I've repeated a bug from OO writer. Now what?

users
#1

Dear Libreoffice user group,

I've accidentally (much to my annoyance) replicated this bug, that was
identified, but seemingly ignored, back in 2007:
https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=77782

To replicate, please try opening this file, and your computer should freeze
(it did on Ubuntu 11.10, 64 bit with 4GB RAM):
http://ubuntuone.com/0FJjdFAr7xs5s8YZ3zJ4q5

I'm not sure if this problem is specific to my operating system, but please
try.

The file successfully opens in Microsoft WordPad and Abiword (although it
is scrambled in the latter).
I'd like to get confirmation of this bug from the user community before
registering a bug.

Many thanks for supporting what promises to be an excellent program,

Robin

#2

Dear Libreoffice user group,

I've accidentally (much to my annoyance) replicated this bug, that was
identified, but seemingly ignored, back in 2007:
https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=77782

To replicate, please try opening this file, and your computer should freeze
(it did on Ubuntu 11.10, 64 bit with 4GB RAM):
http://ubuntuone.com/0FJjdFAr7xs5s8YZ3zJ4q5

I can repeat that LO 3.4.5 under Ubuntu 10.10 freezes during the "Loading document..." phase. top(1) shows it burning 100% CPU.

#3

Hi,

In LibreOffice 3.4.5 on Ubuntu 11.10 with 6 gigs of ram it froze LibreOffice, but not the entire computer. I was able to use a force quit to exit LibreOffice.

Don

#4

Right. When trying to close the window, GOME intervened with a "Force Quit or Wait" dialog, which allowed me to kill the process.

#5

Hi Robin

I'm not sure if the problem is with track changes. Your paper is also full
of Mendeley references and I have no idea how well LibreOffice handles
those.
Given your apparent calm (and the name of the file) I think that you have
previous versions of this Draft so I would recommend going back to one of
them (even if you loose some revisions).

Unless someone on this list knows of a fantastic trick to repair/recover an
un-openable ODT file...

I can confirm that the same problem happens under Windows XP Pro x86 SP3

Good luck with your paper :wink:

Regards,
Pedro

#6

You can try opening the file with an archive manager, the odt file is a compressed archive with an xml data file inside.

#7

Hi :slight_smile:
Yes, you can make a copy of the file and rename the file-ending of the copy from
.odt to .zip.  When you double-click on the file it should open in an "archive manager" such as WinZip, WinRar.  Any images and stuff should be in a sub-folder with a suitable name.  Most of the text is in "contents.xml".  You could just right-click on the file and "Open with ..." an archive manager but renaming the file-ending might be the easier way of doing this first few times.

If you have a fairly recent copy of the file on usb-stick, flash-drive or attached in an email or something then that might be easier to bring back up to date. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#8

Hi Jay and Tom

Tom wrote

Yes, you can make a copy of the file and rename the file-ending of the
copy from
.odt to .zip.  When you double-click on the file it should open in an
"archive manager" such as WinZip, WinRar.  Any images and stuff should be
in a sub-folder with a suitable name.  Most of the text is in
"contents.xml".  You could just right-click on the file and "Open with
..." an archive manager but renaming the file-ending might be the easier
way of doing this first few times.

You are both "preaching to the choir" :slight_smile: I have done that already. How else
would I know about the Mendeley references. But I think (hope) that the OP
is not worried about recovering the content but about learning a way to
fix/avoid this problem...

I tried some solutions I found while Googling, like this one
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1532
but it didn't solve the problem...

Anyone knows a miracle/clever trick?

#9

Hi Jay and Tom

Tom wrote

Yes, you can make a copy of the file and rename the file-ending of the
copy from
.odt to .zip. When you double-click on the file it should open in an
"archive manager" such as WinZip, WinRar. Any images and stuff should be
in a sub-folder with a suitable name. Most of the text is in
"contents.xml". You could just right-click on the file and "Open with
..." an archive manager but renaming the file-ending might be the easier
way of doing this first few times.

You are both "preaching to the choir" :slight_smile: I have done that already. How else
would I know about the Mendeley references. But I think (hope) that the OP
is not worried about recovering the content but about learning a way to
fix/avoid this problem...

AFAIK Mendeley is reference manager. It requires the installation of their software (free) available at www.mendeley.com. I have never used it but I would not be surprised that the links are looking for something that is not there

#10

Jay Lozier wrote

AFAIK Mendeley is reference manager. It requires the installation of
their software (free) available at www.mendeley.com. I have never used
it but I would not be surprised that the links are looking for something
that is not there

Yes, it is. I use it daily. That doesn't seem to be the problem either.

I ran the file through the ODF validator and it does seem to be a formatting
problem
http://odf-validator.rhcloud.com/

Regards,
Pedro