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dyld: lazy symbol binding failed: Symbol not found: __gdbm_lock_file error with GDBM gem

I'm getting this odd error when I try to use the Ruby GDBM gem. The gem used to work. Now when I invoke it I get this error (across many different versions of ruby):

dyld: lazy symbol binding failed: Symbol not found: __gdbm_lock_file
  Referenced from: /usr/local/lib/libgdbm.dylib
  Expected in: flat namespace

dyld: Symbol not found: __gdbm_lock_file
  Referenced from: /usr/local/lib/libgdbm.dylib
  Expected in: flat namespace

I've tried numerous ruby versions, executing directly from Rbenv and even installing/uninstalling my brew GDBM installation. My GDBM Brew installation is at /usr/local/Cellar/gdbm/1.12 GDBM works when I invoke it manually from the command line (e.g. gdbm_load).

The only thing I can think has changed is that I'm now running on OSX El Capitan 10.11.6. Or that I somehow made a change to my config or PATH files that could have caused this error.

How can I go about resolving this?

Solution

  • The GDBM ruby gem's maintainer has confirmed it's an issue with either HomeBrew or GDBM itself.

    Manually installing GDBM without using HomeBrew, or installing it with:

    brew install gdbm --build-from-source

    can fix the problem.