Docker on Apple M2: Failed to load native whisper library

[pavelzaitsau]

*Describtion
I use Whisper.net (AllRuntimes, v1.7.3) in dotnet9 container running MacOS Docker (both Docker VMM and Apple Virtualisation Framework). I got the error "Failed to load native whisper library". The same Dockerfile and codebase works fine on non-ARM Docker or natively on Mac

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Dockerfile
   

2. Usage
   

3. Here is runtime directory of the app
   

Expected behaviour:
No error like on x64-based docker

Environment:

• OS Version: Apple M2; MacOS Sequoia 15.1.1 (24B91); Docker (both Docker VMM and Apple Virtualisation Framework)
• Whisper Version: v1.7.3
• Runtime: Whisper.net.AllRuntimes, Whisper.net.Runtime

[sandrohanea]

Hey @pavelzaitsau,

When running the docker on your M2 mac, which is the base image that you used?

Some workarounds:

You can try to build and run your docker file on M2 mac using:

docker build --platform linux/amd64 -t <image-name> .

docker run --platform linux/amd64 <image-name>

However, Whisper.net should support linux arm64 as well, so just running in on that should generally work. Maybe you're missing some dependencies for that base image (e.g. the libstdc++6 or glibc 2.31)

You can also debug this further by running ldd libwhisper.so and ldd libggml-whisper.so in the docker for those linux-arm64 runtimes => that will show you the dependencies and if they are available on that system.

[pavelzaitsau]

Hi @sandrohanea!
I tried both your options with no luck. Probably something does not works especially on ARM64 platform or i missed something with the packages. But all the libraries you mentioned are in place

I'm attaching the complete test project to test on your side if needed

docker build -f test-whisper-net/Dockerfile . -t whisper --platform linux/arm64

test_whisper_net.csproj (took test audio files from the repo)

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
        <TargetFramework>net9.0</TargetFramework>
        <RootNamespace>test_whisper_net</RootNamespace>
        <LangVersion>latestmajor</LangVersion>
        <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
        <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
        <DockerDefaultTargetOS>Linux</DockerDefaultTargetOS>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <Content Include="..\.dockerignore">
            <Link>.dockerignore</Link>
        </Content>
    </ItemGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
      <Folder Include="audio\" />
      <Folder Include="model\" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
      <PackageReference Include="Whisper.net" Version="1.7.3" />
      <PackageReference Include="Whisper.net.AllRuntimes" Version="1.7.3" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
      <None Update="model\ggml-base.bin">
        <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
      </None>
      <None Update="audio\bush.wav">
        <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
      </None>
      <None Update="audio\kennedy.wav">
        <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
      </None>
      <None Update="audio\multichannel.wav">
        <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
      </None>
    </ItemGroup>
</Project>

program.cs

using System.Diagnostics;
using Whisper.net;

var result = new List<string>();
var whisperFactory = WhisperFactory.FromPath("model/ggml-base.bin");
var files = new DirectoryInfo("audio").EnumerateFiles("*", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly);
foreach (var file in files)
{
    var stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Green;
    Console.WriteLine($"Processing {file}");
    using var processor = whisperFactory
        .CreateBuilder()
        .WithLanguage("auto")
        .WithNoContext()
        .WithSegmentEventHandler(segment =>
        {
            result.AddRange(
                segment.Text
                    .Trim()
                    .Split(['\n', '\r'], StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
                    .Select(x => x.Trim())
                    .Where(x => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x)));
        })
        .Build();

    await using var stream = file.OpenRead();
    try
    {
        processor.Process(stream);
        
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Magenta;
        Console.WriteLine($"Processed in {stopwatch.Elapsed.TotalSeconds:0.00}s.");
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
        Console.WriteLine($"Error processing {file}: {e.Message}");
        continue;
    }

    if (result.Count > 0)
    {
        foreach (var line in result)
        {
            Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Cyan;
            Console.WriteLine(line);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Yellow;
        Console.WriteLine("No text detected");
    }
    
    Console.WriteLine();
}

Dockerfile

FROM debian:stable AS base

ENV \
  APP_UID=1654 \
  DOTNET_VERSION=9.0 \
  DOTNET_RUNNING_IN_CONTAINER=true \
  DOTNET_SYSTEM_GLOBALIZATION_INVARIANT=false

USER root

# Install dependencies
RUN apt update && apt install -y --no-install-recommends \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    libc6 \
    libicu-dev \
    libgcc-s1 \
    libstdc++6 \
    tzdata \
    gnupg \
    libsndfile1\
    xz-utils \
    && apt clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# Install dotnet 9.0 runtimes
RUN curl -sSL https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh | bash /dev/stdin -Channel 9.0 -Runtime dotnet -Runtime aspnetcore -InstallDir /usr/share/dotnet \
    && ln -s /usr/share/dotnet/dotnet /usr/bin/dotnet

USER $APP_UID
WORKDIR /app

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:9.0 AS build
ARG BUILD_CONFIGURATION=Release
WORKDIR /src
COPY ["test-whisper-net/test-whisper-net.csproj", "test-whisper-net/"]
RUN dotnet restore "test-whisper-net/test-whisper-net.csproj"
COPY . .
WORKDIR "/src/test-whisper-net"
RUN dotnet build "test-whisper-net.csproj" -c $BUILD_CONFIGURATION -o /app/build

FROM build AS publish
ARG BUILD_CONFIGURATION=Release
RUN dotnet publish "test-whisper-net.csproj" -c $BUILD_CONFIGURATION -o /app/publish /p:UseAppHost=false

FROM base AS final

RUN dotnet --list-runtimes

WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=publish /app/publish .
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "test-whisper-net.dll"]