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[SOLVED] Audacity suddenly wont start

I have been using audacity for many years and suddenly it wont run.

Mint 17.3 3.19.0-32-generic #37~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP

audacity 2.05

If I try to launch it from a terminal i get

Quote:

(process:5626): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::sm-connect after class was initialised

(process:5626): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::show-crash-dialog after class was initialised

(process:5626): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::display after class was initialised

(process:5626): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::default-icon after class was initialised
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
audacity: symbol lookup error: audacity: undefined symbol: Pa_GetStreamHostApiType

It will run if I launch it from a terminal this way:

Code:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ audacity

I have deleted .audacity and it's contents, cleared the lock file and tried removing and installing it again but nothing changes it.
Does anyone know how to fix this please?

Have you tried to run ldconfig (as root)?

Thanks for suggesting it.
I hadn't but have just tried it but it made no difference.

Hmmm, what's in /etc/ld.so.conf ?

Code:

cat /etc/ld.so.conf

include /etc/ld.so.conf.d/*.conf

Oh, then you need to investigate all files in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ to make sure the path you need is included.

If it's any help

Code:

ll /etc/ld.so.conf.d

total 32

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 May 26 22:19 ./

drwxr-xr-x 163 root root 12288 Jul 22 20:05 ../

-rw-rw-r--  1 root root    38 Mar 24  2014 fakeroot-x86_64-linux-gnu.conf

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    40 Feb  3 19:37 i386-linux-gnu_GL.conf -> /etc/alternatives/i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  108 Feb 25  2015 i686-linux-gnu.conf

-rw-r--r--  1 root root    44 Aug  9  2009 libc.conf

-rw-r--r--  1 root root    68 Apr 12  2014 x86_64-linux-gnu.conf

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    43 Feb  3 19:37 x86_64-linux-gnu_EGL.conf -> /etc/alternatives/x86_64-linux-gnu_egl_conf

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root    42 Feb  3 19:37 x86_64-linux-gnu_GL.conf -> /etc/alternatives/x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf

I have checked them all and the needed path is there in x86_64-linux-gnu.conf

I have removed version 2.05, added the audacity ppa and installed version 2.12
and unfortunately I get exactly the same problem.

Googling "audacity: undefined symbol: Pa_GetStreamHostApiType" produces many results suggesting the solution of deleting stale libportaudio files in /usr/local/lib.

Remember to back up any files before deleting them, and let us know how you get on.

Thanks hydrurga
I just looked in /usr/local/lib and this is what I get.

Code:

ll

total 1732

drwxr-xr-x  5 root root    4096 Jul 16 20:10 ./

drwxr-xr-x 10 root root    4096 Mar 24 15:58 ../

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  1168322 Jul 16 20:10 libportaudio.a

-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root      998 Jul 16 20:10 libportaudio.la*

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      21 Jul 16 20:10 libportaudio.so -> libportaudio.so.2.0.0*

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      21 Jul 16 20:10 libportaudio.so.2 -> libportaudio.so.2.0.0*

-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root  573641 Jul 16 20:10 libportaudio.so.2.0.0*

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 Jul 16 20:10 pkgconfig/

drwxrwsr-x  4 root staff    4096 Nov 28  2015 python2.7/

drwxrwsr-x  3 root staff    4096 Nov 28  2015 python3.4/

So it looks like all the libportaudio files were modified on July 16 and that seems to be the problem.

So I looked in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu

Code:

ll libportaudio*

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    21 Feb  3 19:40 libportaudio.so.2 -> libportaudio.so.2.0.0

-rw-r--r-- 2 root root 188656 Feb 25  2014 libportaudio.so.2.0.0

so I renamed libportaudio.so.2.0.0 to oldlibportaudio.so.2.0.0 in /usr/local/lib
and created a new soft link to the one in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu

Code:

ln /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libportaudio.so.2.0.0 libportaudio.so.2.0.0

Now audacity works again.
Checked if vlc still runs with sound and it does. Don't know if there will be problems with other programs but no doubt I will find out eventually.
Thanks to everyone for the help. I will mark this as solved.

Good to hear. Thanks for letting us know what you did to resolve the problem.

@linuxonbute

Good job! Glad you got it sorted. :)