# Installation problems for FreeFem++-mpi on Ubuntu 26.04 **URL:** \ **Category:** FreeFEM installation\ **Created:** [July 3, 2026, 10:22am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324 "2026-07-03T10:22:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![julienG](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.freefem.org/julieng/32/222_2.png) [@julienG](https://community.freefem.org/u/julienG)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 10:22am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/1 "2026-07-03T10:22:47Z")
Dear all, It’s been a while since I didn’t had build issues of FreeFem 🙂 , and after few days, I should say, Iḿ stuck… The **build process runs fine with no errors** , and I think there is an issue when building or linking some libraries (`ptscoth`) built under PETsc. The symptom: When running mpi examples that load various libraries like MUMPS, parmmg, HPDDM, PETsc, (essentially all that are built with PETsc), I get the following error related to linking to `scotch`: > Load error: mmg > fail: > dlerror : /home/julien/Libraries/freefem+±4.16/ff-petsc/r/lib/libmmg.so.5: undefined symbol: \_SCOTCHintSort2asc1 > list prefix: ‘./’ ‘/home/julien/Libraries/freefem+±4.16/lib/ff++/4.16/lib/mpi/’ list suffix: ‘’ , ‘.so’ > > (…) > > Sorry! You were supposed to get help about: > prun:non-zero-exit > But I couldn’t open the help file: > /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/pmix2/share/pmix/help-prun.txt: No such file or directory > /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/prrte3/share/prte/help-prun.txt: No such file or directory. > Sorry! or > Load error: MUMPS\_mpi > fail: > dlerror : /home/garaud/Libraries/freefem+±4.16/ff-petsc/r/lib/libptscotch.so.7.0: undefined symbol: \_SCOTCHorderSaveTree > list prefix: ‘./’ ‘/home/julien/Libraries/freefem+±4.16/lib/ff++/4.16/lib/mpi/’ list suffix: ‘’ , ‘.so’ > > (…) > > PMIX ERROR: PMIX\_ERR\_UNREACH in file ../../../src/server/pmix\_server.c at line 3207 > > Sorry! You were supposed to get help about: > prun:non-zero-exit > But I couldn’t open the help file: > /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/pmix2/share/pmix/help-prun.txt: No such file or directory > /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/prrte3/share/prte/help-prun.txt: No such file or directory. > Sorry! The context: - fresh install of ubuntu 26.04 - Freefem from developp branch - the `./configrue --prefix=/home/julien/Libraries/freefem++-4.16 --with-mpi=yes --enable-m64 --enable-downlad --enable-optim --with-hdf5=no` - I tried to build petsc either separately, or building with `make petsc-slepc`, and I get the same issue - after few attempts, I tried to build `petsc` separately, and run `make check`. I get similar errors, related to linking with `scotch`. So I guess it is probably related to petsc building of `scotch/ptscotch` After trying to debug with ai, I still get this kind of errors, and should say that I’m stuck Did anyone faced similar issues? I advance, thank for the help! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![prj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@prj](https://community.freefem.org/u/prj)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/2 "2026-07-03T14:16:39Z")
Could you please try: ```auto $ cd /home/garaud/Libraries/freefem+±4.16/ff-petsc/r/lib/ $ nm lib*scotch* | grep -i SCOTCHorderSaveTree ``` and share the output? ---
**Author:** ![julienG](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.freefem.org/julieng/32/222_2.png) [@julienG](https://community.freefem.org/u/julienG)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/3 "2026-07-03T14:29:31Z")
hi, the output for nm returns, > ``` > U \_SCOTCHorderSaveTree > U \_SCOTCHorderSaveTree > U \_SCOTCHorderSaveTree > > ``` > > 0000000000072f90 T \_SCOTCHorderSaveTree > 0000000000072f90 T \_SCOTCHorderSaveTree > 0000000000072f90 T \_SCOTCHorderSaveTree ---
**Author:** ![prj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@prj](https://community.freefem.org/u/prj)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 3:45pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/4 "2026-07-03T15:45:39Z")
What about `ldd /home/garaud/Libraries/freefem+±4.16/ff-petsc/r/lib/libptscotch.so.7.0`? ---
**Author:** ![julienG](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.freefem.org/julieng/32/222_2.png) [@julienG](https://community.freefem.org/u/julienG)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 1:18pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/5 "2026-07-06T13:18:41Z")
I get > linux-vdso.so.1 (0x0000732871083000) > libscotch.so.7.0 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libscotch.so.7.0 (0x0000732870f94000) > libmpi.so.40 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libmpi.so.40 (0x0000732870a00000) > libc.so.6 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x0000732870600000) > libscotcherr.so.7.0 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libscotcherr.so.7.0 (0x0000732870f8f000) > libm.so.6 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x0000732870e67000) > libz.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x0000732870e49000) > libbz2.so.1.0 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libbz2.so.1.0 (0x0000732870e34000) > liblzma.so.5 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/liblzma.so.5 (0x0000732870dff000) > libucc.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libucc.so.1 (0x00007328709be000) > libpsm2.so.2 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libpsm2.so.2 (0x0000732870956000) > libfabric.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libfabric.so.1 (0x000073287045b000) > libucp.so.0 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libucp.so.0 (0x00007328702e3000) > libucs.so.0 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libucs.so.0 (0x00007328708e6000) > libopen-pal.so.80 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libopen-pal.so.80 (0x0000732870192000) > libevent\_core-2.1.so.7 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libevent\_core-2.1.so.7 (0x00007328708b1000) > libevent\_pthreads-2.1.so.7 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libevent\_pthreads-2.1.so.7 (0x0000732870df6000) > libhwloc.so.15 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libhwloc.so.15 (0x000073287084c000) > libpmix.so.2 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libpmix.so.2 (0x000073286fe00000) > /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x0000732871085000) > libnuma.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libnuma.so.1 (0x0000732870de8000) > librdmacm.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/librdmacm.so.1 (0x000073287082b000) > libefa.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libefa.so.1 (0x0000732870dd7000) > libibverbs.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libibverbs.so.1 (0x000073287016d000) > libuct.so.0 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libuct.so.0 (0x0000732870123000) > libucm.so.0 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libucm.so.0 (0x0000732870106000) > libnl-3.so.200 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libnl-3.so.200 (0x00007328700e3000) > libudev.so.1 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libudev.so.1 (0x000073287009c000) > libmunge.so.2 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libmunge.so.2 (0x0000732870823000) > libnl-route-3.so.200 =\> /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/libnl-route-3.so.200 (0x000073286fd64000) I also tried to configure and compile by commenting out `export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/` so that it does not appear in my path, and hope that petsc will build its own `libscotch` but some how it is still found (not sure that it would solve at all..) ---
**Author:** ![prj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@prj](https://community.freefem.org/u/prj)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/6 "2026-07-06T18:58:59Z")
I would advise you to try from scratch where you let PETSc build everything, instead of relying on the system Open MPI (and who knows what else). ---
**Author:** ![julienG](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.freefem.org/julieng/32/222_2.png) [@julienG](https://community.freefem.org/u/julienG)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/7 "2026-07-09T15:08:23Z")
I finally managed by letting petsc do the job. the issue was that LD\_LIBRARY\_PATH had some weird links, thus keeping it minimal and letting petsc do the job solved the problem. thanks for the help 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![prj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@prj](https://community.freefem.org/u/prj)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/installation-problems-for-freefem-mpi-on-ubuntu-26-04/4324/8 "2026-07-09T15:28:14Z")
> [@julienG](#): > > thus keeping it minimal and letting petsc do the job solved the problem Business as usual 🙂