diff --git a/.github/workflows/basic.yml b/.github/workflows/basic.yml
index 8b7f7373877d6a83f181b88ba96172a5508b89e9..7fe497c535b226207f86dd92bfcaaee12d4a092a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/basic.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/basic.yml
@@ -178,5 +178,7 @@ jobs:
         run:  mpirun -n 4 -oversubscribe python3 -m unittest discover -v -s python
       - name: Run Python examples
         run: scripts/run_python_examples.sh
-      - name: Build a catalogue
-        run: build-catalogue -v default mechanisms/default
+      - name: Build and test a catalogue
+        run: |
+          build-catalogue -v default mechanisms/default
+          ./scripts/test-catalogue.py ./default-catalogue.so
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a2d3ce9076b014027a5df4a855b1feb212bbd05b..ccdfe0db062bc3ce52c1fca5df02608a4fdf3191 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -186,13 +186,7 @@ install(TARGETS arbor-config-defs EXPORT arbor-targets)
 # Interface library `arbor-private-deps` collects dependencies, options etc.
 # for the arbor library.
 add_library(arbor-private-deps INTERFACE)
-target_link_libraries(arbor-private-deps INTERFACE arbor-config-defs ext-random123)
-if (UNIX)
-    target_compile_definitions(arbor-config-defs INTERFACE ARB_HAVE_DL)
-    target_link_libraries(arbor-private-deps INTERFACE ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
-else()
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "No support for dynamic loading on current platform.")
-endif ()
+target_link_libraries(arbor-private-deps INTERFACE arbor-config-defs ext-random123 ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
 install(TARGETS arbor-private-deps EXPORT arbor-targets)
 
 # Interface library `arborenv-private-deps` collects dependencies, options etc.
diff --git a/arbor/CMakeLists.txt b/arbor/CMakeLists.txt
index 9296d2ac8d22d3bd4b6e076e220852fe75937791..b4c1b99479d971ce6f9c91f04aa702d8bf287ee3 100644
--- a/arbor/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/arbor/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ set(arbor_sources
     threading/threading.cpp
     thread_private_spike_store.cpp
     tree.cpp
+    util/dylib.cpp
     util/hostname.cpp
     util/unwind.cpp
     version.cpp
diff --git a/arbor/mechcat.cpp b/arbor/mechcat.cpp
index 829339fd39adf5ce96a543b746accb4c607b1945..3796b46aa45b0c1ab820f0dca3132e3b378da989 100644
--- a/arbor/mechcat.cpp
+++ b/arbor/mechcat.cpp
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@
 #include <arbor/mechanism.hpp>
 #include <arbor/util/expected.hpp>
 
-#include "util/rangeutil.hpp"
+#include "util/dylib.hpp"
 #include "util/maputil.hpp"
+#include "util/rangeutil.hpp"
 #include "util/span.hpp"
-#include "util/dl.hpp"
+#include "util/strprintf.hpp"
 
