libwhisper.dylib on Mac M4 Max cannot be loaded

[attilah]

Describe the bug
From a clean build trying to run the coreml example and fails with the same error when tried my example app, cannot load libwhisper.dylib. Other libs were loaded before it from the package, only this one seems to be failed.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. git clone whisper.net repo
2. make apple_coreml_arm
3. cd examples/CoreML
4. dotnet run --framework net9.0

Expected behavior
Example should run

Desktop / Servers (please complete the following information):

• OS Version: macos 15.4.1
• Whisper Version latest submodule
• Runtime Whisper.net.Runtime.CoreML
• GPU Driver version: N/A

Error message

Debug: Failed to load whisper library from <path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib. 
Error: Cannot load the library on this platform using NativeLibrary. PInvokeError: Undefined error: 0
Unhandled exception. System.Exception: Failed to load native whisper library. Error: Cannot load the library on this platform using NativeLibrary. PInvokeError: Undefined error: 0

The strange thing is that the get last error returns 0 which is usually a non-error, perhaps it is a library loader bug and not a binary issue?

I've checked the binary and it is correct MachO arm64.

[attilah]

Now that I am debugging the loading process I have a clue, we have 7 binaries for CoreML:

libggml-base-whisper.dylib
libggml-blas-whisper.dylib
libggml-cpu-whisper.dylib
libggml-metal-whisper.dylib
libggml-whisper.dylib
libwhisper.dylib
libwhisper-coreml.dylib

In the log I see 5 libs are loaded:

 Loading dependency at /whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libggml-base-whisper.dylib

 Loading dependency at /whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libggml-cpu-whisper.dylib

 Loading dependency at /whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libggml-blas-whisper.dylib

 Loading dependency at /whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libggml-metal-whisper.dylib

 Loading dependency at /whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libggml-whisper.dylib

 Trying to load whisper library from /whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib

And then it tries to load libwhisper.dylib, isn't libwhisper-coreml.dylib should come before and that is causing the issue? or instead of libwhisper.dylib the libwhisper-coreml.dylib should be loaded only?

I hope it helps to resolve the issue.

[attilah]

Ok, confirmed, the problem is that libwhisper-coreml.dylib is not being returned in the dependency list, this test app loads the libraries successfully, when it is in the list:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

var libPath = "<path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64";

var libs = new[]
{
    "libggml-base-whisper.dylib",
    "libggml-blas-whisper.dylib",
    "libggml-cpu-whisper.dylib",
    "libggml-metal-whisper.dylib",
    "libggml-whisper.dylib",
    "libwhisper.coreml.dylib", // If this is after libwhisper, which is how the library works now, it fails
    "libwhisper.dylib",
};

var handles = new List<IntPtr>();

var assembly = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(Program))!;

foreach (var lib in libs)
{
    var path = Path.Combine(libPath, lib);

    if (!NativeLibrary.TryLoad(path, assembly, new DllImportSearchPath(), out var libHandle))
    {
        handles.Add(libHandle);

        Console.WriteLine($"Failed to load {Path.GetFileName(lib)}");
    }
    else
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Loaded {Path.GetFileName(lib)}");
    }
}

foreach (var handle in handles)
{
    NativeLibrary.Free(handle);
}

The main reason why the error is not obvious that TryLoad will not throw and we are loosing the underlying error. I've modified the above example to use a try...catch and just use the NativeLibrary.Load method and in the error message I got the exact reason, you could consider changing this for troubleshooting.

The error:

System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load shared library '<path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib' or one of its dependencies. 
In order to help diagnose loading problems, consider setting the DYLD_PRINT_LIBRARIES environment variable: 
dlopen(/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App/9.0.4/<path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib, 0x0001): 
tried: 
'/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App/9.0.4/<path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib' (no such file), 
'/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App/9.0.4/<path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib' (no such file),
'/usr/local/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App/9.0.4/<path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib' (no such file)

dlopen(<path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib, 0x0001): 


HERE--->  Library not loaded: @rpath/libwhisper.coreml.dylib


  Referenced from: <D8B7AB38-9046-3E03-9E5D-285EEA441CCE> <path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/bin/Debug/net9.0/runtimes/coreml/macos-arm64/libwhisper.dylib
  Reason: 
  tried: 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-blas/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-blas/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-metal/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-metal/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/src/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-blas/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-blas/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-metal/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file), 
    '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Users/runner/work/whisper.net/whisper.net/build/macos-arm64-coreml/whisper.cpp/ggml/src/ggml-metal/libwhisper.coreml.dylib' (no such file)

   at System.Runtime.InteropServices.NativeLibrary.LoadLibraryByName(String libraryName, Assembly assembly, Nullable`1 searchPath, Boolean throwOnError)
   at Program.<Main>$(String[] args) in <path>/whisper.net/examples/CoreML/Program.cs:line 30

[sandrohanea]

Hello @attilah ,

Indeed, it seems that the coreml was not broken when the migration to multiple dynamic libraries was done by omitting it in the list of dependencyOrder. Thanks for reporting it and also investigating the possible workaround that helped a lot in identifying the issue.