Isaac Sim 5.1.0 standalone on Rocky Linux 9 with user-space glibc 2.35 (no sudo)

Omniverse Isaac Sim
1

Isaac Sim Version
5.1.0 (standalone Linux .tar installer)

Operating System
Other (please specify): Rocky Linux 9 (RHEL 9–compatible, kernel 5.14.0-570.49.1.el9_6.x86_64)

GPU Information
Model: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
Driver Version: 580.95.05

Topic Description
Standalone Isaac Sim 5.1.0 on Rocky Linux 9 with user-space glibc 2.35 still fails to start

Detailed Description
I’m trying to run the standalone Isaac Sim 5.1.0 build on a Rocky Linux 9 workstation where the system glibc and libstdc++ are too old. I do not have sudo.

Running ./isaac-sim.sh initially failed with missing symbols:

  • GLIBC_2.35 (from libm.so.6 / libc.so.6)

  • GLIBCXX_3.4.30 (from libstdc++.so.6)

To work around this, I:

  1. Built and installed glibc 2.35 in my home directory at:
    /tmp/glibc-2.35-install

  2. Copied a newer libstdc++.so.6.0.30 (which has GLIBCXX_3.4.30) into:
    ~/isaac-libstdc++/

  3. Wrote a wrapper script run_isaac_glibc.sh that:

    • Uses the custom loader: /tmp/glibc-2.35-install/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2

    • Sets --library-path to include:
      ./kit, ~/isaac-libstdc++, /tmp/glibc-2.35-install/lib, /tmp/glibc-2.35-install/lib64, and finally /lib64:/usr/lib64

    • Then launches: ./kit/kit ./apps/isaacsim.exp.full.kit

Now the original GLIBC_2.35 / GLIBCXX_3.4.30 errors are gone, but Isaac Sim exits almost immediately with:

[Error] [carb] Failed to acquire interface: [omni::kit::IApp v1.5], by client: omni.kit (plugin name: <default plugin>)

So the standalone build still doesn’t start even when run through my own glibc 2.35 + libstdc++.

I’d like to know if this user-space glibc approach is unsupported, and what the recommended solution is on a managed Rocky 9 system where I don’t have root.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. On Rocky Linux 9, download and extract Isaac Sim 5.1.0 standalone (isaac-sim-5.1.0.0-linux-x86_64.tar.xz) into ~/isaacsim.

  2. Attempt to run ./isaac-sim.sh → get GLIBC_2.35 / GLIBCXX_3.4.30 symbol errors.

  3. Build and install glibc 2.35 into a user prefix, e.g. /tmp/glibc-2.35-install.

  4. Copy a newer libstdc++.so.6.0.30 (with GLIBCXX_3.4.30) into ~/isaac-libstdc++/.

  5. Use a wrapper script that runs /tmp/glibc-2.35-install/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 with
    --library-path "./kit:~/isaac-libstdc++:/tmp/glibc-2.35-install/lib:/tmp/glibc-2.35-install/lib64:/lib64:/usr/lib64"
    and launches ./kit/kit ./apps/isaacsim.exp.full.kit --no-window.

  6. Isaac Sim terminates with the omni::kit::IApp v1.5 error.

Error Messages

Initial (with system glibc/libstdc++):

/lib64/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.35' not found
/lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.35' not found
/lib64/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.30' not found (required by libcarb.so)

After running through custom glibc 2.35 + libstdc++.so.6.0.30:

[Error] [carb] Failed to acquire interface: [omni::kit::IApp v1.5], by client: omni.kit (plugin name: <default plugin>)

Screenshots or Videos
N/A (command-line errors only, can provide if needed).

Additional Information

What I’ve Tried

  • Compiled and installed glibc 2.35 into my home directory (/tmp/glibc-2.35-install).

  • Copied libstdc++.so.6.0.30 from a conda env into a separate dir and pointed LD_LIBRARY_PATH to it.

  • Created several wrapper scripts to launch kit via the custom loader with --library-path pointing to Isaac’s kit dir, my libstdc++, and custom glibc.

  • Cleared Isaac Sim caches and config dirs:
    ~/.nvidia-omniverse/isaac-sim, ~/.nvidia-omniverse/logs/Kit, ~/.cache/ov, ~/.local/share/ov.