 /* Notes on implementation:
  *
@@ -587,18 +588,17 @@ const mechanism_catalogue& load_catalogue(const std::string& fn) {
     typedef const void* global_catalogue_t();
     global_catalogue_t* get_catalogue = nullptr;
     try {
-        auto plugin = dl_open(fn);
-        get_catalogue = dl_get_symbol<global_catalogue_t*>(plugin, "get_catalogue");
-    } catch(dl_error& e) {
+        get_catalogue = util::dl_get_symbol<global_catalogue_t*>(fn, "get_catalogue");
+    } catch(util::dl_error& e) {
         throw bad_catalogue_error{e.what(), {e}};
     }
     if (!get_catalogue) {
         throw bad_catalogue_error{util::pprintf("Unusable symbol 'get_catalogue' in shared object '{}'", fn)};
     }
-    /* NOTE We do not free the DSO handle here and accept retaining the handles
-       until termination since the mechanisms provided by the catalogue may have
-       a different lifetime than the actual catalogue itfself. This is not a
-       leak proper as `dlopen` caches handles for us.
+    /* The DSO handle is not freed here: handles will be retained until
+     * termination since the mechanisms provided by the catalogue may have a
+     * different lifetime than the actual catalogue itfself. This is not a leak,
+     * as `dlopen` caches handles for us.
      */
     return *((const mechanism_catalogue*)get_catalogue());
 }
diff --git a/arbor/util/dl.hpp b/arbor/util/dl.hpp
deleted file mode 100644
index 8454036eb75fbb4b34294baab962535c39db407b..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/arbor/util/dl.hpp
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-#ifdef ARB_HAVE_DL
-#include "util/dl_platform_posix.hpp"
-#endif
diff --git a/arbor/util/dl_platform_posix.hpp b/arbor/util/dl_platform_posix.hpp
deleted file mode 100644
index e2442c15d0191c8beea7676ec46c2a8905eef84f..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/arbor/util/dl_platform_posix.hpp
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,52 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-#include <fstream>
-#include <string>
-
-#include <dlfcn.h>
-
-#include <arbor/arbexcept.hpp>
-
-#include "util/strprintf.hpp"
-
-namespace arb {
-
-struct dl_error: arbor_exception {
-    dl_error(const std::string& msg): arbor_exception{msg} {}
-};
-
-struct dl_handle {
-    void* dl = nullptr;
-};
-
-inline
-dl_handle dl_open(const std::string& fn) {
-    // Test if we can open file
-    if (!std::ifstream{fn.c_str()}.good()) throw file_not_found_error{fn};
-    // Call once to clear errors not caused by us
-    dlerror();
-    // Try to open shared object
-    auto result = dlopen(fn.c_str(), RTLD_LAZY);
-    // dlopen fails by returning NULL
-    if (!result) throw dl_error{util::pprintf("[POSIX] dl_open failed with: {}", dlerror())};
-    return {result};
-}
-
-template<typename T> inline
-T dl_get_symbol(const dl_handle& handle, const std::string& symbol) {
-    // Call once to clear errors not caused by us
-    dlerror();
-    // Get symbol from shared object, may return NULL if that is what symbol refers to
-    auto result = dlsym(handle.dl, symbol.c_str());
-    // ... so we can only ask for dlerror here
-    if (auto error = dlerror()) throw dl_error{util::pprintf("[POSIX] dl_get_symbol failed with: {}", error)};
-    return reinterpret_cast<T>(result);
-}
-
-inline
-void dl_close(dl_handle& handle) {
-    dlclose(handle.dl);
-    handle.dl = nullptr;
-}
-
-}
diff --git a/arbor/util/dylib.cpp b/arbor/util/dylib.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3f4826dfbdd570f89d89cd4df7bfe3a675f3c5d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arbor/util/dylib.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#include <fstream>
+#include <string>
+
+#include <dlfcn.h>
+
+#include <arbor/arbexcept.hpp>
+
+#include "util/dylib.hpp"
+#include "util/strprintf.hpp"
+
+namespace arb {
+namespace util {
+
+void* dl_open(const std::string& fn) {
+    try {
+        std::ifstream fd{fn.c_str()};
+        if(!fd.good()) throw file_not_found_error{fn};
+    } catch(...) {
+        throw file_not_found_error{fn};
+    }
+    // Call once to clear errors not caused by us
+    dlerror();
+    auto result = dlopen(fn.c_str(), RTLD_LAZY);
+    // dlopen fails by returning NULL
+    if (nullptr == result) {
+        auto error = dlerror();
+        throw dl_error{util::pprintf("[POSIX] dl_open failed with: {}", error)};
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+namespace impl{
+void* dl_get_symbol(const std::string& fn, const std::string& symbol) {
+    // Call once to clear errors not caused by us
+    dlerror();
+
+    auto handle = dl_open(fn);
+
+    // Get symbol from shared object, may return NULL if that is what symbol refers to
+    auto result = dlsym(handle, symbol.c_str());
+    // dlsym mayb return NULL even if succeeding
+    if (auto error = dlerror()) {
+        throw dl_error{util::pprintf("[POSIX] dl_get_symbol failed with: {}", error)};
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+} // namespace impl
+
+} // namespace util
+} // namespace arb
diff --git a/arbor/util/dylib.hpp b/arbor/util/dylib.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ba97976a6a82966dbadf766330cf7d397af0053d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arbor/util/dylib.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <string>
+
+#include <arbor/arbexcept.hpp>
+
+namespace arb {
+namespace util {
+
+namespace impl{
+void* dl_get_symbol(const std::string& filename, const std::string& symbol);
+} // namespace impl
+
+struct dl_error: arbor_exception {
+    dl_error(const std::string& msg): arbor_exception{msg} {}
+};
+
+// Find and return a symbol from a dynamic library with filename.
+// Throws dl_error on error.
+template<typename T>
+T dl_get_symbol(const std::string& filename, const std::string& symbol) {
+    return reinterpret_cast<T>(impl::dl_get_symbol(filename, symbol));
+}
+
+} // namespace util
+} // namespace arbor
diff --git a/scripts/test-catalogue.py b/scripts/test-catalogue.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7c4716d03e427be8fe9b1f2bc05e0ea8b5fa49ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test-catalogue.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+import argparse
+import os
+import sys
+
+import arbor
+
+P = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Verify that a mechanism catalogue can be loaded through Python interface.')
+P.add_argument('catname', metavar='FILE', help='path of the catalogue to test.')
+
+args = P.parse_args()
+catname = args.catname
+
+print(catname)
+
+if not os.path.isfile(catname):
+    print('ERROR: unable to open catalogue file')
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+print([n for n in arbor.load_catalogue(catname).keys()])