Fedora 28 using: ./configure --enable-shared --prefix=/opt/py27shared make install Using that, _struct.so is correctly linked to libpython: $ ldd /opt/py27shared/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_struct.so libpython2.7.so.1.0 => /lib64/libpython2.7.so.1.0 (0x00007f399179f000) ... It's not the case for the _struct.so installed by python2-libs-2.7.15-2.fc28.x86_64: $ ldd /usr/lib64/python2.7/lib-dynload/_struct.so linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fff414e1000) libpthread.so.0 => /lib64/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007fb8de363000) libc.so.6 => /lib64/libc.so.6 (0x00007fb8ddfa4000) /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fb8de78e000) I looked at x86_64 build logs of python2-2.7.15-7.el8+7. C compiler flags look fine... gcc -DNDEBUG -D_GNU_SOURCE -I . -I /builddir/build/BUILD/Python-2.7.15/Include -I Include -O2 -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -Wp,-D_GLIBCXX_ASSERTIONS -c /builddir/build/BUILD/Python-2.7.15/Modules/_struct.c -fPIC -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -fcf-protection -fexceptions -fno-strict-aliasing -fstack-clash-protection -fstack-protector-strong -fwrapv -g -grecord-gcc-switches -m64 -mtune=generic -o Modules/_struct.o -pipe -pthread -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-annobin-cc1 -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 ... but the linker uses "-Wl,-z,now -Wl,-z,relro" which can explain the missing libpython dependency on the .so file: gcc -Wl,-z,now -Wl,-z,relro -pthread -shared -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-ld Modules/_struct.o -o Modules/_struct.so
Python modules such as _struct should link to libpython2.7.so.1.0. That they don't is a bug. However, I don't think the reproducer (loading libpython2.7.so.1.0 with RTLD_LOCAL) should be expected to work. For reference, from `man dlopen`: RTLD_LOCAL This is the converse of RTLD_GLOBAL, and the default if neither flag is speci‐ fied. Symbols defined in this shared object are not made available to resolve references in subsequently loaded shared objects. Python modules (including internal ones) can't work without symbols from libpython2.7.so, and generally expect that Python is loaded before they are imported. What's the use case behind loading libpython2.7.so with RTLD_LOCAL?
If I understood correctly, the root issue is the -Wl,-z,now flag passed to LDFLAGS when the _struct.so dynamic module of Python is built (I'm not 100% sure).
Oh, I think that I identified the root issue. The RPM package modifies Python 2.7 build system to ask to compile some C extensions like _struct using Makefile as a shared library. Sadly, there is a bug in Python: with such configuration, the generated shared library is not linked to libpython2.7. I reported the bug upstream and I proposed a pull request to fix it: https://bugs.python.org/issue34814
According to the discussion at Python upstream ( https://bugs.python.org/issue34814 ), C extensions should not be linked to libpython, and the dynamic linker should find symbols needed by C extensions in the current process. It seems that you must use RTLD_GLOBAL to load libpython for your use case. Loading libpython with RTLD_LOCAL is not supported in Python. If you really want to use RTLD_LOCAL, you should modify Python to build the extensions that you need as builtin modules rather than extensions (.so libraries). But I'm not sure that it's doable for all C extensions of CPython. I close the bug is "not a bug" since RTLD_LOCAL doesn't work by design: it's a deliberate choice of Python upstream.
Also, why does the customer need to link with RTLD_LOCAL? Can we help with the underlying use case?