Cannot execute Lazarus IDE on Linux Mint 20.1
lazarus / 32-Linux

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maurobio · 2025-04-15 22:40

Dear ALL,

I have tried to install the latest version of Lazarus (v3., along with
FPC, on a machine running Linux Mint 20.1 "Ulyssa".

I installed directly from the debs and everything seems to be OK and
the Free Pascal compiler works fine, but when I attempt to run the IDE
from the terminal using the "starlazarus" command, I receive the
message: "startlazarus: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version
`GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by startlazarus)". I then attempted
to update the libc6 using the commands "sudo apt update" and "sudo apt
install libc6", but then I get the message "libc6 is already the most
recent version (2.31-0ubuntu9.17)".

How to solve this? Doesn't the most recent version of Lazarue ran in
older versions of Linux? Notice that Linux Mint 20.1 is near end-of-
life, but it has still not reached it.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

With warmest regards,

----------------------------------------------------------------------
TRon · 2025-04-16 00:18

Quote from: maurobio on April 16, 2025, 12:40:15 amI installed
directly from the debs and everything seems to be OK and the Free
Pascal compiler works fine, but when I attempt to run the IDE from the
terminal using the "starlazarus" command, I receive the message:
"startlazarus: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34'
not found (required by startlazarus)".
Congratulations and welcome in the world of Linux source-compatibility
(e.g. not windows binary compatibility).

It is a known issue in both the Linux and FPC community.

QuoteHow to solve this?
Solution 1:
- in case your distribution comes with a package-manager that has FPC
3.2.2 listed, then use your package manager to install FPC 3.2.2
- after having installed the FPC compiler build Lazarus from source
(instructions available in wiki, it is a 3-liner).

Solution 2:
- Use FPCUpDeluxe

There are more solutions possible but these are the two easiest ones
and which takes the least amount of time.

Whatever you do when using a distribution that is near eol: never use
the latest and greatest installer, deb packages or whatever magic
installation method/script/suggestions. If it is in your capabilities
then build both compiler and Lazarus IDE from source. In case that is
not possible use the best next thing which would be FPCUpDeluxe.

Before doing so, remove all remnants of previous installed FPC
compilers and Lazarus IDE's and install both the FPC compiler and
Lazarus IDE in user space (whether build manual or with FPCUpDeluxe).

QuoteDoesn't the most recent version of Lazarue ran in older versions
of Linux?
Nope. The build-server uses a newer libc than is supported by your
distribution.

QuoteNotice that Linux Mint 20.1 is near end-of-life, but it has still
not reached it.
There is no relevance with your distribution being almost eol. I
exaggerate here to get the point across but, it is in similar nature
as wondering about why the executable of the latest windows 11 release
of your favourite application does not run on MSDos or a PS5 game not
on a PS2.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dzandaa · 2025-04-16 08:53

Hi,

I use installation from Lazarus web site (3.4 FPC 3.2.2 and 3.6 FPC
3.2.2) without problem on Linux Mint 20.1 64 Bits Cinnamon.
I also have Linux Mint 22 with same configuration and a 22.1 with the
latest stable (3. version.

I never use the package manager.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/lazarus/files/Lazarus%20Linux%20amd64
%20DEB/


I run Lazarus from the menu->Programming.


B->

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thaddy · 2025-04-16 09:20

I believe mint is debian or ubuntu (also debian based) based?
In that case add backports to apt.
It may be that it then can update glibc to a newer version.
That is, if mint does not add backports by default, like ubuntu does.
(which is, in my opinion, the best option for non-professional
projects)

Modify /etc/apt/sources.list to do that.
Google for exact instructions per mint version.
should be something like:Code: Bash  [Select][+][-]window.onload =
function(){var x1 = document.getElementById("main_content_section");
if (x1) { var x = document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i
= 0; i sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backports.listthen add:Code:
Bash  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i deb
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted
universe multiverseAnd save.
Finally do:Code: Bash  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1
= document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i sudo apt
update
See Code: Bash  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i man
sources.listfor how to do that, because recently it has changed a bit
and I am not otherwise familiar with mint (frankly, I hate it).
Hope that helps.

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maurobio · 2025-04-16 12:03

Dear ALL,

I'm afraid I'm at a great loss here! 

To clarify things a little bit, here is what I have done from the
start:

I downloaded the 64-bit Debian packages from the official Lazarus
repository at SourceForge.

