LibreOffice : 64-bit and 32-bit 'portables' - AppImage-based...

[mikewalsh]

@Burunduk :-

Nice work! I can see this working well for those who want to update regularly.

Me, personally, I tend to find a "recent" version that works for me, then stick with it for quite a while. Like I said, I rarely write documents anyway - or 'share'/collaborate with Windows users - so for me, always having the latest, most up-to-date compatibility with M$ Office's ever-changing protocols is NOT a priority.

Well done. You'll have to make this easily-available for the community, so it's not hard to find.

Mike.

[MochiMoppel]

The portable MikeWalsh published included the 64bit AppImage of LibreOffice 7.18. As of this post, LibreOffice has continued to improve and is @ 7.5. If only to save Mike the use of some band-width, the attached
LibreOffice-portable64-FrameWork.tar.xz
provides Mike's framework without any AppImage.

I just downloaded LibreOffice-portable64-FrameWork.tar.xz. It contains an already populated folder /config/libreoffice/4 with config files for an older LibreOffice version. This folder is useless and should not be in the package!

The LAUNCH script now reads

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
#
# Launcher for 'portable' LibreOffice...
#
HERE="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HERE"
#
"$HERE/LibreOffice64" "$@"

When run will automatically cause the appimage to create a folder libreoffice in the script folder with the necessary config files.

[mikewalsh]

@MochiMoppel :-

I agree that there shouldn't be any config stuff in the tarball, but you find - with the AppImages - that if you, say, have 3 or 4 different LibreOffice AppImages that you use at all regularly, each version will create its own, separately-numbered config directory.

That's been my experience, at any rate.

Mike.

[MochiMoppel]

@MochiMoppel :-

I agree that there shouldn't be any config stuff in the tarball

Period. No "but" please. It's a template!

but you find - with the AppImages - that if you, say, have 3 or 4 different LibreOffice AppImages that you use at all regularly, each version will create its own, separately-numbered config directory.

This script will never create a folder named config, so already the name is wrong!

[mikeslr]

The portable MikeWalsh published included the 64bit AppImage of LibreOffice 7.18. As of this post, LibreOffice has continued to improve and is @ 7.5. If only to save Mike the use of some band-width, the attached
LibreOffice-portable64-FrameWork.tar.xz
provides Mike's framework without any AppImage.

I just downloaded LibreOffice-portable64-FrameWork.tar.xz. It contains an already populated folder /config/libreoffice/4 with config files for an older LibreOffice version. This folder is useless and should not be in the package!

The LAUNCH script now reads

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
#
# Launcher for 'portable' LibreOffice...
#
HERE="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$HERE"
#
"$HERE/LibreOffice64" "$@"

When run will automatically cause the appimage to create a folder libreoffice in the script folder with the necessary config files.

You're right. The config folder was a vestigial appendage from a prior version not employing the modified LAUNCH script. Don't exactly recall why it was originally included but it 'didn't hurt'*. It's been removed from the replacement tar.xz I've uploaded to the post.

-=-=-=-
* By default LibreOffice --among two other annoyances-- used to turn on 'italize' when you typed /. Tool>options enables you to change that. I thought the change was written to the /root/.config and the 'old' LAUNCH script copied the contents of the 'config' folder to /root/.config. But I no longer have my original and looking at the files in 'config' don't see how that would have done what I intended. My 'original' may have also had files in /root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/openwith which added LibreOffice-writer and calc to the Right-Click menu. I think those were deleted when I moved them to a separate pet.

[mikewalsh]

@MochiMoppel :-

With the AppImages, this seems to be automatic, pre-configured behaviour apparently. When they run for the first time, they'll create a directory called "libreoffice" inside whatever the designated config directory happens to be. Inside "libreoffice", they then create a numbered directory corresponding to the release number. In my "libreoffice" directory, ATM, there's three sub-directories; one numbered "7.0.3", one numbered "7.1.8", and one numbered "7.2.6".

Inside that, the AppImage will then create its config data. The contents of all 3 directories look identical to me, but this appears to be their way of keeping new versions separate from older ones...

I can only tell ya what I know! Beyond that, well......."me no expert".

I've been using the AppImages of LibreOffice for over 4 years now. They work fine for what I want from an office suite. (*shrug*)

Mike.

[Burunduk]

You'll have to make this easily-available for the community, so it's not hard to find.

I've uploaded the updated package in viewtopic.php?p=86170#p86170. It shows an error message if the directory contains no appimage. Not really useful. Could add an option to download it with wget, but apparently no-one needs this template. Including me. On my Fossapup, with fuse mount LO starts in 14 sec, with loop mount - in 7. I tried to change the mount type with a wrapper. Works but makes no sense.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
HERE="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")"
MP=/media/lo-appimage
mkdir "$MP" || exit 1
mount "$HERE"/*.AppImage "$MP" -o loop,offset=$("$HERE"/*.AppImage --appimage-offset)
"$MP"/AppRun
umount "$MP"
rmdir "$MP"

With the AppImages, this seems to be automatic, pre-configured behaviour apparently. When they run for the first time, they'll create a directory called "libreoffice" inside whatever the designated config directory happens to be. Inside "libreoffice", they then create a numbered directory corresponding to the release number.

