Shapely OSError: Could not find lib c or load any of its variants []

Question

I'm just trying to use the demo code. I run the following in Jupyter Notebook:

from shapely.geometry import shape

Which gives me the following:

OSError                                   Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-4-cf5b4d0962ea> in <module>()
----> 1 from shapely.geometry import shape

/Users/hkwik/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/shapely/geometry/__init__.py in <module>()
      2 """
      3 
----> 4 from .base import CAP_STYLE, JOIN_STYLE
      5 from .geo import box, shape, asShape, mapping
      6 from .point import Point, asPoint

/Users/hkwik/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/shapely/geometry/base.py in <module>()
      7 from ctypes import pointer, c_size_t, c_char_p, c_void_p
      8 
----> 9 from shapely.coords import CoordinateSequence
     10 from shapely.ftools import wraps
     11 from shapely.geos import lgeos, ReadingError

/Users/hkwik/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/shapely/coords.py in <module>()
      6 from ctypes import byref, c_double, c_uint
      7 
----> 8 from shapely.geos import lgeos
      9 from shapely.topology import Validating
     10 

/Users/hkwik/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/shapely/geos.py in <module>()
     81         _lgeos = load_dll('geos_c', fallbacks=alt_paths)
     82 
---> 83     free = load_dll('c').free
     84     free.argtypes = [c_void_p]
     85     free.restype = None

/Users/hkwik/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/shapely/geos.py in load_dll(libname, fallbacks, mode)
     59         raise OSError(
     60             "Could not find lib {0} or load any of its variants {1}.".format(
---> 61                 libname, fallbacks or []))
     62 
     63 _lgeos = None

OSError: Could not find lib c or load any of its variants [].

However, if I run from the interpreter, everything is fine.

Any idea what's going on?

Have you attempted any solutions yet? It looks like an OSX exclusive problem, there are two issues on Github regarding this: https://github.com/carsonfarmer/python_geospatial/issues/3#issuecomment-49673981 & https://github.com/Toblerity/Shapely/issues/394#issuecomment-235163776 — chrki, Nov 19 '16 at 21:03
Do you use virtual environment? How have you installed jupyter? Standard? — Eugene Lisitsky, Nov 24 '16 at 20:01
Have to say that @chrki comment looks like it is the answer - did you try it @Huey? — J Richard Snape, Nov 25 '16 at 13:23
Possible duplicate http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19742406/could-not-find-library-geos-c-or-load-any-of-its-variants Need to install libgeos-c1 libgeos-3.4.2 libgeos-dev packages — Priyank Mehta, May 04 '17 at 15:20
Possible duplicate of [Could not find library geos\_c or load any of its variants](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19742406/could-not-find-library-geos-c-or-load-any-of-its-variants) — Priyank Mehta, May 04 '17 at 15:20

score 36 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 16 '20 at 22:03

36

I simply uninstalled Shapely and re-installed it to fix the issue.

python -m pip uninstall shapely

python -m pip install shapely

answered Nov 16 '20 at 22:03

Zac

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The wonders of technology never cease to amaze me. – rosstex Nov 28 '20 at 20:27
4

Doing `pip3 install shapely --upgrade` is another solution which worked for me. – tommy.carstensen Dec 22 '20 at 00:29

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 14 '18 at 07:26

8

You may try to reset the environment variable DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH:

export DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=$(HOME)/lib:/usr/local/lib:/lib:/usr/lib

Source

edited Aug 14 '18 at 07:26

anothernode

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answered Aug 14 '18 at 07:06

user2977865

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In my env the DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH was set to $(HOME)/anaconda/lib. After changing it everything works well. – user2977865 Aug 14 '18 at 07:08

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 29 '21 at 10:48

5

Try this may help you:

pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall shapely

answered Jun 29 '21 at 10:48

BonieSV

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score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 17 '21 at 04:53

2

For macOS users:

brew install geos
pip3 install shapely --upgrade

answered Nov 17 '21 at 04:53

guesswho

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 02 '19 at 08:36

1

The way I fixed it:

apk add geos libc-dev musl-dev
pip install Shapely

answered Jul 02 '19 at 08:36

eddd

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score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 29 '20 at 13:35

1

For me, only works after installing Shapely from the shapely lib and executing the following command from Anaconda Prompt:

pip install Shapely-1.7.1-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl --force-reinstall

This forces a re-install of shapely.

edited Dec 29 '20 at 13:35

Chandan

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answered Dec 29 '20 at 12:33

jmg

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score 1 · Answer 7 · answered May 18 '21 at 01:02

1

I had to do a conda update --all to fix this.

answered May 18 '21 at 01:02

Kannappan Sirchabesan

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 23 '19 at 06:19

@user2977865 and @anothernode are correct in their approach but it may not work for everyone. By default, shapely will look for libraries in the DYLD_PATH.

I had it set to DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib/:/usr/local/mysql/lib/

But these libraries are placed in /usr/lib.

So I had to modify it as follows:

export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/:/usr/local/mysql/lib/

Bonus note: Ensure that your environment variables have been set by restarting terminal and clearing cache of any IDEs you might be using.

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Apr 12 '21 at 15:08

I had a very similar issue running code in aws lambda with the error message:

 OSError: Could not find lib c or load any of its variants ['libc.musl-x86_64.so.1'].

I added musl-dev to my container installation and adapted the symlink:

ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-musl/libc.so /lib/libc.musl-x86_64.so.1

Shapely OSError: Could not find lib c or load any of its variants []

9 Answers9

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