Suddenly I cannot run my web browser on my computer. It is GNU IceCat on Trisquel operating system. More precisely, other applications seem to be worked normally but only this one failed to function and got some strange error. This issue can happen on other distros as well. Here is my report on this experience along with the solution and some references. I hope this report will be useful for GNU/Linux users everywhere.
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Issue
I failed to run Icecat Web Browser on my debian-based operating system.
Expected Behavior
I can run Icecat normally.
Error Messages
Inconsistency detected by ld.so: ../sysdeps/x86_64/dl-machine.h: 517: elf_machine_rela_relative: Assertion `ELFW(R_TYPE) (reloc->r_info) == R_X86_64_RELATIVE' failed!
Inconsistency detected by ld.so: ../sysdeps/x86_64/dl-machine.h: 517: elf_machine_rela_relative: Assertion `ELFW(R_TYPE) (reloc->r_info) == R_X86_64_RELATIVE' failed!
Solution
Reinstall the package of web browser application:
$ sudo apt-get install --reinstall icecat
Explanation
I don't know anything except I suspected there are some files required by browser to run which are corrupted so the browser refused to run. By reinstalling the package of that browser, I restored corrupted files so the browser can run normally once again.
Notes
If you encounter issue similar to this, on other GNU/Linux distros you can do same command as solution above where <package_name> is the package name of the application in question:
Fedora:
$ sudo dnf reinstall <package_name>
Arch:
$ sudo pacman -S <package_name>
openSUSE:
$ sudo zypper in -f <package_name>
Result
I can run Icecat normally again as usual.
Cause
I don't know for sure but I suspected my storage disk drive is failing as it is already ten years old more or less with my heavy usages. It is nothing surprising if it were true.
(Picture showing first the error of failed execution of Icecat and second the reinstallation process of Icecat that leads to solution)
References