File Locking

chuanist · Post by **chuanist** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:48 am

I recently installed AOO 4.1.5 on two Macs, both running Mavericks, Mac OS 10.9.5. The copy on the Mac Pro tower runs normally (as far as I've been able to tell), but on the MacBook Pro I've seen some odd behavior.

On the laptop and the desktop machines I have Neo Office installed as well. On the laptop there is also Libre Office, but not on the tower.

AOO Writer on the portable machine sometimes won't open files it created. Today I have been warned that another user may be using the suite of programs, and am I sure I want to proceed? This when first opening AOO, and then when installing an extension for Writer I am asked if 'all users' should be able to use the extension, or just me.

Extension Manager Error Message:

Make sure that no further users are working with the same OpenOffice, when installing an extension for all users in a multi user environment.

For whom do you want to install the extension?

Only for me For all users Cancel

I renamed the User folder hoping AOO would make another one free from these defects, but they persist.

I read many pages of other help requests hoping to find this problem mention, but I don't believe I saw it. Have others experienced these behaviors? Found answers?

chuanist · Post by **chuanist** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:11 am

Okay, I might have found the problem. File locking is turned on by default, perhaps making the program think there are several users when there aren't.

The ReadMe file under 'About Open Office' says the 'soffice' script (sp?) must be edited to turn off file locking. Now I'm looking for that script file. So far haven't found it.

Post by **RusselB** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:15 am

The choices of Only for me, For all users or Cancel is standard for any operating system that may have multiple users.
If you are the only user, then you can safely run the installation with either of the first two choices (the third choice stops the installation).
I don't know about Mac OS 10.9.5, but for Windows there is a main user (in my case Russel) and a Guest profile at the operating system level.
It is next to impossible to remove the Guest profile, but very easy to just ignore it. As the system operator (aka system admin), I can (and have) put a password on the Guest account, so even if someone tried to log on to that account the password (should) stop them.

chuanist · Post by **chuanist** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:23 am

Thanks for thinking about this. The behavior of not opening files goes a little beyond warning requesters. Also, on the desktop machine, AOO does not issue that warning before installing an extension.

I would like to turn off file locking, if I can find the file to edit.

Post by **robleyd** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 8:37 am

The shell script that starts AOO (or LO) is named soffice in my *nix environment, and will likely be the same on Mac; fire up your file manager and use it to search.

Edit: It will probably be in a directory structure like /xxx/openoffice4/program where xxx is the parent structure where applications are located on a Mac. On my version of Linux, it is /opt/openoffice4/program/

chuanist · Post by **chuanist** » Fri Jan 19, 2018 6:07 pm

Hello Robleyd— Thanks for weighing in on this. I've been hunting for 'soffice' using the search function and manually looking inside of various folders and in the program package itself, without luck so far.

The editing will be trivial if I can only find the file!

BTW: the Apache OO team sez file locking on NSF file systems can cause crashing. I wonder if some of the reports about crashing on the Mac are due to this feature being turned on?

Clicking on 'About OpenOffice-->Licence' gives you installation notes, which include the following item. If only it included the precise location of the script file on the Mac!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
File Locking
----------------------------------------------------------------------

File locking is enabled by default in OpenOffice. On a network that uses the Network File System protocol (NFS), the locking daemon for NFS clients must be active. To disable file locking, edit the soffice script and change the line "export SAL_ENABLE_FILE_LOCKING" to "# export SAL_ENABLE_FILE_LOCKING". If you disable file locking, the write access of a document is not restricted to the user who first opens the document.

Warning: The activated file locking feature can cause problems with Solaris 2.5.1 and 2.7 used in conjunction with Linux NFS 2.0. If your system environment has these parameters, we strongly recommend that you avoid using the file locking feature. Otherwise, OpenOffice will hang when you try to open a file from a NFS mounted directory from a Linux computer.

Post by **MrProgrammer** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 2:02 am

chuanist wrote:The ReadMe file under 'About Open Office' says the 'soffice' script (sp?) must be edited to turn off file locking. Now I'm looking for that script file. So far haven't found it.

