Invalid dylib load Python Error

04/12/2019

python openssl

Here is how I fixed the Invalid dylib load. Clients should not load the unversioned libcrypto dylib as it does not have a stable ABI error on MacOS.

Recently I moved from the MacOS standard (old) terminal to zsh. I also updated all my brew packages. I’ll be honest, I do not know which of those two things caused the issue, but the end result was that most of my Python-based programs were broken with the error report:

Invalid dylib load. Clients should not load the unversioned libcrypto dylib as it does not have a stable ABI

After some hunting, I found the solution.

Open a new terminal window and cd to /usr/local/opt
List all directories which begin with ‘openssl’: ls | grep '^openssl*'. I get openssl and openssl@1.1
Set the DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH variable to point to the lib folder of the openssl directory. Note: I chose the openssl@1.1 directory. Frankly that was just a guess (based on the fact that it has a version number and that is what the error was complaining about). I am not claiming that it’s correct.
```
export DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/opt/openssl@1.1/lib
```
Open a new terminal window and retry your script. It should now work.

Persisting The Parameter

To persist this parameter, write it into ~/.bashrc then run source ~/.bashrc

sudo nano ~/.bashrc

Paste this line into the file:

export DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/opt/openssl@1.1/lib

Now run source ~/.bashrc

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

python openssl