Ubuntu – VLC 3 Won’t Start

qtsoftware installationvlc

  • Version: VLC media player 3.0.1 Vetinari (revision 3.0.1-0-gec0f700fcc)
  • Ubuntu 18.04

Error:

cannot load module `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/vlc/plugins/gui/libqt_plugin.so' (libQt5Svg.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)

How I got there:

  • Installed vlc: sudo apt install vlc
  • Installed qt5 (downloaded from the site, followed through the steps, and added to path. Followed the answer at Qt4 interface not working for VLC.

Here's my entire trace when I do vlc -vvv: https://pastebin.com/3wDmGhWV

Best Answer

Ubuntu 18.04 seems to have a problem (at least on my instance) with shared object files that apt/dpkg believes are installed, but the files are missing.

I solved my problem by running vlc -vvv and looking for lines like the following:

main libvlc warning: cannot load module `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/vlc/plugins/gui/libqt_plugin.so' (libQt5Svg.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory)

In this case, it's missing the package libqt5svg, which you must reinstall:

sudo apt install --reinstall libqt5svg

Keep doing this until all the missing shared object files are restored, and vlc will launch.

Unfortunately, this is not just a vlc issue, many of my apps are having the same problem.

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