libpng causes GUI apps to crash with EXC_BAD_ACCESS

[PythonCoderAS]

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.3.2-56-gfe16e9d
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: fe16e9d7ef393fdcf353a3c3eba73d0299b744cc
Last commit: 2 hours ago
Core tap HEAD: 4a00cafc112d78970de81aa080e82c9c6c3ac9f6
Core tap last commit: 9 days ago
Core tap JSON: 31 May 20:41 UTC
Core cask tap HEAD: 01ea5381848b5f69e2e495b86f329433f2caad8f
Core cask tap last commit: 9 days ago
Core cask tap branch: add-blitzgg
Core cask tap JSON: 31 May 20:41 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: /opt/homebrew/bin/nvim
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 8
HOMEBREW_SORBET_RUNTIME: set
Homebrew Ruby: 3.3.2 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/3.3.2/bin/ruby
CPU: octa-core 64-bit arm_firestorm_icestorm
Clang: 15.0.0 build 1500
Git: 2.39.3 => /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/git
Curl: 8.4.0 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 14.4-arm64
CLT: 15.3.0.0.1.1708646388
Xcode: N/A
Rosetta 2: false

Output of brew doctor

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Description of issue

libpng causes some GUI applications that call into Objective C to crash, such as tauri-apps/tauri#7351. The problem goes away whenever I uninstall libpng or remove /opt/homebrew/lib from DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH.

[carlocab]

Why are you setting DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH?

[PythonCoderAS]

Something would not compile without it set.

[jcelerier]

Also note that IDEs will set DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH automatically to the path where libraries are found

[carlocab]

Using DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH that way is a hack, and breaking stuff when using it should be expected. It's also a vector for dylib highjacking.

This is why Apple strips DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH when running the binaries they provide:

# We can pass `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` to binaries not built by Apple
❯ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/lib /opt/homebrew/bin/bash -c '[[ -n $DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH ]]'; echo $?
0

# We _cannot_ pass `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` to binaries built by Apple
❯ DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/lib /bin/bash -c '[[ -n $DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH ]]'; echo $?
1

# Other environment variables can be passed as normal for both
❯ NOT_DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/lib /opt/homebrew/bin/bash -c '[[ -n $NOT_DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH ]]'; echo $?
0
❯ NOT_DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/lib /bin/bash -c '[[ -n $NOT_DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH ]]'; echo $?
0

I would strongly advise against the use of any application that sets DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH outside of a carefully controlled environment. You probably should not set it yourself either unless you know what you're doing and are very careful.

[mikkeljohnsen]

Is it not possible to install "libpng.dylib" without app crashes (on macOS Seqouia) ?

I need "libpng" for Gtk (gdk-pixbuf, cairo etc). But the app crashes because "libpng.dylib" is installed. If I uninstall "libpng.dylib" it works. But can't load PNG images, so not a solution.

(I'm using dotnet and that must invoke something that fails when libpng is installed.

[carlocab]

It is setting DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH to where the libs that I compile is located, including the "libpng.dylib".

If your app is built correctly, it should not need to use DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH. I suggest dropping that.

[mikkeljohnsen]

It has no effect to remove the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH the app is still crashing.

[carlocab]

Then it's some other bug in your app. It shouldn't be affected by whether random libraries are installed on your system or not.

[mikkeljohnsen]

No it should'nt, but the app has been working for many many years, and only started not working on Sequoia, works fine on macOS versions before that.

So something has changed in Sequoia how, and what is loaded !!

[mikkeljohnsen]

The problem only occurs when running with "dotnet" if I run a test program in C there is no problem.

So somehow "dotnet" is coursing the problem

[mikkeljohnsen]

So the problem is that "dotnet" links to "CoreServices" that uses "ImageIO" framework. The ImageIO framework is using a "libPng.dylib" (I assume is very old). But if another "libpng" is installed from Homebrew or any other. Then normally you would have this:

libpng16.16.dylib
libpng.dylib -> libpng16.16.dylib
libpng16.dylib -> libpng16.16.dylib

The crash is because the "libpng.dylib" symbolic link is present, then the ImageIO framework tries to load that "libpng" and it do not match the API it expected.

So the simple solution is to delete the "libpng.dylib" symbolic link.

I would think the same solution could be used here. But not sure.