"Failed to create MMAL component vc.camera_info: Function not implemented" on Yocto image

[azasypkin]

There is a chance that something wrong with the Yocto image itself, but it looks very weird that raspistill (IIRC it also uses libmmal under the hood) works and picamera doesn't. Do you have any idea @waveform80? Thanks!

• Raspberry Pi 2 Model B;
• Raspberry Pi Camera v2.1;
• rpi-test-image Yocto image + one additional package python-pip;
• Camera is enabled and 256Mb is allocated for GPU (start_x=1 gpu_mem=256 in config.txt);
• Kernel version is Linux raspberrypi2 4.4.23 #1 SMP Tue Oct 4 14:55:18 UTC 2016 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux;
• And output from ldconfig:

root@raspberrypi2:~# ldconfig -p | grep libmmal
    libmmal_vc_client.so (libc6) => /usr/lib/libmmal_vc_client.so
    libmmal_util.so (libc6) => /usr/lib/libmmal_util.so
    libmmal_core.so (libc6) => /usr/lib/libmmal_core.so
    libmmal_components.so (libc6) => /usr/lib/libmmal_components.so
    libmmal.so (libc6) => /usr/lib/libmmal.so

Everything works fine with raspistill - no problems whatsoever. But the following code is failing (Python 2.7, picamera 1.12 installed via pip install picamera[array]):

import picamera
camera = picamer.PiCamera()

Here is a verbose python output:

Python 2.7.11 (default, Sep 29 2016, 19:22:22) 
[GCC 5.3.0] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
import picamera # directory /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/__init__.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/__init__.py
import picamera # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/__init__.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/__future__.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/__future__.py
import __future__ # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/__future__.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/exc.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/exc.py
import picamera.exc # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/exc.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmal.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmal.py
import picamera.mmal # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmal.pyc
import ctypes # directory /usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes
# /usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.py
import ctypes # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_ctypes.so", 2);
import _ctypes # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_ctypes.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/struct.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/struct.py
import struct # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/struct.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_struct.so", 2);
import _struct # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_struct.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/_endian.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/_endian.py
import ctypes._endian # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/ctypes/_endian.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/camera.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/camera.py
import picamera.camera # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/camera.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/datetime.so", 2);
import datetime # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/datetime.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/mimetypes.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/mimetypes.py
import mimetypes # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/mimetypes.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/urllib.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/urllib.py
import urllib # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/urllib.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/string.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/string.py
import string # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/string.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/strop.so", 2);
import strop # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/strop.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/socket.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py
import socket # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/socket.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_socket.so", 2);
import _socket # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_socket.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/functools.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/functools.py
import functools # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/functools.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_functools.so", 2);
import _functools # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_functools.so
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_ssl.so", 2);
import _ssl # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_ssl.so
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/cStringIO.so", 2);
import cStringIO # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/cStringIO.so
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/time.so", 2);
import time # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/time.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/base64.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/base64.py
import base64 # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/base64.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/binascii.so", 2);
import binascii # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/binascii.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/urlparse.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/urlparse.py
import urlparse # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/urlparse.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/collections.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/collections.py
import collections # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/collections.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_collections.so", 2);
import _collections # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_collections.so
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/operator.so", 2);
import operator # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/operator.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/keyword.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/keyword.py
import keyword # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/keyword.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/heapq.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/heapq.py
import heapq # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/heapq.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/itertools.so", 2);
import itertools # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/itertools.so
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_heapq.so", 2);
import _heapq # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_heapq.so
import thread # builtin
# /usr/lib/python2.7/ssl.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/ssl.py
import ssl # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/ssl.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/textwrap.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/textwrap.py
import textwrap # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/textwrap.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/contextlib.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/contextlib.py
import contextlib # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/contextlib.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/threading.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py
import threading # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/threading.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/fractions.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/fractions.py
import fractions # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/fractions.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/decimal.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/decimal.py
import decimal # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/decimal.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/math.so", 2);
import math # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/math.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/numbers.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/numbers.py
import numbers # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/numbers.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/locale.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/locale.py
import locale # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/locale.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/bcm_host.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/bcm_host.py
import picamera.bcm_host # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/bcm_host.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmalobj.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py
import picamera.mmalobj # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmalobj.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/weakref.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/weakref.py
import weakref # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/weakref.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/encoders.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/encoders.py
import picamera.encoders # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/encoders.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/io.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/io.py
import io # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/io.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_io.so", 2);
import _io # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_io.so
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/frames.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/frames.py
import picamera.frames # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/frames.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/streams.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/streams.py
import picamera.streams # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/streams.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/renderers.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/renderers.py
import picamera.renderers # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/renderers.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/color.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/color.py
import picamera.color # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/color.pyc
# /usr/lib/python2.7/colorsys.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/colorsys.py
import colorsys # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/colorsys.pyc
import RPi # directory /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/RPi
# /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/RPi/__init__.pyc matches /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/RPi/__init__.py
import RPi # precompiled from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/RPi/__init__.pyc
dlopen("/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/RPi/GPIO.so", 2);
import RPi.GPIO # dynamically loaded from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/RPi/GPIO.so
mmal: mmal_component_create_core: could not find component 'vc.camera_info'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test.py", line 2, in <module>
    camera = picamera.PiCamera()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/camera.py", line 367, in __init__
    with mo.MMALCameraInfo() as camera_info:
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 1412, in __init__
    super(MMALCameraInfo, self).__init__()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 446, in __init__
    prefix="Failed to create MMAL component %s" % self.component_type)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/picamera/exc.py", line 157, in mmal_check
    raise PiCameraMMALError(status, prefix)
picamera.exc.PiCameraMMALError: Failed to create MMAL component vc.camera_info: Function not implemented
....