I then installed the packages by issuing the commands "sudo apt
install ./fpc-laz_3.2.2-210709_amd64.deb,  ./fpc-
src_3.2.2-210709_amd64.deb,  ./lazarus-project_3.8.0-0_amd64.deb"

The installation proceeded without errors and the Free Pascal compiler
ran fine from a terminal window.

An icon launcher for Lazarus has been created - but when I click on
it, nothing happened; I then opened a terminal window and typed the
command "startlazarus" and then I got the dreaded message:
"startlazarus: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34'
not found (required by startlazarus)".

Now, "FPCUpDeluxe"? "Compiling Lazarus from the sources"? "Modify apt
sources"? Why should all this be necessary? Aren't the Debian packages
supposed to work out-of-the-shelf??? It did in previous versions of
Lazarus and should work in newer versions too as member @Dzandaa
reports success in his installation of the IDE.

Best regards,

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dzandaa · 2025-04-16 12:57

Hi
@murobio:

Are you sure that there is nothing left of the installation from the
Mint repository?

Don't use the Lazarus version on Mint repository, it is not the
latest.

I advise you to start from scratch:

Uninstall it  with the "Software manager"

or better

Uninstall it completely with "Synaptic Package Manager"

Search for "fpc", look what is installed (Green square), select  it
with Right Click and  "Mark for Removal" then "Apply"
Do the same with "lazarus"

Download the 3 packages from Sourceforge

Install them in this order:

fpc-laz, fpc-src, lazarus project

by just clicking on each .deb files (that launch the "Archive
Manager") then Install.

I didn't test the latest version of Lazarus (3. with Linux Mint Linux
Mint 20, so try first an older version like 3.4 or 3.6.

I also just use the 64 bits versions of Lazarus.

After the first run, I install "anchordockingdsgn" from
"Package->Install/Uninstall Packages" to have a pleasant environment.

For Graphic, I use "BGRABitmap" and "BGRAControls" from
"Package->Online Package Manager"

Some tricks for linux:

Enable access to USB:
sudo usermod -a -G dialout <user>

Open GL: cannot find -lGL (for BGRABitmap)
sudo apt install libgl1-mesa-dev

SQLite:
sudo apt install sqlite3
sudo apt install libsqlite3-dev

Slow:
sudo apt install appmenu-gtk2-module
sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev

Missing dependencies:
apt-get install -f

Missing Debugger:
apt-get install gdb

Ask if you have problems.

B->

----------------------------------------------------------------------
maurobio · 2025-04-16 14:33

Hi, @Dzaandas!

I never installed Lazarus from the Mint repository. In my previous
posting, I reported the exact steps I executed - I installed from the
Debian packages available from the official Lazarus repository at
SouceForge.

Best regards,

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Thaddy · 2025-04-16 14:44

You should try my approach, not anything else.
Now playing The Hives again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz1Jwyxd4tE

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TRon · 2025-04-16 14:47

Quote from: Dzandaa on April 16, 2025, 02:57:06 pmDownload the 3
packages from Sourceforge

Install them in this order:

fpc-laz, fpc-src, lazarus project
By now you should know that is exactly the wrong advise. Never seen
you pick up the pieces when using that advise goes south though.

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TRon · 2025-04-16 15:07

Quote from: Thaddy on April 16, 2025, 04:44:08 pmYou should try my
approach, not anything else.
Using back ports might bring him a more up to date version but is not
going to solve other issues and/or make the upgrade part and/or
multiple installations any easier.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
TRon · 2025-04-16 15:15

Quote from: maurobio on April 16, 2025, 02:03:03 pmNow, "FPCUpDeluxe"?
"Compiling Lazarus from the sources"? "Modify apt sources"? Why should
all this be necessary? Aren't the Debian packages supposed to work
out-of-the-shelf??? It did in previous versions of Lazarus and should
work in newer versions too as member @Dzandaa reports success in his
installation of the IDE.
This issue has been discussed to death. Search for the libc error here
in the forums but also do one on the generic interwebs. No reason to
repeat the same discussion and arguments again. Instead invest that
time in understanding how things (don't) work and what to do about it.
And please let the phrase 'source-compatibility not binary
compatibility' sink in for a moment) because that allows to answer the
why question.

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Dzandaa · 2025-04-16 16:12

Hi,

@maurobio:

I did some test on a Linux Mint 20.3

3.8 -> not working (same error GLIBC_2.34)
3.6 -> not working (same error GLIBC_2.34)
3.4 -> working

If you look at version of Glibc for Linux Mint 20.xxx:
ldd -- version

glibc is 2.31

Sorry, but linux mint 20.xx is at the end of life (in 45 days) and I
think that the only solution (like I did) is to migrate to the new
version 22.1.

