LoadError: InitError: While Precompiling in new Environment - julia

Question

I wanted to start using dedicated environments for all my julia projects, but activating the new environment and using packages (eg. Plots.jl) results in Precompiling that fails with the following error:
Activating environment at `~/Documents/baro/Project.toml`
julia> using Plots
[ Info: Precompiling Plots [91a5bcdd-55d7-5caf-9e0b-520d859cae80]
ERROR: LoadError: InitError: could not load library "/home/marius/.julia/artifacts/08ab4b2de494e1d61e581ab1fbd610b0b4d1876f/lib/libavdevice.so"
libx264.so.157: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Stacktrace:
[1] dlopen(::String, ::UInt32; throw_error::Bool) at /buildworker/worker/package_linux64/build/usr/share/julia/stdlib/v1.4/Libdl/src/Libdl.jl:109
[2] dlopen at /buildworker/worker/package_linux64/build/usr/share/julia/stdlib/v1.4/Libdl/src/Libdl.jl:109 [inlined] (repeats 2 times)
[3] __init__() at /home/marius/.julia/packages/FFMPEG_jll/tCUYA/src/wrappers/x86_64-linux-gnu.jl:231
[4] _include_from_serialized(::String, ::Array{Any,1}) at ./loading.jl:697
[5] _require_search_from_serialized(::Base.PkgId, ::String) at ./loading.jl:781
[6] _require(::Base.PkgId) at ./loading.jl:1006
[7] require(::Base.PkgId) at ./loading.jl:927
[8] require(::Module, ::Symbol) at ./loading.jl:922
[9] include(::Module, ::String) at ./Base.jl:377
[10] top-level scope at none:2
[11] eval at ./boot.jl:331 [inlined]
[12] eval(::Expr) at ./client.jl:449
[13] top-level scope at ./none:3
during initialization of module FFMPEG_jll
in expression starting at /home/marius/.julia/packages/FFMPEG/vocw2/src/FFMPEG.jl:3
ERROR: LoadError: Failed to precompile FFMPEG [c87230d0-a227-11e9-1b43-d7ebe4e7570a] to /home/marius/.julia/compiled/v1.4/FFMPEG/TGvga_eB360.ji.
Stacktrace:
[1] error(::String) at ./error.jl:33
[2] compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::String) at ./loading.jl:1272
[3] _require(::Base.PkgId) at ./loading.jl:1029
[4] require(::Base.PkgId) at ./loading.jl:927
[5] require(::Module, ::Symbol) at ./loading.jl:922
[6] include(::Module, ::String) at ./Base.jl:377
[7] top-level scope at none:2
[8] eval at ./boot.jl:331 [inlined]
[9] eval(::Expr) at ./client.jl:449
[10] top-level scope at ./none:3
in expression starting at /home/marius/.julia/packages/Plots/LWw1t/src/Plots.jl:15
ERROR: Failed to precompile Plots [91a5bcdd-55d7-5caf-9e0b-520d859cae80] to /home/marius/.julia/compiled/v1.4/Plots/ld3vC_eB360.ji.
Stacktrace:
[1] error(::String) at ./error.jl:33
[2] compilecache(::Base.PkgId, ::String) at ./loading.jl:1272
[3] _require(::Base.PkgId) at ./loading.jl:1029
[4] require(::Base.PkgId) at ./loading.jl:927
[5] require(::Module, ::Symbol) at ./loading.jl:922
This also happens for some other packages like ControlSystems.
The julia version is 1.4.2 but I was able to reproduce this error with 1.5.0 and on a different computer with 1.3.1 on it. Both systems are runnning Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
What I tried so far was:
Rebuilding the package Pkg.build()
Check that the file supposed to load exists (it existed)
Update libx264
Deleting all packages in .julia folder and and reinstalling everything using Pkg.instantiate()
Any help to get the packages running will be greatly appreciated as I really like the idea of having dedicated environments for every project. Also on 1.3.1 even after switching to the default environment the error is still occuring.

Answer 1

The issue seems to lay in the FFMPEG package.
The following solved the issue for me:
Remove FFMPEG. Then delete the folder which is given in the error message. In your case: "/home/marius/.julia/artifacts/08ab4b2de494e1d61e581ab1fbd610b0b4d1876f/lib/libavdevice.so"
Then add FFPEG again which results in a change in the Manifest.toml which does not happen if you just remove FFMPEG:
Updating `~/.julia/environments/v1.3/Manifest.toml`
[1270edf5] ↓ x264_jll v2020.7.14+0 ⇒ v2019.5.25+2
Try: using FFMPEG, Plots.
I was able to precompile Plots then.