[Bug]: tesseract: symbol lookup error: /lib64/libwebpmux.so.3: undefined symbol: WebPMalloc (Fedora 41)

[rjohnsonbade]

What were you trying to do?

Hello,

I understand this is related to an upstream dependency, but I only found an old Google Groups forum for tesseract and it seemed very dead (last post 2020).

I have just done an install of OCRmyPDF on my Fedora Workstation 41, and unfortunately it is throwing an error when I try to run it due to tesseract.

Command '['tesseract', '--version']' returned non-zero exit status 127.                               __init__.py:174
Traceback (most recent call last):                                                                                   
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/ocrmypdf/subprocess/__init__.py", line 158, in get_version                 
    proc = run(                                                                                                      
        args_prog,                                                                                                   
    ...<5 lines>...                                                                                                  
        env=env,                                                                                                     
    )                                                                                                                
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/ocrmypdf/subprocess/__init__.py", line 62, in run                          
    proc = subprocess_run(args, env=env, check=check, **kwargs)                                                      
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 579, in run                                                       
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,                                                                  
                             output=stdout, stderr=stderr)                                                           
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['tesseract', '--version']' returned non-zero exit status                    
127.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                      __init__.py:279
The program 'tesseract' could not be executed or was not found on your                                               
system PATH.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                      __init__.py:265
On systems with the aptitude package manager (Debian, Ubuntu), try these                                             
commands:                                                                                                            
    sudo apt update                                                                                                  
    sudo apt install tesseract-ocr                                                                                   
                                                                                                                     
On RPM-based systems (Red Hat, Fedora), try this command:                                                            
    sudo dnf install tesseract-ocr                                                                                   
                                                                                                                     
Ran program 'tesseract' but it exited with an error:                                                   __main__.py:68
tesseract: symbol lookup error: /lib64/libwebpmux.so.3: undefined symbol: WebPMalloc                                                                                                                                                   

I tried sudo dnf install tesseract-ocr, however this looks like the wrong package name for Fedora

russjb@fedora:~/Downloads$ sudo dnf install tesseract-ocr
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Failed to resolve the transaction:
No match for argument: tesseract-ocr

Changing to sudo dnf install tesseract works, but it says it's already installed.

russjb@fedora:~/Downloads$ sudo dnf install tesseract
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Package "tesseract-5.4.1-5.fc41.x86_64" is already installed.

Nothing to do.

I've also tried removing OCRmyPDF and reinstalling, but to no avail.

Where are you installing/running from?

Linux package manager (apt, dnf, etc.)

OCRmyPDF version

16.7.0

What operating system are you working on?

Linux

Operating system details and version

Fedora 41 (Kernel 6.12.13-200.fc41.x86_64)

Simple sanity checks

• Operating system is currently supported by its vendor (not end of life)
• Python version is compatible with OCRmyPDF
• This issue is not about a specific input file

Relevant log output

Command '['tesseract', '--version']' returned non-zero exit status 127.                               __init__.py:174
Traceback (most recent call last):                                                                                   
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/ocrmypdf/subprocess/__init__.py", line 158, in get_version                 
    proc = run(                                                                                                      
        args_prog,                                                                                                   
    ...<5 lines>...                                                                                                  
        env=env,                                                                                                     
    )                                                                                                                
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/ocrmypdf/subprocess/__init__.py", line 62, in run                          
    proc = subprocess_run(args, env=env, check=check, **kwargs)                                                      
  File "/usr/lib64/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 579, in run                                                       
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,                                                                  
                             output=stdout, stderr=stderr)                                                           
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['tesseract', '--version']' returned non-zero exit status                    
127.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                      __init__.py:279
The program 'tesseract' could not be executed or was not found on your                                               
system PATH.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                      __init__.py:265
On systems with the aptitude package manager (Debian, Ubuntu), try these                                             
commands:                                                                                                            
    sudo apt update                                                                                                  
    sudo apt install tesseract-ocr                                                                                   
                                                                                                                     
On RPM-based systems (Red Hat, Fedora), try this command:                                                            
    sudo dnf install tesseract-ocr                                                                                   
                                                                                                                     
Ran program 'tesseract' but it exited with an error:                                                   __main__.py:68
tesseract: symbol lookup error: /lib64/libwebpmux.so.3: undefined symbol: WebPMalloc

[jbarlow83]

This would be related to how Fedora provides the Tesseract package and is independent of ocrmypdf. I can't do anything to fix it.