file: symbol lookup error: file: undefined symbol: magic_setparam

My file command is broken.

$ file file: symbol lookup error: file: undefined symbol: magic_setparam $ which file /usr/local/bin/file $ ldd $(which file) linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fffc43fd000) libmagic.so.1 => /usr/local/lib/libmagic.so.1 (0x00007fe48cd2d000) libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fe48cb43000) libz.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 (0x00007fe48c926000) /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fe48cf86000) $ # I have a file command in /usr/bin/ as well $ # but the same thing happens, and the ldd output for it $ # is identical to the one above $ /usr/bin/file /usr/bin/file: symbol lookup error: /usr/bin/file: undefined symbol: magic_setparam 

I tried reinstalling the file command, as well as reinstalling libmagic (and libmagic-dev) but to no avail.

I am running Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) but I was experiencing the same issue on 18.04.

1 Answer

You should remove locally installed/compiled version of libmagic with

sudo rm /usr/local/lib/libmagic.so.1 

and then call file again.