[NativeAOT] On Unix, if IlcInstructionSet=native is specified, the publish fails with 'Unable to load shared library 'jitinterface_arm64' or one of its dependencies.'

[neon-sunset]

Description

As the title goes, if a build property <IlcInstructionSet>native</IlcInstructionSet> is defined, the build fails.

Reproduction Steps

1. Create project with dotnet new console --aot
2. Add <IlcInstructionSet>native</IlcInstructionSet>

Expected behavior

The project builds, resolving the available instruction sets from the current host.

Actual behavior

The build fails with

❯ dotnet publish
Restore complete (0.2s)
    info NETSDK1057: You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-support-policy
  BuildError failed with 2 error(s) (0.5s) → bin/Release/net10.0/osx-arm64/BuildError.dll
    EXEC : error Unable to load shared library 'jitinterface_arm64' or one of its dependencies. In order to help diagnose loading problems, consider setting the DYLD_PRINT_LIBRARIES environment variable:
    /Users/arseniy/.nuget/packages/microsoft.dotnet.ilcompiler/10.0.0-rc.1.25414.111/build/Microsoft.NETCore.Native.targets(330,5): error MSB3073: The command ""/Users/arseniy/.nuget/packages/runtime.osx-arm64.microsoft.dotnet.ilcompiler/10.0.0-rc.1.25414.111/tools/ilc" @"obj/Release/net10.0/osx-arm64/native/BuildError.ilc.rsp"" exited with code 1.

Build failed with 2 error(s) in 0.8s

The build does not fail when specifying apple-m1 however.

Regression?

Yes, does not reproduce on .NET 8 and 9.

Known Workarounds

Specifying supported ISA extensions manually.

Configuration

Darwin Mac.lan 24.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jul 14 11:30:40 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.140.69~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6041 arm64

❯ dotnet --info                                                                                     (base)
.NET SDK:
 Version:           10.0.100-rc.1.25414.111
 Commit:            f8a57b66e6
 Workload version:  10.0.100-manifests.2f8afce5
 MSBuild version:   17.15.0-preview-25414-111+f8a57b66e

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Mac OS X
 OS Version:  15.6
 OS Platform: Darwin
 RID:         osx-arm64
 Base Path:   /usr/local/share/dotnet/sdk/10.0.100-rc.1.25414.111/

.NET workloads installed:
There are no installed workloads to display.
Configured to use workload sets when installing new manifests.
No workload sets are installed. Run "dotnet workload restore" to install a workload set.

Host:
  Version:      10.0.0-rc.1.25414.111
  Architecture: arm64
  Commit:       f8a57b66e6

DYLD_PRINT_LIBRARIES.log

Other information

No response

[dotnet-policy-service]

Tagging subscribers to this area: @agocke, @MichalStrehovsky, @jkotas
See info in area-owners.md if you want to be subscribed.

[jkotas]

This is related to #115236 that removed default RPATH for native AOT binaries.

We are loading the native library with DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory at

runtime/src/coreclr/tools/Common/InstructionSetHelpers.cs

Line 98 in 6d9cd59

nint libHandle = NativeLibrary.Load(jitInterfaceLibrary, System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(), DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory);

, but the system is failing to find it.

@elinor-fung This looks like a bug in DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory implementation for NativeAOT to me. Do you agree?

[elinor-fung]

This looks like a bug in DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory implementation for NativeAOT to me. Do you agree?

I don't think this is specifically NativeAOT. For non-Windows, we (any runtime) don't support / never supported any search path other than DllImportSearchPath.AssemblyDirectory. Specifying only DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory will simply use the OS search logic.

The code in InstructionSetHelper was relying entirely on RPATH being set for NativeAOT binaries on non-Windows. DllImportSearchPath.AssemblyDirectory would look next to the app. The same behaviour can be seen with coreclr - NativeLibrary.Load with only DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory won't find the library next to the app (unless the user explicitly did something like set [DY]LB_LIBRARY_PATH.

[jkotas]

I don't think this is specifically NativeAOT. For non-Windows, we (any runtime) don't support / never supported any search path other than DllImportSearchPath.AssemblyDirectory.

DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory seems to work fine outside NativeAOT as long as the .so is properly referenced and ends up on the probing path. Example:

• dotnet new console
• dotnet add package System.IO.Ports // Shortcut to get native .so that's properly referenced

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

NativeLibrary.Load("libSystem.IO.Ports.Native.so", System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(), DllImportSearchPath.ApplicationDirectory);

Result:

• All dotnet build, dotnet build -r linux-x64 or dotnet publish & run works fine
• dotnet publish /p:PublishAot=true & run does not work

I am not sure whether this discrepancy is desirable/by-design or whether it is something we want to fix.