I have recently uninstalled Rhythmbox on my Ubuntu 14.04 laptop, through the Ubuntu Software Center and, because it still appeared under the sound icon, I ran the command sudo apt-get purge rhythmbox in Terminal. In case you are wondering why, Rhythmbox was failing to start on a regular basis, so I foolishly thought that a simple reinstall would make life better!

Next I installed Rhythmbox again through the Ubuntu Software Center now, when I click the icon to run it, nothing happens and when I enter the command rhythmbox in terminal, I receive the following error.

$ rhythmbox

rhythmbox: error while loading shared libraries: libtotem-plparser.so.17: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

How do I reinstall the shared libraries libtotem-plparser.so.17 or access/re-create the necessary shared object file?

I have tried:

the fix on Missing shared library for Rhythmbox Changing the librhythmbox-core7 to librhythmbox-core8:

sudo apt-get --reinstall install gir1.2-rb-3.0 librhythmbox-core8 rhythmbox rhythmbox-data rhythmbox-mozilla rhythmbox-plugin-cdrecorder rhythmbox-plugin-zeitgeist rhythmbox-plugins

I also tried the fix on Rhythmbox does not start after upgrading to Ubuntu 14.04

but still get the same error message in both cases:

$ rhythmbox

rhythmbox: error while loading shared libraries: libtotem-plparser.so.17: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Update 1

Suggested by Jobin

$ ls -l /usr/lib/libtotem-plparser.so.18:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Apr  1 14:32 /usr/lib/libtotem-plparser.so.18 -> libtotem-plparser.so.18.1.0

Update 2

I have tried downloading and reinstalling rhythmbox 3:

simon@simon-TS44HR:~/Downloads/rhythmbox-3.0.2$ ./configure

checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c

checking whether build environment is sane... yes

checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p

checking for gawk... no

checking for mawk... mawk

checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes

checking whether make supports nested variables... yes

checking whether UID '1000' is supported by ustar format... yes

checking whether GID '1000' is supported by ustar format... yes

checking how to create a ustar tar archive... gnutar

checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... yes

checking whether make supports nested variables... (cached) yes

checking for pkg-config... /usr/bin/pkg-config

checking pkg-config is at least version 0.9.0... yes

checking for gobject-introspection... yes

checking whether NLS is requested... yes

checking for style of include used by make... GNU

checking for gcc... gcc

checking whether the C compiler works... yes

checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out

checking for suffix of executables... 

checking whether we are cross compiling... no

checking for suffix of object files... o

checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes

checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes

checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed

checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3

checking for intltool >= 0.35.0... 0.50.2 found

checking for intltool-update... /usr/bin/intltool-update

checking for intltool-merge... /usr/bin/intltool-merge

checking for intltool-extract... /usr/bin/intltool-extract

checking for xgettext... /usr/bin/xgettext

checking for msgmerge... /usr/bin/msgmerge

checking for msgfmt... /usr/bin/msgfmt

checking for gmsgfmt... /usr/bin/msgfmt

checking for perl... /usr/bin/perl

checking for perl >= 5.8.1... 5.18.2

checking for XML::Parser... ok

checking for library containing strerror... none required

checking for gcc... (cached) gcc

checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... (cached) yes

checking whether gcc accepts -g... (cached) yes

checking for gcc option to accept ISO C89... (cached) none needed

checking dependency style of gcc... (cached) gcc3

checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E

checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep

checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E

checking for ANSI C header files... yes

checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

checking how to print strings... printf

checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed

checking for fgrep... /bin/grep -F

checking for ld used by gcc... /usr/bin/ld

checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes

checking for BSD- or MS-compatible name lister (nm)... /usr/bin/nm -B

checking the name lister (/usr/bin/nm -B) interface... BSD nm

checking whether ln -s works... yes

checking the maximum length of command line arguments... 1572864

checking whether the shell understands some XSI constructs... yes

checking whether the shell understands "+="... yes

checking how to convert x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu file names to x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu format... func_convert_file_noop

checking how to convert x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu file names to toolchain format... func_convert_file_noop

checking for /usr/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r

checking for objdump... objdump

checking how to recognize dependent libraries... pass_all

checking for dlltool... no

checking how to associate runtime and link libraries... printf %s



checking for ar... ar

checking for archiver @FILE support... @

checking for strip... strip

checking for ranlib... ranlib

checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from gcc object... ok

checking for sysroot... no

checking for mt... mt

checking if mt is a manifest tool... no

checking for sys/types.h... yes

checking for sys/stat.h... yes

checking for stdlib.h... yes

checking for string.h... yes

checking for memory.h... yes

checking for strings.h... yes

checking for inttypes.h... yes

checking for stdint.h... yes

checking for unistd.h... yes

checking for dlfcn.h... yes

checking for objdir... .libs

checking if gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions... no

checking for gcc option to produce PIC... -fPIC -DPIC

checking if gcc PIC flag -fPIC -DPIC works... yes

checking if gcc static flag -static works... yes

checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... yes

checking if gcc supports -c -o file.o... (cached) yes

checking whether the gcc linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes

checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in... no

checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so

checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate

checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes

checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes

checking whether to build shared libraries... yes

checking whether to build static libraries... no

configure: creating ./config.lt

config.lt: creating libtool

checking whether byte ordering is bigendian... no

checking size of long... 8

checking for pkg-config... (cached) /usr/bin/pkg-config

checking pkg-config is at least version 0.16... yes

checking for GNU extension fwrite_unlocked... yes

checking for pkg-config... (cached) /usr/bin/pkg-config

checking pkg-config is at least version 0.9.0... yes

checking for RB_CLIENT... yes

checking for RHYTHMBOX... yes

checking for TOTEM_PLPARSER... yes

checking for GUDEV... yes

checking for HAL... no

checking for IPOD... yes

checking for MTP... yes

checking for LIBSECRET... yes

checking for GSTREAMER... yes

checking for NOTIFY... yes

Your libnotify version is 0,7,6.

checking for uncompress in -lz... yes

checking for X... libraries , headers 

checking for gethostbyname... yes

checking for connect... yes

checking for remove... yes

checking for shmat... yes

checking for IceConnectionNumber in -lICE... yes

checking for XFree86 headers... yes

checking for LIBBRASERO_MEDIA... yes

checking for glib-genmarshal... /usr/bin/glib-genmarshal

checking for gdk-pixbuf-csource... /usr/bin/gdk-pixbuf-csource

checking whether strftime supports %E and %O modifiers... yes

checking for msgfmt... (cached) /usr/bin/msgfmt

checking for gmsgfmt... (cached) /usr/bin/msgfmt

checking for xgettext... (cached) /usr/bin/xgettext

checking for msgmerge... (cached) /usr/bin/msgmerge

checking for ld used by GCC... /usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64

checking if the linker (/usr/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) is GNU ld... yes

checking for shared library run path origin... done

checking for CFPreferencesCopyAppValue... no

checking for CFLocaleCopyCurrent... no

checking for GNU gettext in libc... yes

checking whether to use NLS... yes

checking where the gettext function comes from... libc

checking lirc/lirc_client.h usability... yes

checking lirc/lirc_client.h presence... yes

checking for lirc/lirc_client.h... yes

checking for lirc_init in -llirc_client... yes

checking for WEBKIT... yes

checking for more warnings... no

checking whether gcc understands -fno-strict-aliasing... yes

checking for gtk-doc... yes

checking for gtkdoc-check... gtkdoc-check.test

checking for gtkdoc-check... /usr/bin/gtkdoc-check

checking for gtkdoc-rebase... /usr/bin/gtkdoc-rebase

checking for gtkdoc-mkpdf... /usr/bin/gtkdoc-mkpdf

checking whether to build gtk-doc documentation... no

checking for GTKDOC_DEPS... yes

checking for itstool... itstool

checking for xmllint... xmllint

checking for a Python interpreter with version >= 3.2.3... python3

checking for python3... /usr/bin/python3

checking for python3 version... 3.4

checking for python3 platform... linux

checking for python3 script directory... ${prefix}/lib/python3.4/site-packages

checking for python3 extension module directory... ${exec_prefix}/lib/python3.4/site-packages

checking for PYTHON... yes

checking whether Vala plugin support is requested... autodetect

checking whether FM radio support is requested... checking linux/videodev2.h usability... yes

checking linux/videodev2.h presence... yes

checking for linux/videodev2.h... yes

checking for CHECK... no

checking for DMAPSHARING... yes

checking for CLUTTER... yes

checking for GRILO... no

checking that generated files are newer than configure... done

configure: creating ./config.status

config.status: creating rhythmbox.pc

config.status: creating Makefile

config.status: creating lib/Makefile

config.status: creating lib/libmediaplayerid/Makefile

config.status: creating metadata/Makefile

config.status: creating rhythmdb/Makefile

config.status: creating widgets/Makefile

config.status: creating podcast/Makefile

config.status: creating shell/Makefile

config.status: creating data/Makefile

config.status: creating data/rhythmbox.desktop.in

config.status: creating data/rhythmbox-device.desktop.in

config.status: creating data/ui/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/16x16/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/16x16/status/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/22x22/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/22x22/apps/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/24x24/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/24x24/apps/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/32x32/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/32x32/apps/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/48x48/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/48x48/status/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/256x256/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/scalable/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/Makefile

