Debian Wheezy: sharp breaks if the canvas module is loaded first

[papandreou]

I ran into this very puzzling issue on Debian Wheezy, which I haven't been able to repro on my workstation, which runs a much newer Ubuntu.

It goes something like this:

$ nvm use 4
Now using node v4.3.1 (npm v2.14.12)
$ npm install canvas@1.3.12 sharp@0.13.1
[...]
$ node -e "require('canvas');require('sharp');"

module.js:356
  Module._extensions[extension](this, filename);
                               ^
Error: /path/to/node_modules/sharp/build/Release/../../lib/libgio-2.0.so.0: undefined symbol: g_option_group_unref
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:364:17)
    at require (module.js:380:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/path/to/node_modules/sharp/index.js:12:13)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:364:17)
    at require (module.js:380:17)
    at [eval]:1:19
    at Object.<anonymous> ([eval]-wrapper:6:22)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at evalScript (node.js:565:25)
    at startup (node.js:80:7)

Interestingly it does not blow up if the two requires are reversed!

It's reproducible with both node.js 0.10.38 and 4.3.1. Haven't tried any others.

Any ideas?

[lovell]

I suspect canvas uses a system-wide install of libcairo2-dev, which depends on glib v2.32.4. By introducing this shared library dependency at run-time first, you supersede sharp's pre-packaged glib v2.47.5.

In this case, it's probably best to follow suit and use a system-wide install of libvips.

[nsmag]

I got this issue too on Ubuntu 14.04.

Error: /.../node_modules/sharp/build/Release/../../lib/libgio-2.0.so.0: undefined symbol: g_option_group_unref

Sharp ran fine before I installed the canvas.

[lovell]

Quick thought: are either of you able to try using the fully-versioned path to the shared library (rather than the partial-versioned symlink) in the libraries section of binding.gyp, something like:

- '<(module_root_dir)/lib/libglib-2.0.so',
+ '<(module_root_dir)/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0.4705.0',

- '<(module_root_dir)/lib/libgio-2.0.so',
+ '<(module_root_dir)/lib/libgio-2.0.so.0.4705.0',

Failing this, the only option I can think of is to experiment with the --default-symver linker flag when building the pre-compiled shared libraries to insert the version number into the symbol table.

[lovell]

Another even quicker thought:

LD_PRELOAD=/path/to/node_modules/sharp/lib/libglib-2.0.so node script.js

...should make sharp's bundled glib take precedence regardless of module import order.

[papandreou]

Sorry for not reporting back earlier. I just switched around the requires, then moved on :)

$ LD_PRELOAD=node_modules/sharp/lib/libglib-2.0.so node -e "require('canvas');require('sharp')"

(sharp:61468): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: /tmp/buildd/glib2.0-2.33.12+really2.32.4/./gobject/gtype.c:2722: You forgot to call g_type_init()

(sharp:61468): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion 'result != 0' failed

(sharp:61468): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: /tmp/buildd/glib2.0-2.33.12+really2.32.4/./gobject/gtype.c:2722: You forgot to call g_type_init()

(sharp:61468): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion 'result != 0' failed

... and then it hangs.

If I make the suggested patch to binding.gyp inside node_modules/sharp, then run npm install inside node_modules/sharp, I get the original error:

$ node -e "require('canvas');require('sharp')"

module.js:356
  Module._extensions[extension](this, filename);
                               ^
Error: /home/andreas/playground/node_modules/sharp/build/Release/../../lib/libgio-2.0.so.0: undefined symbol: g_option_group_unref
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:364:17)
    at require (module.js:380:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/andreas/playground/node_modules/sharp/index.js:12:13)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:364:17)
    at require (module.js:380:17)
    at [eval]:1:19
    at Object.<anonymous> ([eval]-wrapper:6:22)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at evalScript (node.js:565:25)
    at startup (node.js:80:7)

[lovell]

@papandreou Thanks for checking. I guess the dependencies of glib would also need to be included in the LD_PRELOAD variable, a lot of faff compared with moving a couple of require statements :)

@nsmag Were you also able to "fix" this by altering the require order?

[nsmag]

@lovell Sorry for not reporting back.
I decided to do some image processing with raw image data from sharp().raw().
So no need for canvas and I don't want to encounter unexpected surprises in production.

I'll experiment with canvas + sharp again later.

Sharp is lightning fast!
Thanks.

[lovell]

Glad you both found workarounds. I'll close this for now but please feel free to comment and/or re-open with any more quick fix solutions :)

[automata]

I was getting the same libgio-2.0.so.0: undefined symbol: g_option_group_unref error and altering require order (i.e. sharp first, then node-canvas) fixed it.

[lovell]

I did experiment with the -Wl,--default-symver linker flag to force the explicit use of shared library version numbering but couldn't get libtiff to play nicely (and even if I had there may have been further walls I wasn't able to hit) :(

[jingsam]

Any progress to solve this incompatible problem? I got the same error when I uses both sharp and node-canvas

[jingsam]

When I require sharp before canvas, it seems to solve the problem. However, node-canvas will complain Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file when drawing text.

[lovell]

@jingsam If you're relying on a system-wide installation of cairo for node-canvas, then the absolute safest option here is to also rely on a system-wide install of libvips for sharp.