How do I install OpenOffice.org on Linux?

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  • How Do I install Apache OpenOffice on Linux
  • How Do I install OpenOffice.org (3.3, and lower) on Linux?
  • Where Can I find more information on installing OpenOffice on Linux?


How do I install Apache OpenOffice on Linux?


Installation Preliminaries

The following preinstallation steps are recommended for Linux distributions. These should be taken to assure that you have a clean install of Apache OpenOffice due to internal considerations and/or the installation of LibreOffice, if it exists, on your system.

  • Check to see if LibreOffice has re-routed the OpenOffice binary to itself instead.
   Type "whereis soffice" from a console.

If this is symlinked to libreoffice, remove the symlink. (see your favorite reference for how to do this).This will NOT remove LibreOffice, this will only disallow LibreOffice to redirect the normal OpenOffice binary -- typically /usr/bin/soffice -- to libreoffice instead. Note: Depending on how your distribution has packaged LibreOffice, you may need to remove it completely for Apache OpenOffice to work correctly.

  • Remove your old version of OpenOffice (3.3 or lower) completely.

The safest way to do this for most users is to use a GUI package manager to search for OpenOffice and remove all packages.

  • If you want Java integration, you want to make sure you have the latest JRE installed. It should be at least JRE 1.6. You can find the JRE for Linux at the Java JRE for Linux download site. Alternatively, a JRE might be included on the installation media of your distro as part of a complete Java development environment.

Linux RPM-based Installation (command line)

1. Review the System Requirements

2. Download your favorite Linux version of Apache OpenOffice

3. Review helpful information and installation options in the Setup Guide.

4. Unpack the downloaded image to prepare for installation.

   The following command should work: tar -xvzf "linux package name".tar.gz
   where "linux package name" is the beginning part of the archive you just downloaded.

This will create an installation directory. The name of the installation directory will likely be the language abbreviation for the install set, e.g. en-US.

5. su to root, if necessary, and navigate to Apache OpenOffice installation directory (the unpacked archive).

6. Install using the rpm command. You will likely need to be root to run the rpm command to install the software.

cd into the RPMS subdirectory of the installation directory.

You should see a lot of rpms here and one sub-directory called "desktop-integration".Install this new version:

   rpm -Uvih *rpm

By default, this will install OpenOffice in your /opt directory.

Alternatively, you can use a GUI package installer, reference the installation directory, and install all rpms at the top level. This may also aid you in determining any dependency problems if they exist.

6. Install the desktop integration features for your setup.

   cd to desktop-integration in the installation directory,
   and, depending on your package manager/system, install the appropriate desktop interface using rpm.

7. Finally, start up Apache OpenOffice 3.4 to insure it's working.

Linux DEB-based Installation (command line)

1. Review the System Requirements

2. Download your favorite Linux version of Apache OpenOffice

3. Review helpful information and installation options in the Setup Guide.

4. Unpack the downloaded image to prepare for installation.

   The following command should work: tar -xvzf "linux package name".tar.gz
   where "linux package name" is the beginning part of the archive you just downloaded.

This will create an installation directory. The name of the installation directory will likely be the language abbreviation for the install set, e.g. en-US.

5. su to root, if necessary, and navigate to Apache OpenOffice installation directory (the unpacked archive).

6. Install using the dpkg command. You will likely need to be root to run the rpm command to install the software.

cd into the DEBS subdirectory of the installation directory.

You should see a lot of rpms here and one sub-directory called "desktop-integration".Install this new version:

   sudo dpkg -i *.deb

By default, this will install OpenOffice in your /opt directory.

Alternatively, you can use a GUI package installer, reference the installation directory, and install all debs at the top level. This may also aid you in determining any dependency problems if they exist.

6. Install the desktop integration features for your setup.

   cd to desktop-integration in the installation directory,
   and, depending on your package manager/system, install the appropriate desktop interface using dpkg.

7. Finally, start up Apache OpenOffice 3.4 to insure it's working.



How do I install OpenOffice.org 3 on Linux?


There are several methods to install OOo 3 on Linux.

1. First untar (unzip) the downloaded file. Replace the filename in the command with the file you have downloaded.

  tar -xvf OOo_3.3.0_Linux_x86_install-rpm-wJRE_en-US.tar.gz 

2. Change to the new folder.

If you are the only user on the system, you can choose to start the supplied setup script and follow the graphical dialogs. This installs all files to your home folder, and you are the only user who can use the OOo suite.

If you want to install the suite to a central location, where the suite can be used for many users of the system (this is the preferred method), you have two choices:

  • install as admin, using the graphical setup script, or
  • install as admin, using the native Linux rpm installation method

To install using the graphical setup script:

1. Open a shell or terminal window.

2. Become superuser by typing su -

3. Grant permission to open a graphical display for root, using the authority from your user account. This step is necessary for security reasons on some systems, while on other systems adequate security is provided without this.

  XAUTHORITY=/home/{username}/.Xauthority; export XAUTHORITY
  DISPLAY=:0.0; export DISPLAY

4. Change to the directory that contains the OOo 3 installation program.

5. Start the setup script.

  ./setup

6. Follow the instructions.

To install using the rpm method:

1. Install all rpm files together:

  cd RPMS 
  su 
  rpm -i *.rpm 

2. Change to the desktop_integration subfolder and install the UI integration for your system

  cd desktop-integration 
  rpm -i {menu_filename}

For Debian based system like Ubuntu, you can install using the setup script in the default download for Linux, download the installation files in .deb format, or you can use an rpm to deb converter and install using dpkg.

More information on installing OpenOffice.org in Linux can be found in the Administration Guide



Where Can I find more information on installing OpenOffice on Linux?



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