Error while loading shared libraries: requires glibc 2.5 or later dynamic linker

Question

Problem :

I want to run the newly compiled binary on some of the very oldish 32bits RedHat distribution.
This binary is compiled C (not C++) on the CentOS 32bits VM running the libc v2.12.

RedHat complains about the libc version as below:

“Error while loading shared libraries: requires glibc 2.5 or later dynamic linker”

Since the program is very simplistic, that’s why it is most likely not using anything new from the libc.

Is there any way to reduce the libc version requirement?

Answer 1

I already had the same problem in the recent past while I was trying to compile the little tool which I wrote for the old machine for which I had not any compiler. I compiled it on the up to date machine, and that binary required at least GLIBC 2.14 in order to run it.

By making the dump of a binary with xxd, I found below lines :

....
5f64 736f 5f68 616e 646c 6500 6d65 6d63  _dso_handle.memc
7079 4040 474c 4942 435f 322e 3134 005f  py@@GLIBC_2.14._
....

So I simply replaced my memcpy calls in the code by the call to a home-made memcpy, and a dependency with a glibc 2.14 magically disappeared.

I hope the above solution helps you in resolving your issue.