SNAP 12 on Xubuntu 20.04.6 LTS: cannot open files

Hello,
thank you for the great work on SNAP12!
On one of our machines running Xubuntu 20.04.6 I cant open any files in the Product Explorer of SNAP 12. No drag+drop or Open File works for Sentinel3 or Sentinel2 Products. I get this error:

java.lang.IllegalStateException: HDF5 NOT initialised! Check log for details.
at eu.esa.snap.hdf.HDFLoader.ensureHDF5Initialised(HDFLoader.java:36)
at eu.esa.opt.dataio.probav.ProbaVProductReaderPlugIn.getProbaVFile(ProbaVProductReaderPlugIn.java:50)
at eu.esa.opt.dataio.probav.ProbaVProductReaderPlugIn.isInputValid(ProbaVProductReaderPlugIn.java:61)
at eu.esa.opt.dataio.probav.ProbaVProductReaderPlugIn.getDecodeQualification(ProbaVProductReaderPlugIn.java:98)
at org.esa.snap.rcp.actions.file.ProductOpener.lambda$getPluginsForFile$2(ProductOpener.java:269)
at java.base/java.util.Iterator.forEachRemaining(Iterator.java:133)
at org.esa.snap.rcp.actions.file.ProductOpener.getPluginsForFile(ProductOpener.java:268)
at org.esa.snap.rcp.actions.file.ProductOpener.openProductFilesCheckOpened(ProductOpener.java:223)
at org.esa.snap.rcp.actions.file.ProductOpener.openProduct(ProductOpener.java:179)
at org.esa.snap.rcp.actions.file.OpenProductAction.execute(OpenProductAction.java:126)
at org.esa.snap.rcp.actions.file.OpenProductAction.actionPerformed(OpenProductAction.java:111)
at org.openide.awt.AlwaysEnabledAction$1.run(AlwaysEnabledAction.java:174)
at org.openide.util.actions.ActionInvoker$1.run(ActionInvoker.java:70)
at org.openide.util.actions.ActionInvoker.doPerformAction(ActionInvoker.java:91)
at org.openide.util.actions.ActionInvoker.invokeAction(ActionInvoker.java:74)
at org.openide.awt.AlwaysEnabledAction.actionPerformed(AlwaysEnabledAction.java:177)
at java.desktop/javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:1972)
at java.desktop/javax.swing.AbstractButton$Handler.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:2314)
at java.desktop/javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:407)
at java.desktop/javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.setPressed(DefaultButtonModel.java:262)
at java.desktop/javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(BasicButtonListener.java:279)
at java.desktop/java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mouseReleased(AWTEventMulticaster.java:298)
at java.desktop/java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mouseReleased(AWTEventMulticaster.java:297)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6621)
at java.desktop/javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3398)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6386)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2266)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4996)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2324)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4828)
at java.desktop/java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4948)
at java.desktop/java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4575)
at java.desktop/java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4516)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2310)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2780)
at java.desktop/java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4828)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:775)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:720)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:714)
at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:400)
at java.base/java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)
at java.base/java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:98)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$5.run(EventQueue.java:747)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$5.run(EventQueue.java:745)
at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:400)
at java.base/java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:744)
at org.netbeans.core.TimableEventQueue.dispatchEvent(TimableEventQueue.java:136)
[catch] at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:203)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:124)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:113)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:109)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:101)
at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:90)

I guess it has something to do with the changes to the native HDF5 libraries in SNAP12 as this was working in SNAP11. In the logfile it says before the error:

WARNING [eu.esa.snap.hdf.HDFLoader]: class eu.esa.snap.hdf.HDFLoader: HDF-5 library not available: class java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: ‘int hdf.hdflib.HDFLibrary.HDdont_atexit()’
WARNING [eu.esa.snap.hdf.HDFLoader]: HDF/HDF5 dependent readers disabled.

I dont want to fiddle around too much with the installed libraries on that system, I’m afraid to break other stuff. I noticed that I can use the same files in Operators (Resampling/Mosaicking) on that system without a problem and also SNAP12 is working fine on a machine with Xubuntu 24.04.2.
HDF5 java is installed, but I dont really know what version of system libraries SNAP depends on. Any idea what I can do to get around this?
thanks
Daniel

As mentioned on the SNAP Download – STEP page, SNAP 12 is incompatible with Ubuntu versions earlier than 22.04.

Thanks Diana, oh well, I definitely missed that when downloading…
cheers, Daniel