ORA-01775: Looping chain of synonyms during repository installation

During installation of a repository for an Oracle tool, the following error occurs

Select distinct mrc_name from schema_version_registry;

Select distinct mrc_name from schema_version_registry
                              *
ERROR on line 1:
ORA-01775: Looping chain of synonyms

Cause: There was only a synonym present in the database, and no underlying base object:

SQL> SELECT owner, SYNONYM_NAME,TABLE_OWNER,TABLE_NAME from DBA_SYNONYMS where table_name='SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY'

OWNER                SYNONYM_NAME               TABLE_OWNER          TABLE_NAME
-------------------- -------------------------- -------------------- ----------------------------------------
PUBLIC               SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY    SYSTEM               SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY

Solution is to drop the public synonym:

SQL> drop public synonym SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY;

Synonym dropped.

Source: ORA-01775 or ORA-980 from Public Synonym when Base Table is Missing (Doc ID 392705.1)