Installation version chaos

users
#1

I'm running Kubuntu Linux - latest version, fully updated.

I just downloaded "LibreOffice_4.4.2_Linux_x86_deb.tar.gz" and its
associated helpfile. I removed all other *.tar.gz files from my software
download archive.

I removed my previous LO installation: sudo apt-get remove libreoffice*.*

I unpacked each *.tar.gz file and installed it from its respective "DEBS"
directory: sudo dpkg -i *.deb

I launched my supposed new LO version.

As always with a new install, I immediately check "Help > About..." to
verify the install, and I get this:

Version: 4.3.5.2
Build ID: 3a87456aaa6a95c63eea1c1b3201acedf0751bd5

Since that's the version I started with, prior to this upgrade attempt, I'm
a bit surprised.

That little "download available" icon is in the upper right corner of the
LO window, as well.

Perhaps there's a problem up in the mothership?

Tom

#2

Hi Tom,
Open a terminal and launch /opt/LibreOffice4.4./program/soffice
Watch any output on the terminal.

Oh, and don't forget to stop any "quick starter" instance of some
LibreOffice installation, particularly while running an installation. I
use to disable this useless anti-feature alltogether
(menu:Tools>Options>Memory>"Systray Quickstart").

Greetings,
Andreas Säger

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
There's a tiny "gotcha" in there that i only noticed because i have done
the same thing myself. It's the . in

sudo apt-get remove libreoffice*.*

Try again but this time without the extra * and the . before it;

sudo apt-get remove libreoffice*

Not all *nix files have a file-ending and dot. It's not like Windows!
Windows hides it's .file-endings but almost always relies on them quite
heavily. The end-result looks the same but can still trip people up. My
pet bug-bear is how to rename a .html into a .txt and such-like but my
work-around is to just avoid using Windows and that solves most such
problems!

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#4

Problem solved

#5

Hi :slight_smile:
Congrats Tom! Nicely done Andreas!

Thanks for teaching me something there too Andreas. That is the sort of
thing i joined the mailing list for = to learn about practical problems
that people who are not experts in LibreOffice (but probably do have
expertise elsewhere) could easily run into. Having a couple of generic
answers that help solve most things has been good but learning specifics is
even better. So, thanks for that :))
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#6

Getting a little off-topic, but...

Even more confusingly for Windows users, in some contexts on Windows *.* matches all files, even those without any extension at all (similarly, libreoffice*.* would match all files starting "libreoffice", even if they don't contain a dot or extension). I think that's a throwback from DOS where all files had an up-to-8-character name and up-to-3-character extension, separated by an implied dot; *.* matched files with any number of characters for name and any number of characters for extension, where "any number" includes none.

I don't like the way newer versions of Windows hide the extensions by default. Apart from the inconvenience when you want to change them, it makes it so much easier for a dodgy executable to look like a harmless text document by its icon, with no giveaway that it's got a .exe extension instead of .txt. One of the first things I do is set Explorer to show extensions so I can see and change them if necessary:
- Click Organise > Folder and Search Options
- "View" tab
- Untick "Hide extensions for known file types"
- OK
Even then, some extensions (such as .lnk on shortcuts) are "super hidden" and still aren't shown, at least without a registry hack...

Mark.

Tom Davies wrote:

#7

Hi :slight_smile:
Yeh, it looks like Tom C's "libreoffice*.* " does affect all the
libreoffice files in linux too, also including ones without a dot. I
thought i had spotted something but it didn't work in the way i'd expected
after all.

Apols and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#8

If you are using apt-get on Ubuntu (don't know about other versions of Linux) the best way to ensure that you have "removed" ALL Libreoffice information is

              sudo apt-get purge libreoffice?

Note: Use the ? mark not * and no spaces.

Hope this helps
Tony Bray