Openoffice - Staroffice

Using the default packages of OOo.org instead of the ditribution ones

Ubuntu/Debian

I like to use the official packages of openoffice due to a mixed computer environment. This is the only way to assure same funcitonality and certification. But I run into trouble doing this.

Download

Download the packages from openoffice.org and extract them into a directory. The package names may vary to depending to your version and download:

tar xzvf OOo_2.3.0_LinuxIntel_install_de_deb.tar.gz
cd OOG680_m5_native_packed-1_de.9221

Naturally, if I like to install the packages provided by openoffice.org in ubuntu/debian via dpkg, i get an error:

# dpkg -i openoffice.org-*
dpkg - warning: downgrading openoffice.org-base from 1:2.3.0-1ubuntu2 to 2.3.0-5.
dpkg: regarding openoffice.org-base_2.3.0-5_i386.deb containing openoffice.org-base:
 openoffice.org-base conflicts with openoffice.org-bundled

Remove distribution packages

That's why I have to uninstall the ubuntu openoffice org packages:

# apt-get remove openoffice.org-common
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  openoffice.org openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-calc openoffice.org-common 
  openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-draw openoffice.org-gnome openoffice.org-gtk 
  openoffice.org-help-de openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-java-common 
  openoffice.org-l10n-de openoffice.org-math openoffice.org-report-builder
  openoffice.org-style-human openoffice.org-style-industrial 
  openoffice.org-style-tango openoffice.org-thesaurus-de 
  openoffice.org-writer python-uno
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 20 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
After unpacking 275MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
[...]

I am than able to install the packages:

# dpkg -i openoffice.org-*
Selecting previously deselected package openoffice.org-base.
(Reading database ... 316754 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking openoffice.org-base (from openoffice.org-base_2.3.0-5_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package openoffice.org-calc.
Unpacking openoffice.org-calc (from openoffice.org-calc_2.3.0-5_i386.deb) ...
[...]

Configure apt for unattended upgrades

If I then upgrade my machine, ubuntu tries to uninstall my openoffice packages and upgrades them to the distribution ones.

So I have to manually edit the /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades. Add the part Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist followed by a list of packages - one per line. This list is surrounded by {...}-brackets. Don't forget the quotation marks around the package name and the semicolon (;) at the end of each line.

Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
//      "package_with_is_commented_out";
       "package_name-will_be_not_upgraded";
};

Let's do it:

vim /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades

// allowed (origin, archive) pairs
Unattended-Upgrade::Allowed-Origins {
        "Ubuntu gutsy-security";
//      "Ubuntu gutsy-updates";
};

// never update the packages in this list
Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
//      "vim";
        "openoffice.org-bundled";
        "openoffice.org";
        "openoffice.org-base";
        "openoffice.org-common";
        "openoffice.org-hyphenation";
};

Test it

When I then try to update, the system won't bother any more:

# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-calc openoffice.org-draw 
  openoffice.org-headless  openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-math
  openoffice.org-writer

TIP

You can use this to hinder ubuntu/debian from automatic kernel updates ;)

Troubleshooting

If you are going to make a distribution upgrade, it might happen, that ubuntu uninstalls the packages. You have to install them again.