Openoffice - Staroffice

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Revision as of 17:57, 11 November 2007 by Apos (talk | contribs) (Increasing the fontsize)

Use the default packages OpenOffice.org

There might be some problems using the distributions packages, so I recommend installing the original openoffice.org from their website.

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

Distribution upgrates

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

Automation of OpenOffice and Java

Some Links

(some in german language)

Basic

Practical

(1) Password saved - for private use only. Do not download without permission, crack, copy or (re)distribute.

Develop with Netbeans

Best for developing java applications for openoffice is with sun's netbeans. The openoffice plugin - accessible via the update function of netbeans - is the fastest way to get ready.

Increasing the fontsize

Add the following to the /netbeans_install_dir/etc/netbeans.conf

netbeans_default_options="  [...] fontsize 14"

ODBC, Postgres and Openoffice

According to PostgreSQL-Datenbanken in OpenOffice.org 2.0 unter Linux.

Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10)

Openoffice <-> ODBC

For connection between openoffice and odebc:

apt-cache search odbc | grep unix
   unixodbc - ODBC tools libraries
   unixodbc-bin - Graphical tools for ODBC management and browsing

apt-get install unixodbc unixodbc-bin

With the command ODBCConfig you can manage the configuration files (part of the package unixodbc-bin). Start it as superuser with gksu or use it to manage your local database configuration files - stored in your home directory.

But for nowe, we will - later - edit the configuration files by ourself.

ODBC <-> Postgresql

For connection between the odbc layer and the database:

apt-cache search odbc
   odbc-postgresql - ODBC driver for PostgreSQL

apt-get install odbc-postgresql

Configuration files

Ubuntu installs its odbc libraries in /usr/lib/odbc. There are two versions of the postgres odbc driver: an ascii version (psqlodbca.so) and a unicode version (psqlodbcw.so). We are using the latter.

vim /etc/odbcinst.ini
[PostgreSQL]
Description = PostgreSQL ODBC Driver
Driver = /usr/lib/odbc/psqlodbcw.so
Setup = /usr/lib/odbc/libodbcpsqlS.so

For system wide database location you have to edit the /etc/odbc.ini file.

There is a section Driver. You have to insert exactly the same name as defined in the odbcinst.ini between the braces, e.g. use PostgreSQL, if your odbcinst.ini is defined as [PostgreSQL]:

vim /etc/odbc.ini
[pgTestDBSource]
Description = PostgreSQL Test Database
Driver = PostgreSQL
Servername = localhost
Database = pgtest
Port = 5432
ReadOnly = No

Establish connection

If you like to connect to an database via openoffice you should use a string like:

odbc://servername/databasename

Don't forget to allow connections in /etc/postgresql/8.2/main/pg_hba.conf (see above) to your database server!

The rest is really self explanatory within the openoffice database assistant ;)