[Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

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netmastr
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[Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

On fedora 9 I uninstalled the version that came with the operating system (v2.41).
I installed version 3 with jre that was downloaded from the ooo website.
The install went flawlessly after a false start of trying to install the new version while the old one was still installed.
I use several fedora machines as file servers of various version numbers on a LAN at work to save files to.
Previous to the install of 3, the 2.41 was acting OK on the two remote hosts (used as file servers) using sftp mounted file systems on the local machine. File saving was not a problem on this machine but was a problem on another machine with identical setup.

Currently, if I try to open an already existing file on the remote machine via sftp mounted file system, the first attempt to open the file results in not finding an application to open the file, when "open with" is selected and the ooo application is selected, the file is opened but in read only mode, then when closed and reopened it will open in read/write mode. File saving becomes possible onto the remote machine when the file is opened read/write. After modifying the file and saving it, and subsequently closing it, when the file is reopened, it again comes up as read only.

Just to see if the problem is an open office only problem, or if other applications experience similar problems, I tried creating a file in gedit. Reopening it for edit does not bring it up as read only and the file can be edited and saved at will.

Trying to create a new file and saving it on a remote machine is not possible in v3.0 because the save as popup window does not allow browsing to the remote machine. It shows only the local machine's file system in the save as popup window.

This is going to severely hamper my efforts to remain linux only at least temporarily while I try and figure this out.
Last edited by Hagar Delest on Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Tagged the thread as issue (link to a bug report).
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by acknak »

Did you install the desktop-integration rpm? I believe that provides the file association information so that the system knows to open ODF files with OOo.

I don't know why it should matter, but OOo3 marks a switch to a new method of locking files that are being edited. The new method requires creating a file in the directory where the document is located and it seems to often run into problems on remote locations. Many people here are reporting problems with OOo3 accessing files over a network.

Also, it is possible to install OO.org pacakges alongside the Fedora packages, and in fact, I regularly run both although it can be a hassle when updates come along. I find that the Fedora packages are much better-integrated with the system and desktop, while the OO.org packages have some features that Fedora doesn't.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

When I tried to run the desktop integration rpm after I installed ooo3, I got a lot of conflicts and couldn't access the icons from the desktop for ver3 from the desktop - it still opened the ver2.4.1. After I googled it, I uninstalled v2.4.1 and installed v3.0. Then the install ran the desktop integration rpm automatically for the redhat distro. Now the desktop icons run v3.0 ok but v2.4.1 of course is no longer available.

To solve the problem with only the local file system available in the save/load dialogue box, I deselected the "use openoffice.org dialogs" in tools>options>openoffice.org>general setup screen. This brought back the left pane in the dialogue box that shows all of the devices and shortcuts including the ones made to remote machines.

Now to further define the quirky behaviour of file saving after changes it seems to be a repeating behaviour. When the file stored on the remote machine (sftp) is first opened for edit in writer or calc via browsing to it in the file open dialog or clicking on it from the file browser it opens as read only. Closing it and re-opening it opens it as read/write and the file can then be saved but saving has to be attempted twice as it fails on the first attempt to save. After the file is closed, re-opening it starts the cycle over again as it will open as read only. This behaviour repeats every time. At least now, I know that I can save it after changes to the file onto the remote machine but this is pretty clunky.

I wouldn't know how to report this as a possible bug as I am new to the ooo contribution community. I wouldn't even know if this program behaviour qualifies as a bug or maybe there is a problem with the gvfs. Or if reporting it here qualifies as a bug report. I am not a programmer per se and wouldn't know where to begin to try and solve the problem. I was hoping to get help here if someone else has encountered the problem and found a solution.

I know enough about linux to find my way around the os and am comfortable at the command prompt. I have been messing with linux since redhat 5.2 or so.

Please help if you can, advise too. I would love to see this work. I use it constantly and teach students how to use it. Anything I learn I pass on to my students. They in turn pass it on.

Thanks
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by acknak »

I wouldn't know how to report this as a possible bug as I am new to the ooo contribution community. I wouldn't even know if this program behaviour qualifies as a bug or maybe there is a problem with the gvfs. Or if reporting it here qualifies as a bug report.
Gvfs is fairly new. I would run this past whoever is working on that--they should have enough interest to at least test it themselves, and perhaps track down why this is happening, or give you some suggestions for fixing it.