  • Tried --no-window and --verbose flags.

  • Verified with strings that my libstdc++.so.6 has GLIBCXX_3.4.30 and my glibc reports version 2.35.

Related Issues
I’ve seen other posts about GLIBC_2.35 on RHEL/Rocky, but not specifically with a user-space glibc 2.35 + standalone Isaac Sim 5.1.0.

Additional Context

This is a university-managed workstation where I don’t have sudo, but I do have an RTX 4090 with recent NVIDIA drivers. I’m mainly trying to get the standalone Isaac Sim 5.1.0 working first; ROS 2/Isaac ROS integration will come later once the base sim starts reliably.

Any guidance on whether this setup is supported, and recommended workarounds on Rocky 9 without root, would be appreciated.

3

Running Isaac Sim 5.1.0 standalone on Rocky Linux 9 using a custom user-space glibc (2.35) and updated libstdc++ (GLIBCXX_3.4.30) is not a supported configuration, and this approach is prone to unpredictable failures like the carb/omni::kit::IApp v1.5 error you encountered.

Supported Platforms and GLIBC Requirements

  • Isaac Sim 5.1.0 officially supports Ubuntu 22.04 and Windows 11, and as of recent releases, support for Ubuntu 20.04 and older RHEL-compatible distributions, including Rocky Linux, is not guaranteed.
  • The platform explicitly requires GLIBC 2.35 or newer, which generally is only available by default on Ubuntu 22.04 and similar up-to-date distributions.
  • Attempting to use user-space builds of glibc and libstdc++ to circumvent system restrictions is not covered or tested by NVIDIA, and such workarounds often clash with Omniverse’s plugin and dynamic linking systems.

Error Analysis and Recommendations

  • The carb failed-to-acquire-interface and omni::kit::IApp errors you saw after overcoming GLIBC/GLIBCXX version errors typically occur when there is deep incompatibility at the binary or runtime linking level. This means Isaac Sim’s core plugins or infrastructure (Kit) cannot be initialized with non-standard library paths or user-space library setups.
  • Even if the symbol version errors are patched, loading critical plugins or extensions (e.g., omni.kit, carb) may break in unpredictable ways, often resulting in immediate exits or mysterious runtime errors not documented for supported systems.

Workarounds for No-Sudo Environments

  • On university-managed or other rootless workstations, the only officially supported “user-space” deployment options involve moving to a supported platform (container or VM running Ubuntu 22.04, ideally).
  • If your institution offers singularity or docker containers, running Isaac Sim inside a container based on Ubuntu 22.04 is recommended—it naturally resolves the GLIBC versioning, as the container includes compatible libraries.
  • If containers are not possible, request from IT or sysadmin teams a VM or workstation with Ubuntu 22.04, or ask for systemwide upgrades; there is currently no official support for custom glibc overlays on RHEL/Rocky or similar platforms for Isaac Sim.
4

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. After looking more closely at the logs, I realized that the GLIBC 2.35 error is not coming from the Isaac Sim core itself, but from the Lula robot motion extension. The relevant line is:

[4.288s] [ext: isaacsim.robot_motion.lula-4.0.8] startup 
2025-08-29T21:35:04Z [4,267ms] [Error] [omni.ext._impl.custom_importer] Failed to import python module isaacsim.robot_motion.lula. Error: /lib64/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.35' not found (required by /home/ahmadh3@eng.<retracted>.ca/isaac-lab/IsaacSim/_build/linux-x86_64/release/exts/isaacsim.robot_motion.lula/pip_prebundle/lula.cpython-311-x86_64-linux-gnu.so). Traceback:

Since Isaac Sim is running on GLIBC 2.34 on Rocky Linux 9, it would be helpful if this extension was not loaded by default at runtime, to avoid this incompatibility when Lula is not needed.

Could you please confirm whether any core Isaac Sim functionality requires GLIBC 2.35, or is this requirement limited to the Lula extension and related features?

5

For Isaac Sim 5.0 and later on Linux, the binaries and pip wheels are built against a toolchain that expects GLIBC 2.35 or newer, matching what ships with Ubuntu 22.04 and later.