B->

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Thaddy · 2025-04-16 16:29

@Dzandaa
Nonsense
Yes it is end of life but adding backports, note: exactly like I
prescribed,
renders the correct install.

Tried in a vm.

But you are right that he should upgrade his very old installation.

Anyway, that particular vm is gone after this discussion closes.

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robert rozee · 2025-04-21 13:26

this keeps coming up again and again!

follow the instructions here:
https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/index.php/topic,69945.msg547823.h
tml#msg547823

open a terminal window and type in:

user@Mint19:~$ cd /usr/share/lazarus/3.8.0
user@Mint19:/usr/share/lazarus/3.8.0$ sudo make bigide

much text will scroll up the terminal window, and after a minute or so
the Lazarus IDE will have been rebuilt and be able to run.

now find an indelible marker and write the two lines above across the
foreheads of anyone who tries to have you follow any other
instructions  


cheers,
rob   :-)

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maurobio · 2025-04-22 20:46

Hi, Robert Rozee!

Thank you very much for your suggestion.

In fact, so far I have been successful only with the suggestion by
member @Dzandaa, that is, downgrading my Lazarus installation to
version 3.4 on Linux Mint 20.3 - it worked like a charm.

I will try your suggestion to get version 3.8 up and running on that
same version of Mint and I will report the results soon,

With warmest regards,

----------------------------------------------------------------------
maurobio · 2025-04-25 12:00

Dear ALL,

Hi, as promised here I am to report on the latest results of attempts
to run Lazarus 3.8 on 64-bit Mint Linux 20.1/20.3

I can confirm that applying the simply procedure suggested by @Robert
Rozee works fine! By following his enlightened advice, I gave been
able to successfully run the 64-bit version of Lazarus 3.8 IDE on
Linux Mint 20.1 and 20.3 after installing from the Debian packages.

I also confirm that the the 32-bit version of Lazarus 3.8 IDE can be
successfully installed and executed on a 32-bit Linux Mint 19.1
without the need to recompile the IDE, which suggests that the problem
is related to the 64-bit version of the IDE only.

Several useful lessons can be taken from this exchange (including to
myself, who should have checked the forum first).

Thank you very much!

With warmest regards,

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dbannon · 2025-04-26 00:53

maurobio, great you have it working system and great you reported back
!

But as a real nit picker, I have to point out just what you have done.

First, you installed the official debs, that put a whole lot of
lazarus files in the (to you) read only space under /usr.  Then,
because those files would not run on your older system, you overwrote
the deb provided files with, generally, new versions, as root.

And it all worked, good.

But if you now use apt to remove that lazarus.deb package, apt will
probably see the files have changed and refuse to remove them cleanly.
Its not a great idea to fiddle with apt's view of the world.

You would, IMHO, have been far, far better off downloading the lazarus
source, compiling it in your own file area and using it from there.
Simple to remove, update, add additional versions and no root access
required.

The underlying problem, unfortunately, is that whoever builds those
deb packages is not addressing the libc issue. I use a U20.04 VM to
build release of my app, having a clean system used only for release
also helps pick up surprising dependency issues too.

Davo

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TRon · 2025-04-26 01:04

Quote from: maurobio on April 25, 2025, 02:00:14 pmI can confirm that
applying the simply procedure suggested by @Robert Rozee works fine!
By following his enlightened advice, I gave been able to successfully
run the 64-bit version of Lazarus 3.8 IDE on Linux Mint 20.1 and 20.3
after installing from the Debian packages.
As enlightenment that might have been and without discrediting
Robert's advise it is the wrong solution. Any time you need to rebuild
the IDE because f.e. of an newly installed component the IDE might
refuse to do so because of the issues related to checksum errors. That
is unless you run the user environment as root as well (hopefully it
is clear why that should not be done).

dbannon named it nitpicking in his message, I am more firm and call it
stubborn. Just install in user-space to get rid of all these issues
instead of meddling along.