If you don't find a contact method (probably a mailing list) for Gvfs, you can always send something to the general Fedora list, and someone there should be able to help you get in touch with the right people.

This is not the place to report OOo bugs--here we just discuss stuff. I wouldn't worry about reporting to OOo until you have some evidence that OOo needs to be changed.

BTW, what steps did you use to set up the sftp folder? I might be able to test it out if I knew how to set it up.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

what steps did you use to set up the sftp folder? I might be able to test it out if I knew how to set it up.
Here is my situation with regards to this problem as best that I can describe:

My remote machines described as follows:

#1: Fedora 9 installed non GUI and boots directly to the command prompt running sshd.
#2: Fedora Core Release 3 non GUI and boots directly to the command prompt running sshd.

My local machines described as follows:

#1: This local host is running fedora 9 with the original OOO2.4.1 uninstalled and OOO3.0 installed.
#2: This local host is running fedora 9 with the original OOO2.4.1 (behavior of this machine used for comparison)

When I say that the local machine has a remote file system mounted as sftp I mean that I have used the File Browser that comes with fedora 9 (Applications>System Tools>File Browser) and clicked on "File>Connect to Server" and then selecting a service type of SSH and pointed to the remote machine over the LAN by typing its IP address in and using a non privileged user which I had made on the remote machine with proper access rights to the directories on the remote machine.

On local machine #1, prior to the OOO2.4.1 uninstall I could open edit and save documents without problems. If I tried to create a file on the remote machine, I could not save it. To describe it further, I would click file save and the save as dialog popup window would come up and on the left pane I would select the sftp mounted directory and on the right side I would browse to the directory with write rights and then click on save. I would get a login dialog box with my user name already displayed and attempt to login. After clicking login, the box would reappear without the username and ask for the password again without the password field cleared from the previous attempt. On the third attempt to login a dialog message would appear indicating general internet error. I could only save on the local machine in this situation. To get around this problem, I would then use the file browser to cut the file from the local machine and paste it to the remote machine. I could then edit the file without difficulty.

On local machine #2 when I try to open an existing file on the remote machine, I get a login screen similar to trying to create a file described above on local machine #1. After I try to log in 3 times I get general internet error. I have retried several times with the same results. There appears to be no way to open a file on the remote machine. When I use gedit, and try to open a file on this local machine I get a login dialog box that looks different than the one in OOO and the login works on the first attempt. Saving and reloading works in gedit like it would be expected to work. Instead of editing a file on the remote machine I tried creating a new file on the remote machine using OOO. Clicking the save button in the toolbar brought up save as dialog box and browsing to the remote machine directory with proper rights and clicking save brings up the login dialog box. Several attempts to login similar to that already described results in general internet error dialog. I will attempt to remove OOO2.4.1 from this machine and install OOO3.0 to see what effect it will have in a later post.

On local machine #1 after OOO3.0 install with removal of OOO2.4.1, I get the behavior as described in my previous post while editing a file with OOO3.0 with the target file on the remote machine. It doesn't matter if I edit a file on remote #1 or remote #2, the results are the same. This is stated for comparison because the remote machines are running different versions of fedora.

Now I am going to go and install OOO3.0 on local #2 and see if this changes the behavior of OOO. When I post the results, I will still continue to refer to the machines in the same way meaning the same machines.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by acknak »

Well, all I can do is confirm what you see: I can open, read and write other files (e.g. text or images) on an sftp:// share but files opened by OOo are read-only. I don't see why.

In my experience, this sort of "network sharing over interactive protocol" are not suitable for real work. They're seriously warping what the protocol was designed to do and some operations that you can do on "real files" just don't work over a protocol that wasn't designed for that.

As I said, I'd take it up with the folks who are developing the sharing feature.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Well, I have uninstalled ooo2.4.1 on the local machine #2 and installed ooo3.0 and it did not change its behavior regarding editing files across the remote sftp mounted file system.

