how to make python load dylib on osx

Question

Trying to load a shared lib out of the current '.' dir in a unit test on osx.

What works on Linux and Netbsd there is a symlink _mymodule.so --> ../.libs/libmymodule.so

but on osx, python's import mymodule won't find

_mymodule.dylib --> ../.libs/libmymodule.dylib

I've tried adding

export DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=.:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH

to the script env, nogo. Any help appreciated.

-Ed

update 4/6/10:

Solved with the info from krunk below. But just copying or ln -s'ing the dylib to a .so name didn't solve it completely. Still wouldn't load. But telling libtool to link the lib with the -module flag created a .so lib that would load. Python version of the lib works now.

Now if I could just get the perl lib working. I'm building swig perl, python, ruby, and lua libs and this fix only got python and lua working.

Answer 1

Just use *.so as your module extensions in OS X too. I have a vague memory of not being able to load .dylib's and it turning out to be an issue with python itself. . . but I can't find the mailing list post now.

However, rest assured you're following standard practice by using *.so's even on OS X. The only *.dylib's in the entire framework are the libsvn_swig ones.

find /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/ -name "*.so"

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/X11/xcb/xcb.0.0.0.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/X11/xcb/xcb.0.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/X11/xcb/xcb.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/CoreGraphics/_CoreGraphics.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/OpenSSL/SSL.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/OpenSSL/crypto.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/OpenSSL/rand.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_appmain.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_carbon.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_inlines.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_nsbezierpath.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_nsbitmap.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_nsfont.so
 /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_nsquickdrawview.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_nsview.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/AppKit/_nswindow.so
/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6//Extras/lib/python/PyObjC/CFNetwork/_manual.so