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robert rozee · 2025-04-26 02:23

i've see mention of a "might" as well as a concerned "probably", yet
in my experience i've never encountered any of the mentioned problems
while hacking away at the Lazarus and FPC internals.

now, i must admit that i have never installed any additional
components to the IDE, simply because (a) it doesn't work, and (b) the
existing collection of components is rich enough to perform everything
i have ever needed. to clarify upon the 'doesn't work' part, the .deb
installs (under Linux) install Lazarus and FPC in such a way that
adding a component to the IDE 100% fails; the IDE lacks the necessary
internal mechanisms (temporarily elevated privileges) to handle
rebuilding itself in the default install location.


can someone please confirm that using sudo make bigide actually (1)
inhibits using apt to remove the installation, or, (2) creates a
checksum error failure?

the issue of (3) installing components to the IDE, is not something
that can commented on as this is not currently supported with a .deb
install.


at the moment i'm not able to do any testing here, but will try to
this evening.


cheers,
rob   :-)

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TRon · 2025-04-26 02:51

Quote from: robert rozee on April 26, 2025, 04:23:48 ami've see
mention of a "might" as well as a concerned "probably", yet in my
experience i've never encountered any of the mentioned problems while
hacking away at the Lazarus and FPC internals.

now, i must admit that i have never installed any additional
components to the IDE, simply because (a) it doesn't work, and (b) the
existing collection of components is rich enough to perform everything
i have ever needed. to clarify upon the 'doesn't work' part, the .deb
installs (under Linux) install Lazarus and FPC in such a way that
adding a component to the IDE 100% fails; the IDE lacks the necessary
internal mechanisms (temporarily elevated privileges) to handle
rebuilding itself in the default install location.
I am highly confused by that paragraph for several reasons.

It is normal for end-users to install components into the IDE using
the accompanied (but not yet installed components), using OPM (Online
Package Manager) to install 3th party components (to keep it simple
those come from the interwebs) and lastly doing a manual package
installation.

When the IDE is installed in a 'protected' directory it obviously will
fail to (re)build at that same location. Therefor the IDE has a
mechanism in place that uses the Lazarus configuration directory to
'install' the rebuild IDE. To my understanding the startlazarus
command will notice this and run the correct Lazarus version for the
user.

In that mechanism of building and putting things in the right
location, some things currently go wrong (they are known bugs, some
already fixed some are planned to be fixed), and on top of that
sometime thing go wrong with the checksum checking which then triggers
the need for a rebuild of a unit (which then is able to run into the
same fore mentioned issue)

Quotecan someone please confirm that using sudo make bigide actually
(1) inhibits using apt to remove the installation, or, (2) creates a
checksum error failure?
Would love to but there is no way in h*ll I am going to do so on my
development system. It took me too much sweat and tears to get things
as they are (and is rock solid for a decade (might be more) now).

So, I would have to wait for my big-rig to be alive again so that I
can properly test that in a vm though I have no reason to doubt it
will behave as mentioned.

Quotethe issue of (3) installing components to the IDE, is not
something that can commented on as this is not currently supported
with a .deb install.
given my previous remarks ^^ that ^^ confuses me. Installing
components has absolutely nothing to do with .deb packages. Quite
honestly even if it did then I wouldn't touch those .deb packages in a
million years as they will mess up an existing setup as it is
impossible to do that right. Note that .debs aren't even capable of
correctly supporting multiple installations.

Thus in the end that gives us a couple of approaches and the ones that
include running as admin, owning the directory (though installing in
user-space could be considered as such) and keep on using the .deb
files or some other custom form of installation which are all not the
solution to the issue. SImplest and as mentioned before: FPCUpDeluxe,
or build from source. For both ways: install in user space.

edit: typo's

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dbannon · 2025-04-26 04:30

Look folks, lets be clear here. No one is having a go at someone else,
we all have techniques we use, sometimes 'informal' ones, and some of
them might come at a cost. So, some observations

 I suspect most users, including ones who install from a deb (or rpm,
pacman) also install packages. And it works for almost all of them. If
it does not work, the reason needs to be established and, probably,
fixed. In this case, maurobio problem was not caused by package
install, it was in fact, just another case of the dreaded libc
problem. He is using a quite old (but still supported ?) version of
Mint. Its a well know fact that binaries made in recent versions of
linux will not run in old versions of linux. Rob's advice of
rebuilding the binaries worked because it replaced the binaries with
ones build on his, older system. It had to be done as root because the
apt installs into root space. Lazarus, because it expects to sometimes
be installed in read only space, has a pretty cool but I assume quite
complicated process of doing its rebuilding in user space and hiding
that from the user, fortunately, only if its running from user space.
Same thing if you, eg, add some debug lines to an LCL unit ?? 

