makemkv will not start NO_ANSWER_FROM_MAKEMKVCON

[modgode]

I've been running makemkv under Linux Mate for many years now (payed and registered; currently under Linux Mate 20.04.6 LTS). Few days ago I've noticed an update of makemkv as part of the usual Linux update routine. But when I try to start makemkv now I get a pop-up error message "Application failed to initialize NO_ANSWER_FROM_MAKEMKVCON". I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it using the built-in "Software-Boutique" of Linux Mate at first and when that didn't work I uninstalled it and downloaded the binary and source packages from the forum page and compiled them according to the instructions given there but with the same result. Makemkv just won't start and displays this error message. When I try to start the program from terminal I get a little bit additional information:
/usr/bin/makemkvcon: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by /usr/bin/makemkvcon)
/usr/bin/makemkvcon: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by /usr/bin/makemkvcon)

As far as my understanding goes I cannot update the listed packages since they are an essential part of the OS. However, I thought that compiling from source should circumvent this problem which obviously isn't the case though. I'd really appreciate this getting fixed since I don't know what else to do (apart from tying to update Linux altogether which I'm usually trying to avoid until my current LTS is definitely end of life).

[segfaulted]

I'm also running an older distro and ran into this problem. My solution to it won't be pretty but it works.
You don't need to upgrade GNU libc at the system level, but you will need a local copy to run with MakeMKV.

This assumes you have installed gcc to compile code, and patchelf for some executable adjustment.

1) Get the source code for a recent version of GNU libc. The newest one is glibc-2.40 which you can find at https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libc/
2) Do the build process. Adjust the paths accordingly for the version of glibc.

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tar xf glibc-2.40.tar.xz
cd glibc-2.40
mkdir build
cd build
../configure --prefix=/usr
make -j8

At this point, the build should be successful and there will a few .so files we need to pick up.

3) First, decide on a path where you will keep the new glibc binaries installed. As an example, I'll use a new folder called glibc240 in my home directory. Run these commands in the same terminal where you just finished building glibc.

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export LIBCPATH=~/glibc240
mkdir $LIBCPATH
cp libc.so $LIBCPATH/libc.so.6
cp dlfcn/libdl.so $LIBCPATH/libdl.so.2
cp nptl/libpthread.so $LIBCPATH/libpthread.so.0
cp rt/librt.so $LIBCPATH/librt.so.1
cp elf/ld.so $LIBCPATH/ld-linux-x86_64.so.2

4) Now to patch the makemkv binaries to use the new glibc build. For safety, take a copy of them into your home folder.

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cd ~
cp /usr/bin/{makemkv,makemkvcon} ~/

patchelf --set-interpreter $LIBCPATH/ld-linux-x86_64.so.2 --set-rpath $LIBCPATH --force-rpath makemkvcon
patchelf --set-interpreter $LIBCPATH/ld-linux-x86_64.so.2 --set-rpath $LIBCPATH --force-rpath makemkv

5) Test the patched executables.

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./makemkvcon
#....you should see the usual help text from makemkvcon here.

./makemkv
#....the GUI should open normally here.

6) If that works, you can now overwrite the patched binaries back to the system.

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sudo cp {makemkvcon,makemkv} /usr/bin

All done.

[modgode]

You are my hero! Worked like a charm! I've locked the versions of makemkv and makemkvcon in synaptic right after the patch to avoid unwanted updates for the time being. Will update only if it stops working and not while it does.

Only thing I had to do in addition to your instructions was to install gawk and bison to successfully build glibc. No big deal. Just wanted to add this info for other users.

Thanks again for your help. It's very much appreciated!

[MarkV]

I'm having the same problem on Win 10 with version 1.17.8.

[MarkV]

I'm don't have the know how to explain this but I noticed two problems at the same time and I'm guessing they were related.

I opened MakeMKV and got this error and then saw another error saying something like "that file path doesn't exist would you like to create it?"

I run MakeMKV on one computer and write to another (that is more modern) that runs Handbrake. I tried to open the shared folder on computer 2 from computer 1 and couldn't. Ran the network trouble shooter and it said that computer 2 was configured correctly buy not responding.

Long story short I rebooted all computers and the entire network and things started working.