Openoffice crashes with dark themes in Mandriva Linux

[sunwatcher]

I have found a consistent problem with Openoffice. It crashes whenever I have a dark theme chosen in Mandriva and Ubuntu Linux. I have tried various versions of OO (2.2.1 and 2.3.1). I have tried it on two very different computers (an old HP Omnibook P3 laptop and a new Core 2 Duo desktop). I have switched back and forth between dark and light themes, and every time I have a dark theme applied OO crashes. Anyone else experience this? Could it be a bug? How do I report it if it is?

[Hagar Delest]

We need more details:
- Have you tried with the official version? If not, see here: install the official version of OOo : [Ubuntu] Installing OOo on Debian and Co.
- Do you confirm it works fine with a standard theme?
- Have you tried to rename your OOo user profile (~/.openoffice.org2)?

NB: I move the thread to the Linux forum.

[sunwatcher]

-Yes, I did use the official version from http://www.openoffice.org. I also used the distro-specific version in Mandriva.
-Yes, it did work with a standard theme, e.g. "Clearlooks".

-As for renaming OOo user profile, how do I do that?

[Hagar Delest]

In your home directory, you should have a hidden folder called /.openoffice.org (the period is to hide the folders under Linux). Rename it /.openoffice.org-old (or just remove the period) and launch OOo. It will create a blank new profile. If a configuration file has been damaged, it should be fine now. Else, it may be a bug. In that case, try to post on the Ubuntu and Mandriva forums to see if it's general or if it's specific to your configuration.

NB: on my 2.3.1, I can switch to a dark theme without crashing OOo.

[sunwatcher]

Thanks Hagar. I will try this as soon as I get back to my Linux machine. I should say that the crashing occurs when I try to save, export to pdf, and especially when I try to change the appearance in options.

[Hagar Delest]

In this case, you can also try to use the OOo dialogs instead of those from your desktop manager: Tools>Options>OOo>General, Open/Save dialogs.

[sunwatcher]

OK, I tried a new user profile, but no luck. OOo is still crashing. I have always tried the OOo dialogs to change appearance and perform tasks.

I tried Hagar's other suggestion about going to a Mandriva forum (mandrivausers.org). They suggested that the cause may be badly made Gnome themes. This does seem reasonable to me, but it is odd that every dark theme I've used (gotten from gnome-look.org), even those recently posted there, causes OOo to crash.

Not sure what to do now -- except to use a light theme. Is there any way to "debug" themes? How can I go about creating a theme that works well with OO? I am willing to try to learn, but I don't really know where to start.

[sunwatcher]

Just to wrap up this issue, I've actually found one dark theme at gnome-look that works. This makes me think that indeed the problem is with badly written themes. Now I'm off to figure out how to make some good themes myself! Thank you all.

[Hagar Delest]

Great!

Can you give the theme name? There are such questions sometimes, it could help. Thanks.

BTW: you can check that thread also: [Solved] Can not change background color in OOo Spreadsheet.