Linker error while building application with VTK component

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1

I am trying to build an application, called niftysim, which has optional visualization component that relies on VTK dependency. niftysim builds okay but when I enable the visualization component, in CMAKE, as shown below

USE_VIZ ON
VTK_DIR /home/Olumide/Downloads/src/VTK/build

I get the following linker error:

CMakeFiles/niftysim.dir/niftysim.cpp.o: In function `tledGenericVTKMeshSource<tledSurface, vtkPolyData>::Update()':
/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/NiftySim-253/source/tledGenericVTKMeshSource.tpp:32: undefined reference to `vtkPolyData::Allocate(long long, int)'
/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/NiftySim-253/source/tledGenericVTKMeshSource.tpp:44: undefined reference to `vtkPolyData::InsertNextCell(int, int, long long*)'
CMakeFiles/niftysim.dir/niftysim.cpp.o: In function `tledGenericVTKMeshSource<tledMesh, vtkUnstructuredGrid>::_AddVTKNodeAttribute(std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&, float const*, int)':
/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/NiftySim-253/source/tledGenericVTKMeshSource.tpp:76: undefined reference to `vtkAOSDataArrayTemplate<float>::InsertNextTupleValue(float const*)'
/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/NiftySim-253/source/tledGenericVTKMeshSource.tpp:79: undefined reference to `vtkAOSDataArrayTemplate<float>::InsertNextTupleValue(float const*)'
CMakeFiles/niftysim.dir/niftysim.cpp.o: In function `tledGenericVTKMeshSource<tledSurface, vtkPolyData>::_AddVTKNodeAttribute(std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&, float const*, int)':
/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/NiftySim-253/source/tledGenericVTKMeshSource.tpp:76: undefined reference to `vtkAOSDataArrayTemplate<float>::InsertNextTupleValue(float const*)'
/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/NiftySim-253/source/tledGenericVTKMeshSource.tpp:79: undefined reference to `vtkAOSDataArrayTemplate<float>::InsertNextTupleValue(float const*)'
libviz.a(tledKeyPressInteractorStyle.cpp.o):(.data.rel.ro._ZTV27tledKeyPressInteractorStyle[_ZTV27tledKeyPressInteractorStyle]+0x178): undefined reference to `vtkInteractorObserver::PickersModified()'

I have built VTK-8.0.0 (to VTK_DIR) and have verified that the undefined references are present in libvtkCommonDataModel-8.0.a and libvtkCommonCore-8.0.a, so I am at loss as to the cause of this error.

When I run make VERBOSE=1 I get

cd /home/Olumide/Downloads/src/NiftySim-253/cpu_build/source && /opt/cmake-3.19.1-Linux-x86_64/bin/cmake -E cmake_link_script CMakeFiles/niftysim.dir/link.txt --verbose=1
/usr/bin/c++ -I/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/VTK-8.0.0/build/install/include/vtk-8.0 -D_Visualisation_ -D_USE_BOOST_ -D_CMAKE_USED -g -L/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/VTK-8.0.0/build/install/lib -lvtkCommonDataModel-8.0 -lvtkCommonCore-8.0 -rdynamic -Wl,--no-as-needed -Wl,--unresolved-symbols=ignore-in-shared-libs CMakeFiles/niftysim.dir/niftysim.cpp.o -o niftysim  -Wl,-rpath,/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/VTK/build/lib: libtled.a libviz.a ../xmlParser/libxmlParser.a -lboost_system -lboost_thread -lboost_date_time -lboost_chrono -lboost_atomic ... /home/Olumide/Downloads/src/VTK/build/lib/libvtkCommonDataModel-9.0.so.9.0.0 ... /home/Olumide/Downloads/src/VTK/build/lib/libvtkCommonCore-9.0.so.9.0.0
-ldl -lpthread -lgomp -lpthread

As you can see, I have also added linker options that specify the libraries containing the missing symbols, i.e.
-L/home/Olumide/Downloads/src/VTK-8.0.0/build/install/lib -lvtkCommonDataModel-8.0 -lvtkCommonCore-8.0

Unfortunately, this doesn’t do the trick either.

1 Like
2

Problem solved.

Alas it was a path mixup.

1 Like
3

Reviving long-dead toolkits is usually not worth the effort. Niftysim was a one-man-project and probably there are good reasons why nobody joined the project or continued it once its author moved on.

I would recommend to try simulation tools that are actively maintained and developed, such as FeBIO, SOFA, or IMSTK.

4

SOFA was my initial choice but unfortunately it is poorly documented.

niftysim is lightweight and better documented. I’ve been in touch with its primary developer, who promises to revive the project, so for now it is a better choice.

1 Like