config.status: creating data/icons/src/Makefile

config.status: creating sources/Makefile

config.status: creating sources/sync/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/audiocd/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/audioscrobbler/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/brasero-disc-recorder/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/daap/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/fmradio/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/im-status/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/ipod/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/mtpdevice/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/iradio/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/lirc/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/lyrics/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/pythonconsole/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/artsearch/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/magnatune/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/generic-player/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/rb/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/rb/rbconfig.py

config.status: creating plugins/power-manager/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/mmkeys/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/context/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/sendto/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/replaygain/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/mpris/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/dbus-media-server/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/rbzeitgeist/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/notification/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/visualizer/Makefile

config.status: creating plugins/grilo/Makefile

config.status: creating sample-plugins/Makefile

config.status: creating sample-plugins/sample/Makefile

config.status: creating sample-plugins/sample-python/Makefile

config.status: creating sample-plugins/sample-vala/Makefile

config.status: creating bindings/Makefile

config.status: creating bindings/vala/Makefile

config.status: creating bindings/gi/Makefile

config.status: creating help/Makefile

config.status: creating po/Makefile.in

config.status: creating tests/Makefile

config.status: creating doc/Makefile

config.status: creating doc/reference/Makefile

config.status: creating backends/Makefile

config.status: creating backends/gstreamer/Makefile

config.status: creating remote/Makefile

config.status: creating remote/dbus/Makefile

config.status: creating config.h

config.status: executing depfiles commands

config.status: executing libtool commands

config.status: executing po-directories commands

config.status: creating po/POTFILES

config.status: creating po/Makefile

config.status: executing po/stamp-it commands

configure: Rhythmbox was configured with the following options:

configure: ** Tree database is enabled

configure: ** Multimedia keys support is enabled

configure: ** iPod integration enabled

configure: ** MTP integration enabled

configure: ** CD burning support enabled

configure: ** DAAP (music sharing) support is enabled

configure: ** libnotify support is enabled

configure: ** WebKit support is enabled

configure: ** GUdev support enabled

configure: ** Python plugin support enabled

configure:    Vala plugin support disabled

configure: ** Libsecret keyring support enabled

configure: ** FM radio support enabled

configure: ** iTunes detection browser plugin (for podcasts) enabled

configure: ** Visualizer plugin enabled

configure: End options

When I make the file it runs well until:

  File "/usr/lib/gobject-introspection/giscanner/cachestore.py", line 148, in _clean

    self._remove_filename(os.path.join(self._directory, filename))

  File "/usr/lib/gobject-introspection/giscanner/cachestore.py", line 130, in _remove_filename

    os.unlink(filename)

OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/home/simon/.cache/g-ir-scanner/c3fdfb2eef221c4c5ec8d16026d3ec132ad90e39'

make[3]: *** [MPID-3.0.gir] Error 1

make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/simon/Downloads/rhythmbox-3.0.2/bindings/gi'

make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/simon/Downloads/rhythmbox-3.0.2/bindings'

make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/simon/Downloads/rhythmbox-3.0.2'

make: *** [all] Error 2

Then running Rhythmbox from the Terminal gives:

simon@simon-TS44HR:~/Downloads/rhythmbox-3.0.2$ rhythmbox

rhythmbox: error while loading shared libraries: libtotem-plparser.so.17: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory'

Update 3 from Dobey

$ apt-cache policy rhythmbox

rhythmbox:

  Installed: 3.0.2-0ubuntu2

  Candidate: 3.0.2-0ubuntu2

  Version table:

 *** 3.0.2-0ubuntu2 0

        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages

        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

     3.0.2-0ubuntu1 0

        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

Update 4 by sneetsher

After running sudo dpkg -i libtotem-plparser17_3.4.5-1_amd64.deb in terminal

$ rhythmbox



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_new_with_path: assertion 'path_is_valid (path)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_new_with_path: assertion 'path_is_valid (path)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_connect_object: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_get_value: assertion 'G_IS_SETTINGS (settings)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_get_type: assertion 'value != NULL' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_type_is_subtype_of: assertion 'g_variant_type_check (type)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_get_boolean: assertion 'g_variant_is_of_type (value, G_VARIANT_TYPE_BOOLEAN)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_unref: assertion 'value != NULL' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: invalid (NULL) pointer instance



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_signal_connect_object: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_settings_get_value: assertion 'G_IS_SETTINGS (settings)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_get_type: assertion 'value != NULL' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_type_is_subtype_of: assertion 'g_variant_type_check (type)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_get_boolean: assertion 'g_variant_is_of_type (value, G_VARIANT_TYPE_BOOLEAN)' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_unref: assertion 'value != NULL' failed



(rhythmbox:4104): Rhythmbox-WARNING **: Could not open device /dev/radio0