That we all agree on ? My speculation -

 If Rob is unable to rebuild Lazarus, then that complicated process of
using eg ~/.lazarus to store all the new files is somehow perturbed.
My guess is who ever designed that process did not expect to contend
with a rebuild. But that is pure speculation. But it does not worry
him, great, lets leave it like that.  If Rob or maurobio do need to
rebuild lazarus before using, then, perhaps, doing that rebuild from a
clean, freshly downloaded source in user space will be no harder and
quite possibly deliver a better produce. Better in that (a) its not
using the redirect rebuilt files process (complicated, possibly slower
and fragile). (b) more flexible, you can have as many different
lazarus installs as you like. (c) you are not messing with the apt
database. (d) its easy to understand exactly where the lazarus and LCL
fies you are using are, important if you are poking around in there,
debugging or what ever. (e) its easy to blow any one lazarus install
without affecting anything else.

Just my thoughts. Simpler is almost always better.

Davo

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dbannon · 2025-04-26 06:06

Here you go Rob, on a VM, I installed fpc, fpc-src and lazarus 3.8.0.
Then rebuilt lazarus in the readonly space, started lazarus up as me,
installed a package (which worked fine incidently) and exited. Removed
Lazarus (sudo apt remove lazarus-project).

Important, this was done on a U2404VM, so no problems with the libc
issue. But, as noted, thats a known issue, expected on a Linux Mint as
old as discussed (or, eg U2004, still a supported distro).

Observed, on the run where lazarus was rebuilt as root, the remove
process was incomplete, not as bad as I expected but incomplete. On
the run without a root rebuild, there was nothing left in root space.

Code: Bash  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i
dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$ sudo -iroot@u2404m:~# cd
/usr/share/lazarus/3.8.0 root@u2404m:/usr/share/lazarus/3.8.0# make
bigide > /tmp/lazarus.logroot@u2404m:/usr/share/lazarus/3.8.0#
root@u2404m:/usr/share/lazarus/3.8.0# logout # here, started lazarus
in another terminal, successfully installed a package# kcontrols and
exited. dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$ du -hs ../.lazarus/307M   
../.lazarus/dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$ sudo apt remove lazarus-
project...dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$ du -hs /usr/share/lazarus/6.0M 
 /usr/share/lazarus/ # OK, same but without the sudo make bigide step#
removed, as root, the residual files left in /usr/share/lazarus/3.8.0#
installed the lazarus deb package# Opened Lazarus, installed
kcontrols, exited. dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$ sudo apt remove
lazarus-project...dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$
dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$ dbannon@u2404m:~/Downloads$ du -hs
/usr/share/lazarus/du: cannot access '/usr/share/lazarus/': No such
file or directory
In summary, its most certainly not a disaster, but its also not good.
Maybe related, history certainly tells us an incomplete removal of
Lazarus can disrupt further installs. I suspect thats not as big of a
problem now as it was once. But still a worry, best avoided.

And, note I had no problems installing a package in either run. The
problem you have with packages must have a deeper cause. As long as
you don't need any packages, who cares ?  If you do need a package,
take my advice, download a source zip, build it in user space, I bet
its works as expected. Certainly no harder than what you do now.

Davo

----------------------------------------------------------------------
robert rozee · 2025-04-29 11:40

well, i may need to eat some humble pie  

it has been a few years since i last even tried to add a component/etc
to the IDE (and failed). but today i just revisited it... and
succeeded! thinking back, it could well have been that back then i was
running a much earlier version of Lazarus (addendum: 2.2.4?), and in
particular that i had deleted startlazarus from the /usr/bin directory
and replaced it with a symlink to /usr/bin/lazarus-ide. this was
something recommended on the forum to get around a bug (in
startlazarus) that occasionally caused the wrong .lpi file to be used
from the previously opened project instead of the current project.
just had a quick search through the forum, but couldn't find the
original reference to this.

have used Tools -> Build Lazarus with... and it does now indeed create
a .lazarus directory in the current user's home directory into which
is placed all the 'expected stuff'. personally, i'm still perfectly
happy with the existing locations as i don't need to add components to
the IDE or add packages - i write everything i need myself.

however, i do see that Run -> Clean up and Build... does not work -
although this issue is unrelated to the original poster's problem.


cheers,
rob   :-)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
dbannon · 2025-04-29 11:55

Yep, that would do it. Startlazarus is key to that slight of hand
magic. I personally don't use it, I go straight to 'lazarus' because I
always build my lazarus from source and I really wonder just what that
startlazarus does ...

The clean up and build  is actually important, I always use that, for
example when building with a different version compiler. And,
sometimes unexplainable errors go away after a "cleanup and build". 
And yep, I can confirm your report, its fails on freetype.

I'll have a dig when I get time and, perhaps a bug report is in order.

Sigh ...

Davo