[6by9]

Sounds like raspberrypi/userland#178
Have you been rebuilding userland with modified build parameters (ie '--no-as-needed')?

[azasypkin]

Hey @6by9, thanks for the hint. Currently I use master branch of meta-raspberry and there is --no-as-needed [1] in the userland recipe. With this both raspistill and raspivid work fine, but not picamera python lib. Out of curiosity I was trying to remove --no-as-needed and obviously nothing worked after that :) Or I should try to modify it in some other way?

Also wondering if it's somehow related to the fact that picamera is not included into yocto image from the start and I install it via pip install picamera[array] later on.

[1] https://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit/cgit.cgi/meta-raspberrypi/tree/recipes-graphics/userland/userland_git.bb#n41

[waveform80]

I'm afraid this is all rather beyond my knowledge (I've never dealt with the --as-needed switch or gcc's __attribute__ mechanism), so I doubt I'll be able to shed any light on this. The only thing I would mention is that ctypes in Python (which picamera uses to access libmmal) will be loading the library with dlopen whereas I'd assume raspistill / raspivid will be dynamically linked. I've no idea if/how that could make any difference though.

The manner of picamera's installation shouldn't make any difference; the deb on Raspbian is effectively the result of running pip install, and it certainly won't change the manner in which it accesses libmmal.

[cpixl]

It seems that picamera uses libmmal.so while raspivid and raspistill links against libmmal_{core,util,vc_client}.so directly. On Alpine Linux I added the -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS='-Wl,--no-as-needed' to cmake (as in the Yocto package) and raspivid/raspistill worked fine but picamera gave exactly the same "Function not implemented" errors (as libmmal still wasn't properly linked to the relevant libs), so I compiled using LDFLAGS="-Wl,--no-as-needed" instead (as in the Void Linux package) and it worked correctly.

ldd /opt/vc/lib/libmmal.so (using -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS='-Wl,--no-as-needed'):

	ldd (0xb6ec1000)
	libmmal_core.so => /opt/vc/lib/libmmal_core.so (0xb6e8f000)
	libmmal_util.so => /opt/vc/lib/libmmal_util.so (0xb6e71000)
	libvcos.so => /opt/vc/lib/libvcos.so (0xb6e58000)
	libc.musl-armhf.so.1 => ldd (0xb6ec1000)

ldd /opt/vc/lib/libmmal.so (using LDFLAGS="-Wl,--no-as-needed"):

	ldd (0xb6eb6000)
	libmmal_vc_client.so => /opt/vc/lib/libmmal_vc_client.so (0xb6e87000)
	libmmal_components.so => /opt/vc/lib/libmmal_components.so (0xb6e6c000)
	libvchiq_arm.so => /opt/vc/lib/libvchiq_arm.so (0xb6e56000)
	libvcsm.so => /opt/vc/lib/libvcsm.so (0xb6e40000)
	libmmal_core.so => /opt/vc/lib/libmmal_core.so (0xb6e22000)
	libmmal_util.so => /opt/vc/lib/libmmal_util.so (0xb6e04000)
	libcontainers.so => /opt/vc/lib/libcontainers.so (0xb6de1000)
	libvcos.so => /opt/vc/lib/libvcos.so (0xb6dc8000)
	libc.musl-armhf.so.1 => ldd (0xb6eb6000)

It certainly isn't a bug in picamera, so it seems the only workaround that could be done here would be to use the libmmal_*.so directly as raspivid/raspistill does (idk if that's feasible/possible though).

