Issue compiling vlfeat on mac : further insight ?

Hello everyone,

I am currently trying to run vlfeat on Mac OS Sierra (10.12) with Matlab version 2017b. I am having a real struggle here because of libraries not found :

Invalid MEX-file : Library not loaded: @loader_path/libmex.dylib

Although I read carefully these explanations here or there about recompiling vlfeat, I can't make it work. Here is the error message I get when trying with Xcode 9 or Xcode 8 (tried both, same result) :

ld: symbol dyld_stub_binding_helper not found, normally in crt1.o/dylib1.o/bundle1.o for architecture x86_64
fatal error: /Users/paulkovacsik/Downloads/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/libtool: internal link edit command failed
make: *** [bin/maci64/libvl.dylib] Error 1

I understand it has to do with my compiler (probably gcc), but would anyone have some hints about how to fix this ? I would be greatly thankful, as I am right now quite desperate !

Thank you in advance

PS: commands used were (Xcode, 8 or 9)

make MEX=/Applications/MATLAB_R2017b.app/bin/mex ARCH=maci64

[Keshav Kundassery]

I am facing the same issue

[Yiyang Yu]

same issue here :(

[Meeshawn Marathe]

You must have gone through this link. After the initial setup, did you execute the following command:

vl_version verbose

to check whether VLFEAT has been successfully installed? Please include the output of this MATLAB command here.

[Keshav Kundassery]

Invalid MEX-file
'/Users/Keshav/Documents/MATLAB/vlfeat-0.9.20/toolbox/mex/mexmaci64/vl_version.mexmaci64':
dlopen(/Users/Keshav/Documents/MATLAB/vlfeat-0.9.20/toolbox/mex/mexmaci64/vl_version.mexmaci64,
6): Library not loaded: @loader_path/libmex.dylib
  Referenced from:
  /Users/Keshav/Documents/MATLAB/vlfeat-0.9.20/toolbox/mex/mexmaci64/vl_version.mexmaci64
  Reason: image not found.

This is the output I get when I do vl_version verbose

[Meeshawn Marathe]

Did you try the answer suggested below ?

[Keshav Kundassery]

I tried that and when verifying the path, I got:

-bash: $: command not found

[Walter Roberson]

 $echo $ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

should have been written as

   echo $DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

[Keshav Kundassery]

Thanks, that let me verify the path, but I'm still getting the same error when running "vl_version verbose"

Answer 1

[Ramazan Limko]

I had exactly the same problem and managed to solve it. Firs of all make sure you have the lates version of Xcode and Clang compiler. Then open up a terminal and 'cd' to the directory where you have stored the VLFeat:

cd /<your root>/vlfeat-0.9.20

Then:

make MEX=/<your root>/MATLAB_R2017b.app/bin/mex

I hope it works for you too.

Answer 2

[Meeshawn Marathe]

It seems like some libraries may not be loaded since the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH path may not be set properly. Try setting the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH path from MAC terminal. For example:

 DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH='/Applications/MATLAB_R2017b.app/bin/maci64:/Applications/MATLAB_R2017b.app/sys/os/maci64':$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

Verify the path:

 $echo $ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH