/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6: version CXXABI_1.3.8' not found

Add the library's path to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable

TL;DR

GCC requires you to tell it where your library is located manually when it can't find the right version, which can be done in a few ways. One is adding it to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/local/lib64/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"

For some, the library path will be /usr/local/lib64/. Others have reported the library path /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ working for them instead.

Why do we need to add the library to LD_LIBRARY_PATH?

When you compile and install GCC it puts the libraries in one of these directories, but that's all it does. According to the FAQs for libstdc++, the error that we got means that the dynamic linker found the wrong version of the libstdc++ shared library. Because the linker can't find the right version, we have to tell it where to find the libstdc++ library.

The simplest way to fix this is to use the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable, which is a colon-separated list of directories in which the linker will search for shared libraries.

There are other ways as well to fix this issue. You can find this and the other solutions mentioned briefly when you install gcc if you read the make output:

Libraries have been installed in:

/usr/local/lib/../lib32

If you ever happen to want to link against installed libraries in a given directory, LIBDIR, you must either use libtool, and specify the full pathname of the library, or use the `-LLIBDIR' flag during linking and do at least one of the following:

  • add LIBDIR to the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable during execution
  • add LIBDIR to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable during linking
  • use the `-Wl,-rpath -Wl,LIBDIR' linker flag
  • have your system administrator add LIBDIR to `/etc/ld.so.conf'

See any operating system documentation about shared libraries for more information, such as the ld(1) and ld.so(8) manual pages.

Grr, that was simple! Also, "if you ever happen to want to link against the installed libraries," seriously?


I had the same problem on my Ubuntu 14.04 when tried to install TopTracker. I got such errors:

/usr/share/toptracker/bin/TopTracker: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6: version 'CXXABI_1.3.8' not found (required by /usr/share/toptracker/bin/TopTracker) /usr/share/toptracker/bin/TopTracker: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6: version 'GLIBCXX_3.4.21' not found (required by /usr/share/toptracker/bin/TopTracker) /usr/share/toptracker/bin/TopTracker: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6: version 'CXXABI_1.3.9' not found (required by /usr/share/toptracker/bin/TopTracker)

But I then installed gcc 4.9 version and problem gone:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-4.9 g++-4.9

Tags:

Linux

Unix

C++

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