Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

rizzo · 2008-12-05 06:02:44

This Howto will install Openoffice 3.* using the debs from the openoffice.org site. It’s just a personal preference but I like it this way as it doesn’t drag in any unnecessary dependencies.

N.B. I now have a script to install this automatically http://dtx.omnsproject.org/?p=403

N.B. Openbox users will still need to add the menu entries in manually as in the second half of this how-to. This however doesn't apply to Statler Alpha 2 users who install Ooo via the repos. In this case Alpha2 has a pipe menu that does the job automatically smile

Step 1. Installing OpenOffice 3.*
First you will need to download the debs for your system from the openoffice org website. Make sure you download a Linux DEB package. Go to http://download.openoffice.org/other.html . I usually download the English US or GB packages depending on what is available but you may want another. I assume they will work just as well

Once you have this package downloaded navigate to it in thunar or pcmanfm and then untar it.(Right Click-->Extract here) Navigate into the folder that is created, then into the DEBS folder and then open a terminal in that folder. You can do this in thunar by right clicking in the folder and choosing 'Open in Terminal'.

Then within the terminal simply run this command

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

When this is finished run the command

cd desktop-integration

then run the

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

command again. This will install the debian desktop-integration package which will give debian menu entries if you use the the menu applet.

Step 2: Adding menu entries to the Openbox Menu
To add menu entries to the standard menu you need to edit the menu.xml config file

Preferences-->Openbox config-->Edit menu.xml

In the file that opens go to the

<menu id="office" label="Office">

section and add these menu entries where you want them to fit in on the menu

            <item label="OpenOffice.org Base">
                <action name="Execute">
                    <execute>
                        /opt/openoffice.org3/program/sbase
                    </execute>
                </action>
            </item>
            <item label="OpenOffice.org Calc">
                <action name="Execute">
                    <execute>
                        /opt/openoffice.org3/program/scalc
                    </execute>
                </action>
            </item>
            <item label="OpenOffice.org Draw">
                <action name="Execute">
                    <execute>
                        /opt/openoffice.org3/program/sdraw
                    </execute>
                </action>
            </item>
            <item label="OpenOffice.org Impress">
                <action name="Execute">
                    <execute>
                        /opt/openoffice.org3/program/simpress
                    </execute>
                </action>
            </item>
            <item label="OpenOffice.org Math">
                <action name="Execute">
                    <execute>
                        /opt/openoffice.org3/program/smath
                    </execute>
                </action>
            </item>
            <item label="OpenOffice.org Writer">
                <action name="Execute">
                    <execute>
                        /opt/openoffice.org3/program/swriter
                    </execute>
                </action>
            </item>

Save the file and exit.

N.B. An alternate to this is to use the GUI menu editor. It's fairly straightforward and easy to use. Preferences-->Openbox config-->GUI Menu Editor

Step 3: Getting OpenOffice 3.* to use your GTK theme
You'll also want Openoffice to pick up your gtk theme which it doesn't do by default. For this you'll need to force it to use these settings. To do this go to

Preferences-->Openbox config-->Edit autostart.sh

In the file that opens find the section that says

# Force openoffice.org to use GTK theme
# enable this if you install openoffice
#export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome

Uncheck the last line so that looks like

# Force openoffice.org to use GTK theme
# enable this if you install openoffice
export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome

Save this file and exit.

All that is needed now is to restart Openbox

Preferences-->Openbox config-->Restart

That's it. All going well you'll now have OpenOffice 3 installed with entries in the menu and Ooo3 using your chosen gtk theme.

Enjoy smile

rizzo · 2008-12-05 06:15:12

This Howto assumes that you haven't already installed OpenOffice 2.4 from the Ubuntu repos. If so you can either run Ooo2.4 along side Ooo3 or remove Ooo2.4 completely, either before or after installing Ooo3.

As far as I know they are installed in different folders in /opt and don't conflict with each other.

corenominal · 2008-12-05 07:26:01

Excellent howto omns, thank you. I will give it a try later tonight. I am sure that client I mentioned will appreciate it too. wink

./karlos · 2008-12-05 11:30:08

Nice one.,.

works a treat...

corenominal · 2008-12-05 12:08:00

I have finished my installation. As with ./karlos, it worked a treat! smile Thank you.

rizzo · 2008-12-05 15:48:33

Thanks for the feedback smile I've tweaked it a bit to make it easier to read.

kimme · 2008-12-06 07:34:01

Thanks for this nice How-To it worked great here on my Eee 900 with 16 GB.

moriancumer_12 · 2008-12-06 15:26:10

Worked like a charm. Thanks.

snowpine · 2008-12-09 17:00:40

The OO3 PPA is back up!

Just add this to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main

Then you should be able to install OO3 from Synaptic or next time you upgrade.

rizzo · 2008-12-09 17:40:08

^^ Whoopa, I noticed this yesterday to smile A caveat if if you've already installed the version in this howto is that you'd need to remove it completely before installing the version available through the launchpad repos. The menu entires should still work the same... I think, they may need some slight adjusting smile

To be honest this version is working so well I'm wondering if I might not just leave things as they are smile

rizzo · 2008-12-15 18:54:29

I've installed ooo3 on two boxes this week using this method and the other using the launchpad repos. I think I prefer the openoffice debs to the launchpad ones, but that's just me smile

corenominal · 2008-12-15 19:21:55

omns wrote:

I've installed ooo3 on two boxes this week using this method and the other using the launchpad repos. I think I prefer the openoffice debs to the launchpad ones, but that's just me

Is there much difference between the two?

sewmyheadon · 2008-12-17 20:23:11

Thanks for the tutorial, omns!