[cpixl]

NOTE: applying raspberrypi/userland#459 locally still gave me the same results as using -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS i.e. no libs linked to libmmal.so, so maybe this is relevant to you @6by9 :)

[6by9]

The linker flags are needed when compiling picamera, not libmmal.

raspberrypi/userland#459 only changes the dependencies of the standard apps, not the libraries.

libmmal does NOT depend on libmmal_vc_client. If you wish to use the VPU components then your application needs to link against it, and to NOT over optimise and end up removing the constructor.
raspberrypi/userland#178 / raspberrypi/userland#303 (comment)

[waveform80]

That's ... odd; picamera isn't compiled (in any meaningful sense). It's just dynamically loading what it needs from the C libs identified in picamera/mmal.py. I'm not entirely familiar with the guts of CPython's ctypes module but I'd guess ultimately it's just calling dlopen and dlsym to grab what it needs from libmmal and libbcm_host. I'm afraid I can't shed much more light on this!

[eswarrajan-subrmanian]

I am also facing a similar error after building userland.
I am using the attached python code for livestreaming.

All working fine till this morning, until I built userland for cec-client.
Later I am facing this issue everytime. Could someone share me the libmmal_vc_client.so with vc.camera_info included.

Error:
python /home/pimate/ESWAR/LIVE/live.py
mmal: mmal_component_create_core: could not find component 'vc.camera_info'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/pimate/ESWAR/LIVE/live.py", line 8, in
camera = PiCamera()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/camera.py", line 367, in init
with mo.MMALCameraInfo() as camera_info:
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 2346, in init
super(MMALCameraInfo, self).init()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 633, in init
prefix="Failed to create MMAL component %s" % self.component_type)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/exc.py", line 184, in mmal_check
raise PiCameraMMALError(status, prefix)
picamera.exc.PiCameraMMALError: Failed to create MMAL component b'vc.camera_info': Function not implemented

live.txt

[eswarrajan-subrmanian]

I am also facing a similar error while building userland.
I am using the attached python code for livestreaming.

All working fine till this morning, until I built userland for cec-client.
Later I am facing this issue everytime. Could someone share me the libmmal_vc_client.so with vc.camera_info included.

Error:
python /home/pimate/ESWAR/LIVE/live.py
mmal: mmal_component_create_core: could not find component 'vc.camera_info'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/pimate/ESWAR/LIVE/live.py", line 8, in
camera = PiCamera()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/camera.py", line 367, in init
with mo.MMALCameraInfo() as camera_info:
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 2346, in init
super(MMALCameraInfo, self).init()
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 633, in init
prefix="Failed to create MMAL component %s" % self.component_type)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/picamera/exc.py", line 184, in mmal_check
raise PiCameraMMALError(status, prefix)
picamera.exc.PiCameraMMALError: Failed to create MMAL component b'vc.camera_info': Function not implemented

live.txt

Where do i have to put the following to avoid this error?
SET( CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "-Wl,--no-as-needed" )

[eswarrajan-subrmanian]

I tried the following and the issue is resolved.

1. sudo rm -rf /opt/vc
2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get install --reinstall libraspberrypi0 libraspberrypi-dev libraspberrypi-doc libraspberrypi-bin

The contents of /opt/vc folder is recreated. This resolves the issue.

[mrusme]

I'm also experiencing this issue with a self-compiled version of the raspberry userland repo on the latest Ubuntu Server image for the Raspberry Pi 4. I've added SET( CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "-Wl,--no-as-needed" ) to the CMakeLists.txt of that repo and ran the buildme script. However, picamera says:

mmal: mmal_component_create_core: could not find component 'vc.camera_info'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "picam.py", line 171, in <module>
    main()
  File "picam.py", line 143, in main
    with picamera.PiCamera(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/picamera/camera.py", line 367, in __init__
    with mo.MMALCameraInfo() as camera_info:
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 2346, in __init__
    super(MMALCameraInfo, self).__init__()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/picamera/mmalobj.py", line 631, in __init__
    mmal_check(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages/picamera/exc.py", line 184, in mmal_check
    raise PiCameraMMALError(status, prefix)
picamera.exc.PiCameraMMALError: Failed to create MMAL component b'vc.camera_info': Function not implemented

Does anyone have another hint here? Thanks!

[caiostringari]

Not a very good fix, but copying libmmal.so from a working version of Raspbian (/opt/vc/lib/libmmal.so) to /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libmmal.so on Ubuntu Mate 20.04 worked for me.