On my system I would edit these six files to export the environment variable. I think the application name for OpenOffice version 4 is different.
/Applications/OpenOffice.org.app/Contents/MacOS/sbase
/Applications/OpenOffice.org.app/Contents/MacOS/scalc
/Applications/OpenOffice.org.app/Contents/MacOS/sdraw
/Applications/OpenOffice.org.app/Contents/MacOS/simpress
/Applications/OpenOffice.org.app/Contents/MacOS/smath
/Applications/OpenOffice.org.app/Contents/MacOS/swriter

You may want to do a web search for SAL_ENABLE_FILE_LOCKING to see what others have discovered. Also see Environment Variables.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

chuanist · Post by **chuanist** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:58 am

MrProgrammer— I have dug deeply into the system files without finding the elusive 'soffice' script. Advice on the 'Net to look in /usr/bin must be for flavors of Linux, because the Mac OS that you and I use does not have the soffice script there.

Version four perhaps is different from 3.x

It would seem this bit of lore would be accessible from Apache. One more line in the Installation Notes would do it.

Post by **lgusaas** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:23 am

chuanist wrote:MrProgrammer— I have dug deeply into the system files without finding the elusive 'soffice' script. Advice on the 'Net to look in /usr/bin must be for flavors of Linux, because the Mac OS that you and I use does not have the soffice script there.

In your applications folder right click on OpenOffice.app, then click on "Show Package Contents", then on "Contents".
Then you will be able to find all the files listed in the previous post.

PS: I doubt that what you want to do is the cause of your problem. I am not sure from your description what you exact problem is. Usually just clicking continue when you get the " another user" message when opening a file is all you have to do.
The installing an extension message is unrelated to the opening file message. It is about where to install the extension. You can install it on the system level, which is where OpenOffice is installed, so any user can use it. Or you can install is on the user level so only one user of the computer can use it. I always install extensions on the system level.

Post by **robleyd** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:27 am

If it does exist on Mac I would expect to find it in the same place as the other executables (sbase etc) listed by Mr Programmer.

chuanist · Post by **chuanist** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:49 am

Version 4 is completely different from Version 3. None of the items in MrProgrammer's list exist.

The MacOS folder contains libraries whose names indicate their functions, such as acceptor.unc.dylib, basprov.uno.dylib, not applications. There are no files anywhere in the package (that I have been able to find) with names such as 'Writer', 'Base', etc.

Or 'soffice', for that matter....

Post by **lgusaas** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:15 am

chuanist wrote:Version 4 is completely different from Version 3. None of the items in MrProgrammer's list exist. .

Version 4, which I use, is the same.

There are no files anywhere in the package (that I have been able to find) with names such as 'Writer', 'Base', etc.

sbase, swriter, etc all are there in the MacOS folder.

Or 'soffice', for that matter...

It is there.

chuanist · Post by **chuanist** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:32 am

Looking again, the files are there, waaay down the scroll bar. Getting somewhere?

I'm looking for a 'soffice script', according to the Installation Notes, whatever its filename is, and wherever it may be. I'm obviously somewhat dense, but that description seems somewhat vague. Soffice script. There's gotta be a way, right?

Post by **lgusaas** » Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:47 am

chuanist wrote:Looking again, the files are there, waaay down the scroll bar. Getting somewhere?

I'm looking for a 'soffice script', according to the Installation Notes, whatever its filename is, and wherever it may be. I'm obviously somewhat dense, but that description seems somewhat vague. Soffice script. There's gotta be a way, right?

soffice is a script file. You have to open it to edit it.

I think you are barking up the wrong tree. I don't think file locking is causing a problem for you. More details are needed on your problem of opening files. You mention opening files and installing extensions. Describe each problem separately.

File Locking

File Locking

Re: AOO Thinks There Are Other Users (there aren't)

Re: AOO Thinks There Are Other Users (there aren't)

Re: AOO Thinks There Are Other Users (there aren't)

Re: AOO Thinks There Are Other Users (there aren't)

Re: AOO Thinks There Are Other Users (there aren't)

Re: File Locking

Re: File Locking

Re: File Locking

Re: File Locking

Re: File Locking

Re: File Locking

Re: File Locking

Re: File Locking