Here are my sdl libraries:
$ dpkg-query -W|grep libsdl
libsdl-image1.2:amd64 1.2.12-14+b2
libsdl-mixer1.2:amd64 1.2.12-19+b2
libsdl-ttf2.0-0:amd64 2.0.11-6+b3
libsdl1.2debian:amd64 1.2.76-1
libsdl2-2.0-0:amd64 2.32.72+ds-1
libsdl2-image-2.0-0:amd64 2.8.12+dfsg-2
libsdl3-0:amd64 3.4.16+ds-1
$
I don't see any relevant libraries in /usr/local/lib:
home:/usr/local/lib $ ls lib*
libcruft.a libjvc.a libmp3lame.so libsensors.a
libtcl7.5.so.1.0 libtkx4.1.so.1.0
libctl.a libjvc.so libmp3lame.so.0 libsensors.so
libtcl.sa libvga.config
libdmalloc.a libjvc.so.1 libmp3lame.so.0.0.0 libsensors.so.3
libtclx7.5.so.1 libvga.et4000
libdmalloclp.a libjvc.so.1.0 liboctave.a libsensors.so.3.0.2
libtclx7.5.so.1.0
libhistory.a libkpathsea.a liboctinterp.a libsensors.so.3.0.7
libtinst.a
libjasper.a libmp3lame.a libqd.a libtcl7.5.a
libtk.sa
libjasper.la libmp3lame.la libreadline.a libtcl7.5.so.1
libtkx4.1.so.1
The LD_DEBUG script printout ends like this:
864089: trying
file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pulseaudio/glibc-hwcaps/x86-64-v2/libpulsecommon-17.0.
so
864089: (no such file)
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/pulseaudio/
libpulsecommon-17.0.so
864089:
864089: find library=libsndfile.so.1 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndfile.so.1
<------------- note
864089:
864089: find library=libX11-xcb.so.1 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libX11-xcb.so.1
864089:
864089: find library=libasyncns.so.0 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libasyncns.so.0
864089:
864089: find library=libFLAC.so.14 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libFLAC.so.14
864089:
864089: find library=libvorbis.so.0 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvorbis.so.0
864089:
864089: find library=libvorbisenc.so.2 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libvorbisenc.so.2
864089:
864089: find library=libopus.so.0 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libopus.so.0
864089:
864089: find library=libogg.so.0 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libogg.so.0
864089:
864089: find library=libmpg123.so.0 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmpg123.so.0
864089:
864089: find library=libmp3lame.so.0 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmp3lame.so.0
864089:
864089: find library=libmvec.so.1 [0]; searching
864089: search cache=/etc/ld.so.cache
864089: trying file=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmvec.so.1
864089:
864089: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndfile.so.1: error: symbol
lookup error: undefined symbol: lame_encode_buffer_interleaved_int (fatal)
Failed loading SDL3 library.
$
The libsndfile library is another one not listed by ldd:
$ ldd `which gimp`|grep snd
$
or in the depends list:
home:/var/cache/apt/archives $ apt-cache depends gimp | grep snd
home:/var/cache/apt/archives $
It's in the libsdnfile1 package:
home:/usr/local/lib $ apt-file search
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndfile.so.1
libsndfile1: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndfile.so.1
libsndfile1: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libsndfile.so.1.0.37
...of which I have this version:
$ dpkg -l libsndfile1
+-- Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
|+-
Status=Inst/Not-inst/Confs/Unpack/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
||+ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
│││ Name Version Architecture Description
├┼┼─═══════════════════─════════════
ii libsndfile1:amd64 1.2.2-4+b1 amd64 Library for
reading/writing audio files
$
$ sudo dpkg-query -W |grep libsnd
libsndfile1:amd64 1.2.2-4+b1
libsndfile1-dev:amd64 1.2.2-4+b1
libsndio6.1:amd64 1.1.0-3
libsndio7.0:amd64 1.10.0-0.2+b2
$
I have the latest version:
$ sudo apt-get install libsndfile1
[sudo] password for jrv:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
libsndfile1 is already the newest version (1.2.2-4+b1).
libsndfile1 set to manually installed.
Solving dependencies... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 420 not upgraded.
$
Do I need something different?
On Tue, Sep 22, 2026 at 10:33 AM Simon McVittie <[email protected]> wrote:
> Control: tags -1 + moreinfo unreproducible
> Control: severity -1 important
>
> On Tue, 22 Sep 2026 at 09:33:40 -0400, James Van Zandt wrote:
> >I note that ldd lists 124 library dependencies for gimp, but none is an
> sdl
> >library. Likewise for `gimp -v`. So how can we tell what version library
> it
> >needs?
>
> Unfortunately, in general you can't, because gimp has a plugin
> architecture, so it also needs all the libraries that are required by
> all of its plugins.
>
> >Failed loading SDL3 library.
>
> According to https://codesearch.debian.net/ this message comes from
> sdl2-compat, which is the implementation of libSDL2-2.0.so.0
> (libsdl2-2.0-0) in Debian testing/unstable. Presumably some plugin pulls
> that in, most likely via libgegl-0.4-0t64, which has plugins named
> sdl2-display.so and sdl3-display.so.
>
> But, libsdl2-2.0-0 depends on libsdl3-0, so it should be able to load
> that library successfully - and indeed you previously said that you do
> already have libsdl3-0 installed, at a suitable version.
>
> I can't reproduce this crash: gimp loads successfully for me, and
> /proc/$(pgrep gimp)/maps shows that it has loaded both libSDL2-2.0.so.0
> (libsdl2-2.0-0) and libSDL3.so.0 (libsdl3-0).
>
> What version of libsdl2-2.0-0 do you have installed? Ideally run
>
> dpkg-query -W|grep libsdl
>
> which would list all SDL-related libraries.
>
> Are there any libraries in /usr/local/lib or some other non-dpkg-managed
> location?
>
> Running
>
> LD_DEBUG=libs gimp 2>&1 | tee 1145050.log
>
> would likely provide useful information in 1145050.log (it will be
> very verbose for an application as complex as gimp).
>
> smcv
>
