# Load C extension in Mac OS X linked a a dylib

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-c-extension-in-mac-os-x-linked-a-a-dylib/154546>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 1, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-c-extension-in-mac-os-x-linked-a-a-dylib/154546 "2008-12-01T15:28:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![elathan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/e56c9b/32.png) [@elathan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elathan)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-c-extension-in-mac-os-x-linked-a-a-dylib/154546/1 "2008-12-01T15:28:37Z")

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Hello!

I noticed that Ruby is refusing to load an extension in Mac OS X  
(Leopard, 2.5.5), unless it is a bundle. I used dtruss to confirm that  
Ruby is looking only for .rb and .bundle files to load. Is there a  
special reason for that?

Regards,  
Elias

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**Author:** ![elathan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/e56c9b/32.png) [@elathan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elathan)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-c-extension-in-mac-os-x-linked-a-a-dylib/154546/2 "2009-01-19T22:18:07Z")

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Hi,

At Mon, 1 Dec 2008 23:23:08 +0900,  
Elias Athanasopoulos wrote in [ruby-talk:321544]:

> I noticed that Ruby is refusing to load an extension in Mac OS X  
> (Leopard, 2.5.5), unless it is a bundle. I used dtruss to confirm that  
> Ruby is looking only for .rb and .bundle files to load. Is there a  
> special reason for that?

What differences between bundle and dylib?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elathan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/e56c9b/32.png) [@elathan](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elathan)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 10:11am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/load-c-extension-in-mac-os-x-linked-a-a-dylib/154546/3 "2009-01-20T10:11:41Z")

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On 19 janv. 09, at 22:16, Nobuyoshi N. wrote:

> What differences between bundle and dylib?

On OS X a dylib is a “normal” shared library usually brought to life  
by the system dynamic linker (dyld) and a bundle library is a  
programmatically loadable module. The other main difference I know of  
is that bundles can be unloaded while dylib cannot.