Re-installing soffice

[glists]

Long story short (please let me know of any questions), I am a long-time oo user but just upgraded to fedora25 and unsure now how to remove the symbolic link between libreoffice (comes with fedora) and soffice, I opted to remove libreoffice. Unfortunately when removing the libreoffice files, the soffice file was removed (also). Openoffice needs that file to work (when running from the command line, openoffice4, the message is /usr/bin/openoffice4: line 22: /opt/openoffice4/program/soffice: No such file or directory (indeed, soffice does not exist.) How do I re-install that file? Would it help to re-install libreoffice (can do that easily)? Then have to figure out the sym-link deal (easier than what is happening now) but removing libreoffice Had to happen in fedora 13, so...how to get oo to work! (4.1.3, btw)

Also note: working with rpm installation (and the directions to do so) was not a happy easy time. (Last time I installed office it was a piece of cake - did not do the rpm thing required this time as far as I can remember...years ago.)

Anyway, if anyone can help, I would certainly appreciate it - am deep into editing some documents!

Cheers and thanks in advance for any info

[acknak]

Greetings and welcome to the community forum!

I'm using AOO on Fedora 23. I install AOO from rpms in a completely separate area from the system software packages, just to avoid any crosstalk or file cross-referencing like you're having.

I recommend either sticking with the Fedora-packaged LibO, or getting very comfortable with rpm from the command line for installing AOO. Sorry, I don't know of any easier path.

[glists]

yes, did do the rpm install but soffice is missing since libreoffice demise. Sounds so far like I will have to hope that soffice comes with libreoffice and that I can destroy the sym-link (which I got lazy about doing - well, had to delete libreoffice earlier so just did it now). (Note: yes, oo is absolutely necessary). Thanks for info tho not sure what you mean by "separate area" as obviously there is some linking going on with soffice - perhaps you might let me know where you put your files (I just loaded them from the downloads folder under my (sole-usr) sign-in :]

[acknak]

It's not only where the files go. The LibO and AOO rpms will delete/overwrite each other's files if they are installed using a common rpm database. The AOO install puts all files under the same directory, so I still install under /opt (--prefix /opt/...) but I also have rpm use a separate database (the --dbpath option). I also skip the desktop icons and configuration and just launch AOO from a command line.

[glists]

ok, am starting from the command line and yes, deleted libre as the files conflict. The problem is there is a missing file (soffice) and need to know how either to re-install this (through re-installing libre? finding it somewhere - have not had time to even find out what it is/does - or ?) I don't need/want libre so this is about getting oo working. Thanks for the hints, tho...will do more research...and cross fingers all this is done soon! cheers

[glists]

hi - re-did the oo install and now get complaints when running from the gui (which now recognizes the installation) re java runtime environment (terminal run of open office says same thing). THere are probably threads about this, but if anyone knows re: JRE (which to use, where to install, etc), wouldn't mind hearing here...or link to ? :] Thanks for attention/patience. cheers

[robleyd]

You need a 32 bit version of Java for OpenOffice

[glists]

thanks for you time. However, the statement above re: needing 32 bit java seemed a bit un-intuitive so did some search and found, off the open office site ()http://www.openoffice.org/download/common/java.html), this statement (which seems logical)
"Which Java Version Do I Need to Use Apache OpenOffice?

You will need to have a JRE version (32-bit or 64-bit) that is compatible with the architecture of the Apache OpenOffice version you downloaded."

I downloaded the 64 bit (as am using a 64 bit machine)

[glists]

note: this is on fedora 25 - windows OS may be different

[FJCC]

You have a 64 bit machine but a 32 bit OpenOffice. It is the OpenOffice that matters
"the architecture of the Apache OpenOffice version you downloaded."
You need a 32 bit Java.

[glists]

don't think so - the download was for a 64bit oo - it is almost working now: printer thread crashes

[glists]

soffice is re-installed when oo is installed so no worries that way. So the original situation is re-solved. However, the application still does not work (now the printer-admin crashes the system).

OpenOffice was removed from the system, then re-installed. Still no luck and this time there is no message/trail left behind, the app just appears and goes away (no core-dump apparent but only a flash of the opening screen, then nothing, as if the app was not opened at all). Not sure where to go with this, where to find a log of rhe problem to report here and so on...

I am using the proper java installation with the 64 bit openOffice rpms.

Thanks for any further comments - let me know if a new thread should be started?

Thanks in advance for any info

[acknak]

I was hoping this would work out for you. I've been putting off upgrading to F25 because I've had problems running AOO on F23 and was afraid the problems would only get worse.

[robleyd]

the app just appears and goes away

Try starting from an xterm or console and see what error messages you get.

[glists]

Didn't realize this had been a problem (upgraded from Fedora 13 just for the heck of it - gad, guess that is why fedora is so adamant about libreoffice (which I find very buggy/do not like to use. Wish someone would figure out the bugs/hope Apache will work on this!) Just in hopes, the message when openoffice4 is run from the terminal is the same now (after a re-install) as when first installed - at least the printer manager is no longer involved:
# openoffice4
No protocol specified
No protocol specified
/opt/openoffice4/program/soffice.bin X11 error: Can't open display: :0
Set DISPLAY environment variable, use -display option
or check permissions of your X-Server
(See "man X" resp. "man xhost" for details)

not really sure where to set the display option - would have to worry over that for a while/so much I have forgotten much less never knew! However, since I set this up as root rather than as a user, maybe, yes? (Happens when running as root tho, so...) Anyway, do you know what file would need to be checked/changed in this case?

Thanks for any info

[robleyd]

What sort of terminal are you using? The error is not really related to OO but suggests trying to run a GUI program from a command line terminal which is not in an X environment.

I can for example start OO from Konsole (in KDE) with the command soffice. In my Slackware setup, /usr/bin/soffice is a symlink

Code: Select all

bash-4.3$ ls -l /usr/bin/soffice
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 Oct 13 15:41 /usr/bin/soffice -> /opt/openoffice4/program/soffice

[glists]

just using the terminal that comes with Fedora 25...ran across the site
https://www.if-not-true-then-false.com/ ... -hat-rhel/
where found the command line "$ openoffice4". The directions below (which I followed) are for openOffice4.1.0, fedora 24 and I believe relieve the need for Java (which I later installed so may comment out that line.
# Edit file
nano -w /etc/dnf/dnf.conf

## OR ##
nano -w /etc/yum.conf

## Add exclude row
[main]
exclude=openoffice.org-ure* libreoffice-ure*

Just tried "$ soffice" "$ soffice -writer" and "$ swriter" (suggested on the Apache site) but the first 2 yield the same error message, the last one was not recognized as a command.
Thanks, will search thru the display bugs and so on...

[glists]

no one has responded yet so took a last stab before removing openOffice and re-installing libreoffice (ugh!){
since I had been trying to start openoffice as root, I tried as a user. Still no luck. Got a different message tho. This time at the prompt $ openoffice4, the message was:
/opt/openoffice4/program/soffice: line 121: 3496 Segmentation fault (core dumped) "$sd_prog/$sd_binary" "$@"

Does anyone know where the core is so I can remove it? (will $ find core do me any good? or locate or whereis?)

Thanks for any info

[glists]

ok, so not finding anything online to resolve the issue, and needed a solution last week, moved on to libre...is ok for now and opens all the oo files...will check in future for a new edition that will work for me in Fedora 25.