I made my appimage from the official tarball. It doesn't do that. It uses the same old directory. Your appimages have been generated by the python script. It searches for a file named bootstraprc in the LO program directory and updates the version number in the config directory path.

[mikewalsh]

@Burunduk :-

Might be a bit awkward setting it up to use wget, since there's so many different variations as far as packaging goes:-

• Fresh Basic

• Still Basic

• Fresh Standard

• Still Standard

• Fresh Full

• Still Full

.....and then there's the option of whether you want help files included with every one of the above-mentioned (or not). No way to tell what the individual user might decide they want.

--------------------------------------

I vaguely remember reading somewhere or other that their packaging team used a Python-powered build script for these things. Might have been their blog, or the FAQ section.....no idea. I wonder if they wrote it themselves, or whether they modified an already-available script from somewhere else..?

Mike.

[Dingo]

Dear @mikewalsh are you able to run portable libreoffice 7.1.8 in your xenialpup 7.5? In mine, when I launch the script, I get:

Code: Select all

javaldx: Could not find a Java Runtime Environment!
Warning: failed to read path from javaldx

(soffice:17690): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: <data>:1:193: 'min-height' is not a valid property name

(soffice:17690): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: <data>:1:209: 'min-width' is not a valid property name
/initrd/mnt/tmpfs/tmp/.mount_LibreODfax8s/opt/libreoffice7.1/program/soffice.bin: symbol lookup error: /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/tmp/.mount_LibreODfax8s/opt/libreoffice7.1/program/libvclplug_gtk3lo.so: undefined symbol: gtk_widget_path_iter_set_object_name
Script completed hit RETURN to close window.

[mikewalsh]

Hi, @Dingo .

Um.....short answer? No, I can't. And I can't figure it out, either.

I have the very newest LibreOffice (v7.6.2.1) running, as a portable, in both the older Tahrpup64 AND the newer Bionicpup64. But for some inexplicable reason, the newest LibreOffice I can persuade Xenialpup64 to run is 7.0.3. Crazy, huh?

Anything newer, and I get exactly the same terminal complaints as you've posted above. I DO have Java installed in every one of my Pups, as a matter of course, but it doesn't make a scrap of difference to LibreOffice in Xenial. I've given up worrying about it..!

-------------------------------------------------------------

If you still want an up-to-date office suite to run in Xenialpup64 - as a 'portable' - from this same 'stable', then I would recommend doing what I've done. Use the latest OpenOffice-portable I put together just a couple of weeks ago. A bunch of us were discussing it here, and I learnt from OscarTalks the simplest way to install the thing (and then turn it into a portable, 'cos it comes as around 45 tiny little .deb packages, all of which have to be installed separately!)

viewtopic.php?t=9752

I then built the portables - both 32- AND 64-bit - which can be found here:-

viewtopic.php?t=9758

-------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're used to LibreOffice, you'll be at home with OpenOffice straight away. Several years ago, the OpenOffice devs had a whole series of big disagreements between them. The upshot of this was that a bunch of them left, went their own way, forked the OpenOffice code & produced LibreOffice. So, in a way, OpenOffice is LibreOffice's parent.......and despite that the two have varied somewhat in the way they handle things, the layout, the appearance, and the way everything works, has barely changed at all.

This is the current, up-to-date release - v4.1.14 - and although it's a few months old by now, is capable of working with the newest M$ .docx formats. (The OpenOffice devs are not quite as crazy keen on continuous updates as the LibreOffice crowd.....but it's a decent L.Office alternative, for all that).

As usual, it's entirely up to you. This is the way I've worked around it with Xenialpup64. You may wish to find another option, but this way is certainly "usable", for all that.

Mike.

[Dingo]

@mikewalsh thanks for mentioning tahrpup. It can be an interesting second puppy to use everyday. In fact, I seen that on my Lenovo L440, it no needed xbacklight to dimming the screen light, since the plus and minus keys to regulate the brightness worked like a charm out of box. Libreoffice advantages over openoffice, for my work, are essentially one: the abilities to use opentype and graphite font features, while in openoffice only graphite font features are allowed. And graphite fonts are very fewer than opentype fonts

[Les Kerf]

I attempted to download Libre Office to my Son-in-law's laptop which is running Fossapup64; we went to Documents>Get LibreOffice Download and install LibreOffice. After waiting a long time we got a message stating that the download failed.

