[Apple Silicon] ImportError : Symbol not found: _cairo_append_path

[Franciscortega]

Hi everyone !

I just migrated to a new M1 MBP and I'm setting up a Django project. I managed to set up all dependencies, but when starting the server I got stopped by an import error :

Watching for file changes with StatReloader
Exception in thread django-main-thread:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/threading.py", line 926, in _bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/threading.py", line 870, in run
    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 53, in wrapper
    fn(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 110, in inner_run
    autoreload.raise_last_exception()
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 76, in raise_last_exception
    raise _exception[1]
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 357, in execute
    autoreload.check_errors(django.setup)()
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/utils/autoreload.py", line 53, in wrapper
    fn(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/__init__.py", line 24, in setup
    apps.populate(settings.INSTALLED_APPS)
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/apps/registry.py", line 91, in populate
    app_config = AppConfig.create(entry)
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/apps/config.py", line 90, in create
    module = import_module(entry)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1006, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 983, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 967, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 677, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 728, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 219, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/cairo/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from ._cairo import *  # noqa: F401,F403
ImportError: dlopen(/Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/cairo/_cairo.cpython-37m-darwin.so, 2): Symbol not found: _cairo_append_path
  Referenced from: /Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/cairo/_cairo.cpython-37m-darwin.so
  Expected in: flat namespace
 in /Users/someuser/src/virtualenvs/p37env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/cairo/_cairo.cpython-37m-darwin.so

Anyone have faced the same issue and managed to solve it ?

Some infos :

• python 3.7.9 on an venv created directly with python3.7 -m venv (had the same issue with 3.8 though)
• Tried both Terminal and Terminal using Rosetta
• I have a very basic understanding of how all this works deep inside, just trying my best to fight all the issues brought by new ARM architecture :)

Thanks !

[naveen521kk]

Try reinstalling

python -m pip install pycairo --force

[Franciscortega]

@naveen521kk pycairo-1.20.0 was reinstalled successfully, but it didn't solve the issue

[naveen521kk]

How did you install Cairo?

[Franciscortega]

I used homebrew. I tried both install via arm native brew version (brew install cairo under native terminal) and x86 (arch -x86_64 /usr/local/homebrew/bin/brew install cairo under Rosetta emulated Terminal). I've also tried several uninstalls and re-installs but only via homebrew.

[naveen521kk]

does installing pycairo using homebrew works? https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/py3cairo#default

[Franciscortega]

I didn't know if I should keep the pip installation or not when installing pycairo via homebrew (that's were my understanding of underneath logic begins) so I tried both :

• If installation done with brew install py3cairo and pip package uninstalled : ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'cairo'
• If both are present, still got the same error as before

Am I missing something with the configuration of my python environment when installing pycairo with homebrew only ?

[naveen521kk]

Not a mac user here. But it is worth reading https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-and-Python.

[Franciscortega]

Ok I finally solved the problem, but I did a lot of things so I couldn't tell what was the exact problem solver. Here are some details for posterity :

• My python installations and brew management was a mess so I started by uninstalling brew from rosetta terminal and "ARM" terminal, and then re-install it only under Rosetta Terminal ;
• I switched to Python 3.9 (and made sure the python3 under terminal was correctly linked to the version installed with homebrew)
• I installed py3cairo with hombrew as suggested by @naveen521kk
• I created a new venv with python3 + the --system-site-package option so that the environment could inherit from the global packages installed by Homebrew, and therefore get pycairo from brew installation (python3 -m venv --system-site-package path/to/env)

The combination of all these steps solved all my issues, including this Symbol not found: _cairo_append_path error. Thanks @naveen521kk for your help !

[iamgigahex]

Hi @naveen521kk tired @Franciscortega solution but somehow still showing the same error.

[naveen521kk]

Even with the brew package of pycairo?

[iamgigahex]

Yeah, followed by the link that you shared on the previous comments. Only difference is trying it with python 3.7

[naveen521kk]

Well if you are using the one from brew, I think you should use Python 3.9. Only then it will work.

[iamgigahex]

It worked with 3.9, Thank you @naveen521kk

[kushaalrao]

I tried this out, but after I do all of those steps I am getting the error module Cairo not found. When I call brew install py3cairo however, it says it's already installed. Any idea how to fix this?

[Timothysit]

I tried the above methods in a conda environment (using python 3.9, doing brew install py3cairo) but that didn't help. Using conda install works: conda install -c conda-forge pygobject

[mvargasevans]

@Timothysit
This works.

[EdwardWooCN]

I tried the above methods in a conda environment (using python 3.9, doing brew install py3cairo) but that didn't help. Using conda install works: conda install -c conda-forge pygobject

This works, and no need to follow setups of @Franciscortega if you have followed https://docs.manim.community/en/stable/installation.html.

[nugen0x]

Is the cairo mentioned above language for StarkNet or something else?

[naveen521kk]

It's something else https://cairographics.org

[tyteen4a03]

Hi, I'm running into this issue and for operational reasons cannot upgrade to 3.9. Are there any workarounds for this?

[jjin-ut]

I had been having this issue. I was using anaconda virtual env on M1, tried everything but didn't fix it. @Franciscortega 's comment on --system-site-package made me think maybe I should try using python venv. Create a virtual env using python -m venv ./venv fixed the problem. I tried both python 10 and 11, and both worked.

[ebrire]

I did have this issue on a MacBook Pro with an M2 chip (I was trying to install Manim to create animations). I fixed it by blowing away my whole Python ecosystem on my laptop and reinstalling from scratch. I received the machine with a mix of Python 3.9, 3.10 and 3.11 installed plus PyCharm with virtual environments. I uninstalled everything (including pip3) and used BREW to install Python 3.11 from scratch. Then all libraries were installed as ARM64. As the last step, I installed PyCharm, I blew away the venvs and set up the interpreter 3.11 and inherit the global libraries. I believe the same would work if I only chose Python 3.9, it's more about avoiding a big mishmash of software versions and CPU architectures on the same computer.

[lextoumbourou]

Not sure why this issue is closed? It would be great to see pycairo working via pip in Apple Silicon.

Here's the steps to reproduce the error:

(using a python3.9 version downloaded from Python)

> python3.9 -m venv .env
> source .env/bin/activate
> pip install pycairo
> python -m cairo
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniforge/base/lib/python3.9/runpy.py", line 188, in _run_module_as_main
    mod_name, mod_spec, code = _get_module_details(mod_name, _Error)
  File "/opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniforge/base/lib/python3.9/runpy.py", line 147, in _get_module_details
    return _get_module_details(pkg_main_name, error)
  File "/opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniforge/base/lib/python3.9/runpy.py", line 111, in _get_module_details
    __import__(pkg_name)
  File "/Users/lex/.env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/cairo/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
    from ._cairo import *  # noqa: F401,F403
ImportError: dlopen(/Users/lex/.env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/cairo/_cairo.cpython-39-darwin.so, 0x0002): symbol not found in flat namespace '_cairo_tee_surface_add'

---

Edit: okay, works using python3.10. Just simply replace python3.9 with python3.10 in my example and it imports okay.

[nathancarter]

Anyone arriving here because you searched up an error that Manim gave you, see the solution here:
https://docs.manim.community/en/latest/faq/installation.html#i-am-using-anaconda-and-get-an-importerror-mentioning-that-some-symbol-is-not-found