How to tell what python version libboost_python.so is using?

Question

I'd like to know what version of python boost_python.so is expecting. This is on a computer with multiple python versions and I did not build/install boost myself (nor do i have root access).

How can i tell what version of python boost_python.so is compiled for?

I didn't find anything useful in the output from ldd but include it here incase someone else sees something.

-bash-3.2$ ldd -v libboost_python.so.1.46.1 
libutil.so.1 => /lib64/libutil.so.1 (0x00002ad65582d000)
libpthread.so.0 => /lib64/libpthread.so.0 (0x00002ad655a30000)
libdl.so.2 => /lib64/libdl.so.2 (0x00002ad655c4b000)
librt.so.1 => /lib64/librt.so.1 (0x00002ad655e50000)
libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00002ad656059000)
libm.so.6 => /lib64/libm.so.6 (0x00002ad656359000)
libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002ad6565dd000)
libc.so.6 => /lib64/libc.so.6 (0x00002ad6567eb000)
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x000000374c600000)

Version information:
./libboost_python.so.1.46.1:
    libgcc_s.so.1 (GCC_3.0) => /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1
    libpthread.so.0 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libpthread.so.0
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.4) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libstdc++.so.6 (CXXABI_1.3) => /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6
    libstdc++.so.6 (GLIBCXX_3.4) => /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6
/lib64/libutil.so.1:
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
/lib64/libpthread.so.0:
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_2.3) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.3.2) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
/lib64/libdl.so.2:
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
/lib64/librt.so.1:
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    libpthread.so.0 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libpthread.so.0
    libpthread.so.0 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/libpthread.so.0
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.3.2) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/libc.so.6
/usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6:
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_2.3) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    libgcc_s.so.1 (GCC_4.2.0) => /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1
    libgcc_s.so.1 (GCC_3.3) => /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1
    libgcc_s.so.1 (GCC_3.0) => /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.3.2) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.4) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.3) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
/lib64/libm.so.6:
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
/lib64/libgcc_s.so.1:
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.4) => /lib64/libc.so.6
    libc.so.6 (GLIBC_2.2.5) => /lib64/libc.so.6
/lib64/libc.so.6:
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_2.3) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
    ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (GLIBC_PRIVATE) => /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 22 '11 at 20:46

Is this what you are looking for?

~/Desktop$ dpkg --list | grep libboost
ii  libboost-filesystem1.46.1                      1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         filesystem operations (portable paths, iteration over directories, etc) in C++
ii  libboost-program-options1.46.1                 1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         program options library for C++
ii  libboost-python-dev                            1.46.1.1                                Boost.Python Library development files (default version)
ii  libboost-python1.46-dev                        1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         Boost.Python Library development files
ii  libboost-python1.46.1                          1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         Boost.Python Library
ii  libboost-regex1.46.1                           1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         regular expression library for C++
ii  libboost-serialization1.46.1                   1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         serialization library for C++
ii  libboost-signals1.46.1                         1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         managed signals and slots library for C++
ii  libboost-system1.46.1                          1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         Operating system (e.g. diagnostics support) library
ii  libboost-thread1.46.1                          1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         portable C++ multi-threading
ii  libboost1.46-dev                               1.46.1-5ubuntu2                         Boost C++ Libraries development files

The above works for debian-based distros. I believe the equivalent for Fedora should be:

rpm -qa | grep libboost

HTH!

I believe that boost was built from source not installed with a package manager. — Anthony Bak, Dec 22 '11 at 22:18

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 22 '11 at 20:59

From: https://github.com/mapnik/mapnik/wiki/InstallationTroubleshooting

"And sometimes even that does not work. HINT: pass the -d2 flag to see all the compile commands sent to gcc by bjam and you will likely see something like -I/usr/include/python24 in the compile arguments when it should be -I/usr/include/python26 (or some older version of python headers). If this happens then you can craft a full config file (with all possible python info) and pass a reference to that on the bjam command line. Docs on this are here: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_42_0/libs/python/doc/building.html#configuring-boost-build, and an example follows:

Create a file called 'user-config.jam' (but change the python versions to be appropriate):

import option ;
import feature ;
if ! gcc in [ feature.values <toolset> ]
{
    using gcc ;
}
project : default-build <toolset>gcc ;
using python
     : 2.5 # version
     : /usr/bin/python2.5 # cmd-or-prefix
     : /usr/include/python2.5/ # includes
     : /usr/lib/python2.5/config/ # a lib actually symlink
     : <toolset>gcc # condition
     ;
libraries = --with-python ;

"

Look for a .jam config file. If it exists check for the 'using python' command. If it doesn't exist, run the -d2 flag against bjam to determine the default location of python that it uses. This obviously isn't a direct method and would simply leave you with a likely answer given the inputs (but maybe that's good enough).

This is in a cluster environment and I suspect boost was installed from source but compiled on a machine that i don't have access to (there's no bjam on the machine for instance). I suspect that I need a way to extract if from the boost libraries directly. — Anthony Bak, Dec 22 '11 at 22:25

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 23 '18 at 21:38

I realize the OP was asking about how to do this in a Linux environment, but I had the same question in a Windows environment, and thought it may be helpful information to share here.

To see the Python DLL that will be auto-linked into the resulting executable, use the dumpbin utility that comes with Visual Studio. Simply open a Visual Studio developer command prompt, and run:

dumpbin /DIRECTIVES libboost_python3-*.lib | findstr DEFAULTLIB:python

That will at least tell you the major/minor version of Python that was used when building Boost. For example, if you used Python 3.5.2 when building Boost, this command would return a bunch of lines with the text:

/DEFAULTLIB:python35.lib

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 20 '12 at 14:53

Interestingly, on my OS X system, otool -L does list the python library, but on the linux system I have access to it seems to be left as an unmet dependency, and isn't listed in the ldd output.

In my case, I know it was compiled against python 2.7, but a check of the output of strings /.../libboost_python.so reveals no mention of 2.7, and 27 only occurs in mangled symbols unrelated to the python version.

So I conclude that it isn't possible to tell, without looking for API differences in symbols between, say, 2.6, 2.7 versions.

Perhaps checking the modified timestamp would narrow it down?

I'm accepting this answer because none of the other answers work for me. Theoretically it has to be possible somehow but nobody seems to know how.... — Anthony Bak, Aug 28 '12 at 21:21

How to tell what python version libboost_python.so is using?

4 Answers4