The concept of a Portable application is appealing, so have read this thread several times.

I am a bit confused (no surprise there). When I click on the link to MEGA I see four choices that vary dramatically in size.

4-series is 209.3 MB
7-series is 258.5 MB
32-bit is 390 MB
64-bit is 752.9 MB

I am pretty sure we don't want 4-series as he needs to be able to interface with Microsoft Office. He has a 64-bit system.

We have slow internet connection here and can only get large files to load late at night or early morning, the IP slows us way down during the daytime. Even at night it is slow, and there is a monthly limit.

I'm not sure which one to download, and really don't want to download one that I can't use.
Thanks for the help

[mikewalsh]

@Les Kerf :-

I've tidied-up the LibreOffice directory. There was some older stuff there, plus some duplication; not always easy to keep on top of things - given that I changed compression methods a while back - especially with 3 cloud a/cs all containing 100s of items!

So; go into LibreOffice -> 64-bit -> 7-series. This is the one you want. It's an early 7-series - v7.0.3.1, IIRC - chosen because shortly after this build, the LibreOffice devs added-in a requirement for having Java on the system. Then, LO started getting very fussy about whether it would fire-up at all.....

This build is rock-solid. It's one of the Project's "official" AppImages which they built themselves. It's not yet let me down, or crashed, or owt silly like that. I believe you know the routine by now?

• Download
• Unzip (UExtract works best)
• Move the extracted 'portable' itself anywhere you want (preferably outside the 'save')
• Click to enter
• Click 'LAUNCH' to fire it up

Included scripts will permit adding/removing a Menu entry, if required.....from wherever it's located.

Hope that helps.

Mike.

[ozsouth]

@Les Kerf Mike's portables are very good. I've never liked those 'get' links - they go out of date & I should have removed them - I usually remove newbie boobytraps. I did add a .pet for libreoffice 6.4 in the fossapup23 post (download, click on .pet in filemanager, wait couple of minutes till installed). (fossapup23v2a release removes 'get' links).

[Les Kerf]

Due primarily to our slow internet service we are having difficulty getting the package to download; four attempts resulted in a red "Download Failed" notification in addition to a hot processor and a locked up laptop that needed a hard poweroff shutdown to reboot.

On the fifth attempt, I had my Son-in-law take his laptop to another location; we got an indication that the download was completed 100% but it again was locked up and required a hard shutdown. Upon rebooting we could not find the download.

This was done in the fresh install of Fossapup23v2 on two different machines. That download site seems difficult for us to access and the CPU usage went to 100% and also used up all of the ram and swap when it was locked up. I even increased the size of the save file by several GB.

My laptop has 3 GB of ram and his has 4 GB, both older 64 bit units. Not new but they should be capable of downloading a 500 MB file.

If our download actually completed I would sure like to know where it went

[ozsouth]

@Les Kerf - did you try to get my 180mb package? See middle of 1st fossapup23 post.

[mikewalsh]

@Les Kerf :-

Hmm... I'm starting to realise that opening a MEGA a/c may not have been such a good idea. A lot of people here seem to have issues when downloading from it.....

I've uploaded the v7.0.3.1 LibreOffice 'portable' to my MediaFire a/c; this weighs in at a total of 286 MB. Since it's based around an already-compressed AppImage, it can't really be compressed much further.

If you still want to try it, the MediaFire link is below:-

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/un7het ... ibreOffice

If, however, bandwidth and download speeds are your primary concern, you may be better off with trying Oz's package. I believe he hosts with MediaFire, too.

(I used to have a very similar set-up to you; an early 64-bit system, in my case one of the last Compaq Presario desktops to be built by Compaq themselves, immediately prior to the HP buyout in late 2004. Dual-core AMD Athlon64 X2, 3 GB DDR1 and a WD Caviar 'Black' 160GB HDD, later upgraded to a newer 500 GB 'Blue' variant. Ran Puppy happily for years.)

Mike.

[Les Kerf]

@Les Kerf :-
.....

I've uploaded the v7.0.3.1 LibreOffice 'portable' to my MediaFire a/c; this weighs in at a total of 286 MB. Since it's based around an already-compressed AppImage, it can't really be compressed much further.
...

Thanks for the new upload site. I clicked on it, I watched the progress of the downoad (over 45 minutes, not bad for this area) and saw that it had completed the download 100%. So far so good.

I'll be blessed if I can find it though. I expected it to be in "Downloads".

I am on Fossapup23v2 running the built-in Firefox (I'm not smart enough to know how to run anything else). I sure do hope someone can tell me where downloads go if not into downloads

[ozsouth]

@Les Kerf - should be in /home/spot/Downloads . Firefox runs as less-priviliged user spot, so all downloads should go there.

[Les Kerf]

Thank you!
I was unable to get online for a couple of days, now to learn how to make it work. Onward and upward!