GStreamer-WARNING **: Failed to load plugin

[Lionel_London]

I am running Ubuntu 13.10. When attempting to use gstreamer dependent applications (specifically totem from the terminal), I receive the following error:

GStreamer-WARNING **: Failed to load plugin '/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gstreamer-1.0/libgstlibav.so': libavutil.so.51: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
** Message: Missing plugin: gstreamer|1.0|totem|MPEG-4 Video decoder|decoder-video/mpeg, mpegversion=(int)4, systemstream=(boolean)false, parsed=(boolean)true, profile=(string)advanced-simple, level=(string)5 (MPEG-4 Video decoder)

I have verified that "/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gstreamer-1.0/libgstlibav.so" exists.

While the above warning happens when I try to use totem player (e.g. even totem's thumbnailing functionality doesn't work), the general problem appears to be with my gstreamer installation.

What is the most efficient and safe way to completely reinstall all gstreamer components?

[Toz]

Hello and welcome to the forums

libavutil.so.51: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

libavutil.so.51 is part of the libavutil-extra-51 package. Do you have it installed?

[Lionel_London]

Yes.

[Toz]

Lets see if the library dependencies add up. What does the following return:

ldd /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gstreamer-1.0/libgstlibav.so

And, can you provide more info about your totem install?

apt-cache policy totem

And finally, which gstreamer libraries do you have installed?

dpkg -l | grep gstreamer

[mc4man]

May be worth checking what you do have (in terms of package versions

apt-cache policy libavutil* gstreamer1.0-libav

[Lionel_London]

TOZ: Thanks for chiming in. I've put the output of your suggested commands here: http://pastebin.com/SwUXN1F6

[Lionel_London]

Hi mc4man, here's what I get:

libavutil-extra-50: Installed: (none)
Candidate: (none)
Version table:
libavutil-extra-51:
Installed: 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1
Candidate: 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1
Version table:
*** 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1 0
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/djcj/vlc-stable/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
6:0.8.12ubuntu0.13.10.1 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates/universe i386 Packages
500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-security/universe i386 Packages
6:0.8.7ubuntu1 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe i386 Packages
libavutil-extra-52:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: (none)
Version table:
libavutil-dev:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1
Version table:
7:2.2.1-2~saucy1 0
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/djcj/vlc-stable/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages
6:0.8.12-0ubuntu0.13.10.1 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates/main i386 Packages
500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-security/main i386 Packages
6:0.8.7-1ubuntu2 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages
libavutil51:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 6:0.8.12-0ubuntu0.13.10.1
Version table:
6:0.8.12-0ubuntu0.13.10.1 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates/main i386 Packages
500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-security/main i386 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
6:0.8.7-1ubuntu2 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages
libavutil52:
Installed: 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1
Candidate: 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1
Version table:
*** 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1 0
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/djcj/vlc-stable/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
gstreamer1.0-libav:
Installed: 1.0.10-1ubuntu1
Candidate: 1.0.10-1ubuntu1
Version table:
*** 1.0.10-1ubuntu1 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe i386 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

[Lionel_London]

After a bit of tinkering, I solved it!

While some scattered forum posts for similar errors suggested that completely removing then reinstalling all gstreamer components was the key, I actually had to:

Completely removed the following packages:
libavutil-extra-51


Removed the following packages:
libavcodec-extra-53
libavformat-extra-53


Installed the following packages:
libavcodec53 (6:0.8.12-0ubuntu0.13.10.1)
libavformat53 (6:0.8.12-0ubuntu0.13.10.1)
libavutil51 (6:0.8.12-0ubuntu0.13.10.1)

That fixed it!!

[Toz]

TOZ: Thanks for chiming in. I've put the output of your suggested commands here: http://pastebin.com/SwUXN1F6

From your results:

libavutil.so.51 => not found

...so its not there.

However, from your apt-cache results:

libavutil-extra-51:
Installed: 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1
Candidate: 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1
Version table:
*** 7:2.2.1-2~saucy1 0
500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/djcj/vlc-stable/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
6:0.8.12ubuntu0.13.10.1 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-updates/universe i386 Packages
500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy-security/universe i386 Packages
6:0.8.7ubuntu1 0
500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/universe i386 Packages

...the necessary package is installed, however from a PPA (not the official repositories). And here is where it gets interesting...the package isn't even in the PPA anymore.

Ahhh nevermind now, I see you fixed it. Good news. The packages in question were probably removed from the PPA at some point in time but still existed in your system.

[Lionel_London]

Thanks anyhows TOZ! I still learned a bit from your response.