The bootstraprc/bootstrap.ini configuration variables

users
#1

For "Installing several versions of LibreOffice in parallel" <https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel>, the wiki discusses editing bootstraprc (Linux) or bootstrap.ini (Windows), changing the "UserInstallation" variable using configuration variables $SYSUSERCONFIG and $ORIGIN.

The implication of the discussion seems to be that these variables are part of a configuration language that is familiar to the reader. But it's not familiar to me, and I'm having trouble to find the documentation (probably because my terminology is imprecise). Can someone point me in the right direction?

#2

Hi John,

For "Installing several versions of LibreOffice in parallel" <https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel>, the wiki discusses editing bootstraprc (Linux) or bootstrap.ini (Windows), changing the "UserInstallation" variable using configuration variables $SYSUSERCONFIG and $ORIGIN.

The implication of the discussion seems to be that these variables are part of a configuration language that is familiar to the reader.  But it's not familiar to me, and I'm having trouble to find the documentation (probably because my terminology is imprecise). Can someone point me in the right direction?

A quick search gives me
https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/WritingUNO/Bootstrapping_a_Service_Manager
https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Bootstraprc

Kind regards
Regina

#3

I think that there is an easier way to install several versions of LibreOffice in parallel, perhaps not in Windows or Mac. Presently I have the installation files in /opt/: 6.2, 6.3, 6.3.4. and 6.4. I can run all four at the same time if I so desire.

How did I do this? all but 6.3.4 were installed normally with one exception: I changed the last line in bootstraprc using a text editor as an administrator.

UserInstallation=$SYSUSERCONFIG/libreoffice/4 became UserInstallation=$SYSUSERCONFIG/libreoffice/6.3 for LibreOffice 6.3. Obviously the end of this line for each of the other versions was 6.2, or 6.4 respectively. When a particular version was first started, the configuration folder is created as a subfolder of /home/.config/

For version 6.3.4, this was more involved. First I followed the link that you have mentioned to install this version in parallel within the folder containing the installation files. (LibreOffice_6.3.4.1_Linux_x86-64_deb/DEBS/Install. This created as a subfolder libreoffice6.3/ which is its installation folder. Then I also followed the same instructions to install the help files for this version in parallel. Next I moved the help folder to the libreoffice6.3 installation folder (/home/username/.config/libreoffice/) which made the help files available to this parallel version of 6.3.4 when it is run.

Next to the last step: Modify the bootstraprc last line to

UserInstallation=$SYSUSERCONFIG/libreoffice/4 became UserInstallation=$SYSUSERCONFIG/libreoffice/Direct. (I wanted to use this particular version to connect to MySQL using the direct connection. Other versions are either using either connecting to MySQL using JAVA or connecting to HSQLDB 2.5.0.)

Last step: As administrator, I moved the libreoffice6.3 folder that I had created to the /opt/ folder.

There may well be something listed here that could be used for Windows or Mac, I do not know.

Dan

#4

Hi Regina,

For "Installing several versions of LibreOffice in parallel" <https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel>, the wiki discusses editing bootstraprc (Linux) or bootstrap.ini (Windows), changing the "UserInstallation" variable using configuration variables $SYSUSERCONFIG and $ORIGIN.

The implication of the discussion seems to be that these variables are part of a configuration language that is familiar to the reader.  But it's not familiar to me, and I'm having trouble to find the documentation (probably because my terminology is imprecise). Can someone point me in the right direction?

A quick search gives me
https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/WritingUNO/Bootstrapping_a_Service_Manager
https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Bootstraprc

Thank you! - taken together, a perfect introduction to the topic. As I failed so miserably, in the spirit of teaching me how to fish, can you tell me the terms of your "quick search"?

John

#5

Dan, that is really elegant, and gives me a completely different way to think about the configuration issues. Regina has pointed me to info on the original approach, and each of these approaches helps to illuminate the other. For that I'm grateful.

Best regards,
John

#6

Hi John,

Thank you! - taken together, a perfect introduction to the topic. As I failed so miserably, in the spirit of teaching me how to fish, can you tell me the terms of your "quick search"?

I don't remember the exact ways, but one was with the variable names you have mentioned
   $ORIGIN $SYSUSERCONFIG

Because I know, that it is somewhere in the OpenOffice-Wiki, this one will work too
   $ORIGIN site:wiki.openoffice.org

I search using Google.

Kind regards
Regina

#7

A graphical way to install multiple versions of libreoffice on windows is
Separate Install GUI. It can be downloaded from:
http://tdf.io/siguiexe
Its documentation can be found at:-
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/si-gui/help/en.html
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/SI-GUI

Hope that it helps.
Pulkit Krishna

#8

Hi Regina,

... in the spirit of teaching me how to fish, can you tell me the terms of your "quick search"?

I don't remember the exact ways, but one was with the variable names you have mentioned
  $ORIGIN $SYSUSERCONFIG

Because I know, that it is somewhere in the OpenOffice-Wiki, this one will work too
  $ORIGIN site:wiki.openoffice.org

Ah! - OO is a nice hook. [I recall you were an important contributor to OO as well as LO.]

I search using Google.

DuckDuckGo in my case, but the problem was the searcher, not the search engine.

Thanks again, and best regards,
John

#9

Thanks. But (a) it's only for Windows (though that is important) and (b) developer Florian Reisinger has not looked at it for a while and a couple of links were broken. He was very responsive to email inquiries and fixed one link quickly, but the other one for SI-GUI support at nabble will not be so easy to replace.

Still, I want to use SI-GUI for Windows, if only to help others whom I'm introducing to LO. Meanwhile, though, I wanted to understand what what is needed for parallel installations, and the bootstrap variables were important to understand. It was worth pursuing this question just to get (from one of Regina's links) the following table:

  Bootstrap variable Meaning
  $SYSUSERHOME Path of the user's home directory (see osl_getHomeDir())
  $SYSBINDIR Path to the directory of the current executable.
  $ORIGIN Path to the directory of the ini/rc file.
  $SYSUSERCONFIG Path to the directory where the user's configuration data is stored (see osl_getConfigDir())

I appreciate your reply.
Kind regards,
John