Why does the application give an error "/lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.X' not found"?

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6
• glibc-2.5-X
• glibc-2.12-X

Issue

• Why does the application give an error "/lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.X' not found"?

• Application exits with glibc error on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5;

  Raw

  Error Log :
  Starting 'mpscmjboss5 dev Compile ClassPath'
  om: /lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.7' not found (required by om)
  

• The following glibc error is seen while executing custom application on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6;

  Raw

  ./wombat_fatso_dyn 
  ./wombat_fatso_dyn: /lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.14' not found (required by ./wombat_fatso_dyn)
  ./wombat_fatso_dyn: /lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.11' not found (required by ./wombat_fatso_dyn)
  

Resolution

• Run the application on a higher version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux which has the GLIBC_2.X support. This can be confirmed using below command;

  Raw

  # strings /lib64/libc.so.6 | grep -i GLIBC
  

Check the Diagnostic Steps section for example.

• If the upgrade to a higher version is not a feasible solution, compile and build the application on this current Red Hat Enterprise LinuxVersion.

Root Cause

• The error is received since the system has an older version of glibc and the application was built against a higher version.
• To keep binary compatibility, Red Hat does not support glibc major-version upgrade in the same major Updates.
  List of glibc version that is shipped with a particular Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update
• Generally any software shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux retains the same base version throughout its product lifecycle and only important bug and security fixes are backported.

Diagnostic Steps

• On RHEL 5 :

  Raw

  # strings /lib64/libc.so.6 | grep -i GLIBC
  GLIBC_2.2.5
  GLIBC_2.2.6
  GLIBC_2.3
  GLIBC_2.3.2
  GLIBC_2.3.3
  GLIBC_2.3.4
  GLIBC_2.4
  GLIBC_2.5
  GLIBC_PRIVATE
  glibc 2.5
  *** glibc detected *** %s: %s: 0x%s ***
  

• On RHEL 6 :

  Raw

  # strings /lib64/libc.so.6 | grep -i GLIBC
  GLIBC_2.2.5
  GLIBC_2.2.6
  GLIBC_2.3
  GLIBC_2.3.2
  GLIBC_2.3.3
  GLIBC_2.3.4
  GLIBC_2.4
  GLIBC_2.5
  GLIBC_2.6
  GLIBC_2.7
  GLIBC_2.8
  GLIBC_2.9
  GLIBC_2.10
  GLIBC_2.11
  GLIBC_2.12
  GLIBC_PRIVATE
  glibc 2.12
  *** glibc detected *** %s: %s: 0x%s ***
  

• On RHEL 7 :

  Raw

  # strings /lib64/libc.so.6 | grep -i GLIBC
  GLIBC_2.2.5
  GLIBC_2.2.6
  GLIBC_2.3
  GLIBC_2.3.2
  GLIBC_2.3.3
  GLIBC_2.3.4
  GLIBC_2.4
  GLIBC_2.5
  GLIBC_2.6
  GLIBC_2.7
  GLIBC_2.8
  GLIBC_2.9
  GLIBC_2.10
  GLIBC_2.11
  GLIBC_2.12
  GLIBC_2.13
  GLIBC_2.14
  GLIBC_2.15
  GLIBC_2.16
  GLIBC_2.17
  GLIBC_PRIVATE
  glibc 2.17