I did see an article out there on a google search that said to try loading the native java jre instead of using the one that came with ooo. I did this on local machine #1 but that had no effect on this issue either. At least none that I could detect. This machine still has the same issues after the jre install. For those that are following this issue, I followed the directions on how to install jre on the fedoraguide.info site for fedora 9.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Here is another link that seems to indicate that the problem is not just a fedora 9 issue and may be an ooo issue. It may have been created by an update of gvfs that programmers of ooo haven't incorporated yet and I'm sure that it will eventually get worked out but am hopeful to find a temporary workaround if someone knows of one such as possibly reverting to a previous version of gvfs? But I wouldn't know how to do that unless the procedure were posted somewhere. I'm still hunting.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Update on further trials.

I now have a third local machine which I will call local #3. It has fedora 9 - 64 bit installed on it. I uninstalled the 2.4.1 that was natively installed and installed version 3. There was one package ooobasis3.0-gnomeintegration... that had dependency issues having to do with libgconf and libgnomevfs which I was eventually able to resolve and then the package went in OK. Now this computer behaves exactly as local #2 does....hmmmm.

I am going to check on local #1 to see if the package that failed in local #3 has the same issues.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

After doing some additional searching I turned up this at the OO.o case number where it appears that the issue is at least being checked out. Looks like the target for the fix may be release 3.1.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by acknak »

Nice--thanks for the link.
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Re: sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

I just installed fedora 10 on local machine #1. It sports OO.o3 out of the box and looks great. The openoffice issue is exactly the same on this machine when connecting to the romote machines using sftp as described in earlier posts in this thread. I didn't really expect different :? . I hope against hope that the issue will be solved soon.
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Re: [Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

This is an update.

Up to today, I was able to save a file by clicking save and then clicking OK on the error pop-up that appeared then immediately clicking save again, the document would always save on the second attempt. This has been a workaround since I originally posted this thread. My fedora 10 was updated today including a kernel update and now this work-around is broken. The only way to save a document now from within openoffice on an sftp mounted file system I have to rename the file to save it using file>save as. This now complicates things because of different versions of the same file.
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Re: [Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Update:

Discovered a new behavior related to this thread yesterday. When I opened a file from within openoffice that is on a device mounted via sftp by using file>open, it opens read/write and save is possible without the usual error popup. This is a new workaround from the last post. I haven't tried it on other workstations yet but it works consistently on the workstation where I do most of my file editing in write and calc. The errors from the previous post would occur when I opened the file by double clicking from nautilus file manager.
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Re: [Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Update:

My other Linux 10 computer workstation works the same way as the last post. It will open a file on an sftp mounted file system in read/write and save without difficulty.
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Re: [Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Update

Well, I have been editing along nicely and something happened the other day and I'm not sure what caused it. I did reset one of my remote linux machines that I have been attaching to using sftp and now I can't edit files on the attached file system from my main computer that I sit at. Not even using the work around described above. The file comes up read only now instead of read/write.
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Re: [Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Does anybody know how I would research a problem with sftp? Is there a project group for that? Possible link? Does the sftp that is used in nautilus come from the openssh project? Or some other project. I'm beginning to think that the problem is not openoffice but rather how linux implements sftp.

I used to be able to make sub directories in an sftp connected remote file system in nautilus. Now even with proper rights I can no longer do this.
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Re: [Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Update:

Yet another workaround. Since I was having trouble mounting the remote file system using the mount function from within Nautilus, I tried downloading the sftp command line mount program and installing it. When I got it to work and mounted the remote file system from the command prompt I am now able to use the files on the remote machine read/write and open the files from within Nautilus by double clicking. I have since added the sftp mount command to my user login script. So this leads me to believe that there may be issues with the gvfs used from within Nautilus?
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Re: [Issue] sftp file>save eratic after install of v3

Post by netmastr »

Update:

I have installed Fedora 11 on my most used workstation. I am able to use the mount feature in Nautilus to mount the remote file system using ssh (sftp via gvfs) and edit files by double clicking the file from within Nautilus which opens openoffice and the file is read/write. I was able to save the file without incident. :bravo: I am going to leave this issue unsolved at the moment to see what happens as I continue to use the new OS. The remote file system is still using an older version of fedora.
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