nvcc fatal: Path to libdevice library not specified

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Setup and Installation
1

I tried to compile the example on this page https://devblogs.nvidia.com/even-easier-introduction-cuda/ using the command

$ nvcc add.cu -o add_cuda

but got this error message

nvcc fatal : Path to libdevice library not specified

Based on this post https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/804501/cuda-setup-and-installation/libdevice-library-not-found-by-nvcc/post/4424877/#4424877, it seemed as though reinstalling would fix the problem, but when I run

$ sudo apt-get --purge remove "*cublas*" "cuda*"
$ sudo apt-get --purge remove "*nvidia*"

as specified in https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-installation-guide-linux/index.html#removing-cuda-tk-and-driver the packages are not removed and I get the error messages

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/nvidia-cuda-dev_9.1.85-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite '/usr/include/cublas.h', which is also in package libcublas-dev 10.2.0.168-1
dpkg-deb: error: paste subprocess was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/nvidia-cuda-dev_9.1.85-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I am using Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS and installed the CUDA toolkit using the deb network installer. I’m guessing I did something stupid, as I’m not very experienced with linux, but I’m hopelessly confused and Google isn’t helping.

2

Hello to all,

we have the same error message
“nvcc fatal : Path to libdevice library not specified”

could you please help understand how to fix it?

We are using ubuntu 18.04, and also installed CUDA toolkit 10.1 with GeForce 2080 Ti

3

I’m using a GTX 1070. I don’t think that should matter, but just in case.

4

You appear to be mixing CUDA 9.1 and 10.1 install. The reference to /usr/include/cublas.h is coming from a 10.1 install. But the package you have indicated:

dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/nvidia-cuda-dev_9.1.85-3ubuntu1_amd64.deb

is a 9.1 install package.

Remove the 10.1 install using the proper 10.1 install method. If you have a hopelessly confused mix of various install and uninstall attempts it may not be possible to give a straightforward set of steps to unwind whatever you have done. A simple set of instructions to fix things might be to reload the operating system.

5

Thanks! I reinstalled Ubuntu and eventually got it working. My issue seems to have been that I set up my environment using the wrong tool version. The installation guide says to type

$ export PATH=/usr/local/cuda-10.1/bin:/usr/local/cuda-10.1/NsightCompute-2019.1${PATH:+:${PATH}}

but the correct tool version is 2019.3. When I tried to use nvcc without having correctly set up the environment, I was prompted to type

sudo apt install nvidia-cuda-toolkit

which tried to install CUDA 9.1

6

@jaywhite
Thanks alot!

I had the same error msg:

nvcc fatal : Path to libdevice library not specified

Your suggestion of exporting the path

$ export PATH=/usr/local/cuda-10.1/bin:/usr/local/cuda-10.1/NsightCompute-2019.1${PATH:+:${PATH}}

was the only thing I did to solve my problem.
Now I could run all my cuda programs.