Baremetal ovms_ubuntu24 binary fails on newer distros — libxml2.so.2 (+ ICU 74) is a runtime dep but not bundled

Summary

The baremetal Linux release tarball (ovms_ubuntu24_<ver>_python_{off,on}.tar.gz) bundles ~82 shared libraries under ovms/lib/, but not libxml2 — even though the ovms binary links it directly (ldd ovms → libxml2.so.2 => not found). On Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 this is masked because the host provides libxml2.so.2 via the distro libxml2 package. On any newer distro that ships libxml2 under a different soname (and a newer ICU), the binary won't start.

Version

• OVMS 2026.2.1 (PROJECT_VERSION: 2026.2.1.1122f03bf, BASE_IMAGE: ubuntu:24.04)
• Both python_off and python_on tarballs affected (same missing dependency)

Environment where it fails

• Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, glibc 2.43
• Ships libxml2.so.16 (no libxml2.so.2); the libxml2 apt package has no candidate
• Ships ICU 78 (libicuuc.so.78); no ICU 74

Generally: reproducible on any distro where the system libxml2 soname ≠ .so.2, or where ICU ≠ 74.

Symptom

$ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/ovms/lib /opt/ovms/bin/ovms --version
/opt/ovms/bin/ovms: error while loading shared libraries: libxml2.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Root cause / dependency chain

1. ovms binary → needs libxml2.so.2 (not in ovms/lib/, not on the host).
2. Supplying libxml2.so.2 (2.9.14) then reveals → needs libicuuc.so.74 (host has ICU 78).

So the full unmet chain is libxml2.so.2 → libicuuc.so.74 → libicudata.so.74.

Steps to reproduce

# On Ubuntu 26.04 (or any distro without libxml2.so.2 / ICU 74):
curl -sL -O https://github.com/openvinotoolkit/model_server/releases/download/v2026.2.1/ovms_ubuntu24_2026.2.1_python_off.tar.gz
sudo tar -xzf ovms_ubuntu24_2026.2.1_python_off.tar.gz -C /opt
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/ovms/lib ldd /opt/ovms/bin/ovms | grep 'not found'
# -> libxml2.so.2 => not found

Workaround

Dropping compatible libs into OVMS's own lib/ (isolated; does not touch the system) resolves it:

# libxml2 2.9.14 + ICU 74 (any ubuntu24-era source works)
cp libxml2.so.2.9.14   /opt/ovms/lib/libxml2.so.2
cp libicuuc.so.74.2    /opt/ovms/lib/libicuuc.so.74
cp libicudata.so.74.2  /opt/ovms/lib/libicudata.so.74
cp libicui18n.so.74.2  /opt/ovms/lib/libicui18n.so.74
# ldd now clean; ovms starts and serves models on the Intel Arc GPU.

Suggested fix (any one)

1. Bundle libxml2 (and its ICU deps) in ovms/lib/ like the other ~82 libraries — the tarball is already designed to be self-contained via its bundled libs.
2. Statically link libxml2 into the binary.
3. At minimum, document the exact external runtime dependencies (libxml2.so.2 + ICU 74) and the supported distro range for the baremetal package — the ubuntu24 filename implies broader compatibility than the artifact actually has.

Notes

GPU serving itself works fine on Ubuntu 26.04 once the libs are supplied (Intel Arc Pro B60; the bundled libopenvino_intel_gpu_plugin.so + libOpenCL.so plus the distro intel-opencl-icd). This is purely a packaging/portability gap in the baremetal artifact, not a runtime GPU issue.