Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 119373
Request for AOO binary distribution in generic Linux tarball format
Last modified: 2013-07-10 22:02:04 UTC
I installed OpenOffice 3.3.0 from a generic GNU/Linux tarball version downloaded from Oracle, but for AOO version 3.4 I find only RPM and DEB package manager versions on the download page at http://www.openoffice.org/download/other.html Is there any chance of a plain tarball version of the binaries being offered for those who do not use package managers?
When it was active at Sun and Oracle, OOo wasn't distributed as a generic .tar.gz (or similr) install set, only RPM and DEB files; at least not for official releases. Can you name the complete filename for your OOo .3.3.0 install file? Do you remember from where exatly you downloaded the file, e.g., hostname, URL? Maybe it's possible to see from were the install file came. Currently it's indeed only possible to get RPM or DEB files for AOO 3.4.0. I think this won't change for the next planned release AOO 3.4.1. But maybe for future releases.
Marcus, You're right - I checked the drive with my original software downloads and it appears I installed 3.3.0 from a source distribution rather than a binary.tarball. Sorry for the mixup and thanks for setting me straight. I don't seem to have saved the procedures I used to build it, but when I get a chance I'll dig around and see if I can sort it out again for the current release. I still think a binary tarball would be a very worthwhile future addition to the downloads page, however, and hope it will happen.
I have an rpm system but the AOO rpms are (obviously) not produced for my system. The developers of the system have repeatedly advised us not to install rpms not in the system repositories. A tar ball installation (such as Firefox) would be safer for users in that situation. It could, indeed, replace all Linux versions. Instructions to add system menu selections could accompany it.
(In reply to comment #3) > I have an rpm system but the AOO rpms are (obviously) not produced for my > system. The developers of the system have repeatedly advised us not to > install rpms not in the system repositories. > > A tar ball installation (such as Firefox) would be safer for users in that > situation. It could, indeed, replace all Linux versions. Instructions to > add system menu selections could accompany it. AOO Linux binaries are rather "universal", you can install them without much trouble. Anyway, you can try rpm2cio: - untar the AOO file - in a terminal, cd to the folder with the rpm packages, and exectue the following command: for i in *.rpm; do rpm2cpio $i | cpio -idv; done This will extract all the content of the RPM packages in a folder named opt Then simply copy that folder content to /opt sudo cp -rf opt/* /opt/ You can do the same for the RPM in the folder RPMS/desktop-integration Something similar can be done for DEB based distros.
I know about cpio. My point is that a tar ball such as Mozilla uses would work for all Linux users without any special knowledge or jiggery pokery required. The Linux segment of the market is very small. The effort to produce versions for a very small segment of that very small segment seems disproportionate. Furthermore, as the OP points out, not all Linux distros use rpm or deb.