I've just followed the instructions here with one exception: I added the repos from Launchpad because that's what I've done on Intrepid and would like to stay up to date as they provide fixes.

It seems the repo installation actually puts OpenOffice into the /usr/lib/openoffice directory, so I modified the menu.xml file like so:

<item label="OpenOffice.org 3.0 Base">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/usr/lib/openoffice/program/sbase
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org 3.0 Calc">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/usr/lib/openoffice/program/scalc
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org 3.0 Draw">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/usr/lib/openoffice/program/sdraw
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org 3.0 Impress">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/usr/lib/openoffice/program/simpress
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org 3.0 Math">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/usr/lib/openoffice/program/smath
</execute>
</action>
</item>
<item label="OpenOffice.org 3.0 Writer">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>
/usr/lib/openoffice/program/swriter
</execute>
</action>
</item>

rizzo · 2008-12-17 20:54:55

^ Great work cool Thank you smile

I've been trying to get around to adding this but life has been hectic this week.

sewmyheadon · 2008-12-18 00:10:41

No problem. smile

I understand about hectic. smile I think from now through the Holidays, it will be. Thanks again for your posts!

ben · 2008-12-30 13:46:59

omns wrote:

This Howto assumes that you haven't already installed OpenOffice 2.4 from the Ubuntu repos. If so you can either run Ooo2.4 along side Ooo3 or remove Ooo2.4 completely, either before or after installing Ooo3.
As far as I know they are installed in different folders in /opt and don't conflict with each other.

@Ohms - wow, very nice. Thanks - I'll give it a good try - need to wait for next week first :-s

fhsm · 2009-01-13 08:58:48

Thanks for this write-up. I ended up doing the repo install and was able to get my menu setup correctly. I uncommented

export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome

but my OO.o3 still looks horrible (like it did before uncommenting) even after a full system restart. What else can I do to improve the situation?

anonymous · 2009-01-13 15:53:45

I use this script (remember to make it executable):

#!/bin/sh 
#### openoffice-gtk - A script to start openoffice with the GNOME/GTK environment 
OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome /opt/openoffice.org3/program/soffice "$@"

Then I just these commands in my menu:

/path/to/script -calc
/path/to/script -impress
/path/to/script -writer

fhsm · 2009-01-13 21:42:32

Thanks for that suggestion. I found a post on the Arch forums suggesting openoffice-gnome wasn't installed. I was able to fix my problem with:

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org-gnome

Dan · 2009-01-20 00:02:11

I had used the repos prior to reading this, just by adapting this: http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-To-I … 6449.shtml from ubuntu to #!.

That method worked fine for me, and I was used to it, since it was essentially the same thing I did for my ubuntu machines a couple of weeks ago.

Maukel · 2009-01-29 03:43:13

Evening Omns.
As of now I'm working on a beginner's guide to installing and setting up CrunchBang, and was wondering if i could have permission to use this tutorial as part of my guide. Your work, or course will be cited, but I thought it wise to get your permission first.

agaz · 2009-01-29 04:17:56

actually you can edit the openbox right click menu with gui menu editor, no need to edit the xml wink
nice tutorial, thanks smile

rizzo · 2009-01-29 10:01:10

Maukel wrote:

Evening Omns.
As of now I'm working on a beginner's guide to installing and setting up CrunchBang, and was wondering if i could have permission to use this tutorial as part of my guide.

Of course, anyone can do whatever they like with things I do for crunchbang.

patrickstein · 2009-01-30 21:42:59

Hi, I installed open office 2.4 and added deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main to my source list, got into synaptics and hit reload, then mark all upgrades and it won't install oo3.

What should i do?

rizzo · 2009-01-30 21:53:32

^ If you run sudo apt-get update in a terminal, do you get any error messages regarding this archive?

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2008-12-05 06:02:44

Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#2 2008-12-05 06:15:12

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#3 2008-12-05 07:26:01

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#4 2008-12-05 11:30:08

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#5 2008-12-05 12:08:00

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#6 2008-12-05 15:48:33

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#7 2008-12-06 07:34:01

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#8 2008-12-06 15:26:10

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#9 2008-12-09 17:00:40

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#10 2008-12-09 17:40:08

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#11 2008-12-15 18:54:29

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#12 2008-12-15 19:21:55

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#13 2008-12-17 20:23:11

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#14 2008-12-17 20:54:55

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#15 2008-12-18 00:10:41

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#16 2008-12-30 13:46:59

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#17 2009-01-13 08:58:48

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#18 2009-01-13 15:53:45

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#19 2009-01-13 21:42:32

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#20 2009-01-20 00:02:11

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#21 2009-01-29 03:43:13

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#22 2009-01-29 04:17:56

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#23 2009-01-29 10:01:10

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#24 2009-01-30 21:42:59

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

#25 2009-01-30 21:53:32

Re: Howto: Install OpenOffice 3.* using openoffice.org debs

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