# Symbol lookup error

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/symbol-lookup-error/105536>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [May 30, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/symbol-lookup-error/105536 "2007-05-30T22:00:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Audun\_Skaugen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7feea3/32.png) [@Audun\_Skaugen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Audun_Skaugen)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/symbol-lookup-error/105536/1 "2007-05-30T22:00:23Z")

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Hi,  
I have recently become interested in Ruby as an alternative to Python. I  
was amazed at how easy to use Ruby’s C API seems to be, so I decided to  
try it out.  
I went ahead and started wrapping one of the most fun libraries I know  
of: The Open Dynamics Engine.

I started wrapping the world object with a getter and setter for  
gravity. The code can be found here:

[http://pastebin.ca/523445](http://pastebin.ca/523445)

I compiled with:

gcc -fPIC -I /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/i486-linux -I /usr/include/ode -g -O2 -c  
ode\_world.c -o world.o  
cc -shared -o world.so world.o -lc

After compiling I fired up irb and ran a require(“world”), then called  
ODE::World.new. After which irb quitted, reporting:

irb: symbol lookup error: ./world.so: undefined symbol: dWorldCreate

Whatever causes that error?

Thanks for the help.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Audun\_Skaugen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/7feea3/32.png) [@Audun\_Skaugen](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Audun_Skaugen)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/symbol-lookup-error/105536/2 "2007-05-30T23:15:39Z")

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On May 30, 2007, at 13:00, Audun Skaugen wrote:

> [http://pastebin.ca/523445](http://pastebin.ca/523445)
> 
> I compiled with:
> 
> gcc -fPIC -I /usr/lib/ruby/1.8/i486-linux -I /usr/include/ode -g -  
> O2 -c  
> ode\_world.c -o world.o  
> cc -shared -o world.so world.o -lc

Shouldn’t there be a -lode in here somewhere?

> After compiling I fired up irb and ran a require(“world”), then called  
> ODE::World.new. After which irb quitted, reporting:
> 
> irb: symbol lookup error: ./world.so: undefined symbol: dWorldCreate

PS: RubyInline is even cooler.