UnsatisfiedLinkError for M1 Macs while running Play server locally

Question

When running a new project utilising LeadIQ's play boilerplate, we will run into an UnsatisfiedLinkError in older versions of JNA below version 5.7.0.

I think this is due to incompatible binaries between the ARM M1 architecture. How can it be resolved?

Here's the full stack trace, showing "no matching architecture" from the JNA binaries.

[error] java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp: dlopen(/Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp, 1): no suitable image found.  Did find:
[error]     /Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp: no matching architecture in universal wrapper
[error]     /Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp: no matching architecture in universal wrapper
[error]     at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.load0(Native Method)
[error]     at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.load(ClassLoader.java:2442)
[error]     at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader$NativeLibrary.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:2498)
[error]     at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary0(ClassLoader.java:2694)
[error]     at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadLibrary(ClassLoader.java:2627)
[error]     at java.base/java.lang.Runtime.load0(Runtime.java:768)
[error]     at java.base/java.lang.System.load(System.java:1837)
[error]     at com.sun.jna.Native.loadNativeDispatchLibraryFromClasspath(Native.java:1018)
[error]     at com.sun.jna.Native.loadNativeDispatchLibrary(Native.java:988)
[error]     at com.sun.jna.Native.<clinit>(Native.java:195)
[error]     at io.methvin.watchservice.jna.CarbonAPI.<clinit>(CarbonAPI.java:20)
[error]     at io.methvin.watchservice.jna.CFStringRef.toCFString(CFStringRef.java:23)
[error]     at io.methvin.watchservice.MacOSXListeningWatchService.register(MacOSXListeningWatchService.java:127)
[error]     at io.methvin.watchservice.WatchablePath.register(WatchablePath.java:50)
[error]     at io.methvin.watcher.DirectoryWatcher.register(DirectoryWatcher.java:400)
[error]     at io.methvin.watcher.DirectoryWatcher.registerAll(DirectoryWatcher.java:373)
[error]     at io.methvin.watcher.DirectoryWatcher.<init>(DirectoryWatcher.java:193)
[error]     at io.methvin.watcher.DirectoryWatcher$Builder.build(DirectoryWatcher.java:122)
[error]     at play.dev.filewatch.DefaultFileWatchService.watch(DefaultFileWatchService.scala:44)
[error]     at play.dev.filewatch.FileWatchService$$anon$1.watch(FileWatchService.scala:95)
[error]     at play.runsupport.Reloader.<init>(Reloader.scala:443)
[error]     at play.runsupport.Reloader$.reloader$lzycompute$1(Reloader.scala:283)
[error]     at play.runsupport.Reloader$.play$runsupport$Reloader$$reloader$1(Reloader.scala:275)
[error]     at play.runsupport.Reloader$.startDevMode(Reloader.scala:306)
[error]     at play.sbt.run.PlayRun$.devModeServer$lzycompute$1(PlayRun.scala:100)
[error]     at play.sbt.run.PlayRun$.devModeServer$1(PlayRun.scala:83)
[error]     at play.sbt.run.PlayRun$.$anonfun$playRunTask$3(PlayRun.scala:107)
[error]     at play.sbt.run.PlayRun$.$anonfun$playRunTask$3$adapted(PlayRun.scala:67)
[error]     at scala.Function1.$anonfun$compose$1(Function1.scala:49)
[error] stack trace is suppressed; run last Compile / run for the full output
[error] (Compile / run) java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: /Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp: dlopen(/Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp, 1): no suitable image found.  Did find:
[error]     /Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp: no matching architecture in universal wrapper
[error]     /Users/zackng/Library/Caches/JNA/temp/jna1415930593236960966.tmp: no matching architecture in universal wrapper
[error] Total time: 1 s, completed Dec 15, 2021, 10:36:16 AM

Answer 1

There are two compatibility issues associated with macOS and M1 chips that can cause UnsatisfiedLinkErrors.

The issue you experienced was associated with a lack of support for aarch64, the M1 architecture. This was fixed in JNA 5.7.0, and upgrading to that or later versions resolves the problem.

Another issue that may produce this error is associated with how Apple changed the way system libraries are loaded in macOS 11 (Big Sur), continuing on in future versions.

From the macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 Release Notes:

New in macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, the system ships with a built-in dynamic linker cache of all system-provided libraries. As part of this change, copies of dynamic libraries are no longer present on the filesystem. Code that attempts to check for dynamic library presence by looking for a file at a path or enumerating a directory will fail. Instead, check for library presence by attempting to dlopen() the path, which will correctly check for the library in the cache.

JNA fixed this loading issue in Release 5.6.0.