[ale] just installed LibreOffice in Linux, should have been easier

[Ron Frazier]

I made a mistake when I replied to this message. I had the KVM switched 
to the wrong computer. So ... on my TAZ machine, where I installed 
LibreOffice manually with dpkg, Synaptic DOES know about LibreOffice but 
DOES NOT know about the PPA where it can get auto updates.

On my DELL machine, where I activated the PPA, it DOES NOT have 
LibreOffice installed yet.

I'll have to sort this out later. Hopefully, I can activate the PPA on 
TAZ and install LibreOffice on DELL and everything will work and auto 
update on both machines.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 03/11/2011 10:18 PM, Ron Frazier wrote:
> Hi Don,
>
> See replies in line.
>
> On 03/11/2011 09:31 PM, Don Lachlan wrote:
>    
>> On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 8:11 PM, Ron Frazier
>> <atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com>   wrote:
>>
>>      
>>> Steps to remove OpenOffice on Linux:
>>> 01) Access the software center
>>> 02) Select OpenOffice word processor and click remove.
>>> 03) Select OpenOffice spreadsheet and click remove.
>>> 04) Select OpenOffice database and click remove.
>>> 05) Select OpenOffice presentation and click remove.
>>> 06) And do the same for 1 or 2 more.
>>> 07) Access Synaptic package manager.
>>> 08) Search for openoffice.
>>> 09) Filter by installed programs only.
>>> 10) Manually select each of about a half dozen items and select complete
>>> removal and apply.
>>>
>>>        
>> What are steps 1-6 for? AFAIK, you only need to remove the package in
>> 7-10. Also, I don't think that steps 7-10 are cumbersome, especially
>> since it is a single interface to search/install/uninstall, compared
>> to three different UI on Windows. In your Windows checklist, you
>>
>>      
> I went to the software center in hopes that I could remove just one
> thing the way I did in the Windows control panel.  I found 5 or 6
> things, and proceeded to remove them.  I was hoping I was done, but went
> to Synaptic to find out.  I found still more openoffice entries, and
> removed them.  Searching for openoffice in Synaptic initially led to a
> large number of search results, and it would have been difficult to
> highlight them all and select them for removal.  Also, it's difficult to
> know if they should be removed, depending on how they are titled.
>
>    
>> skipped two install steps:
>>
>> pre-01a) Search internet for software package
>> pre-01b) Navigate to download page.
>>
>>
>>      
> True, but the same two items were required to do the Linux procedure.
>
>    
>> Larger projects are usually easy to find and navigate, but lots of them are not.
>>
>>
>>      
>>> Steps to install LibreOffice on Linux:
>>>
>>>        
>> Well, that is a cumbersome process. However, when I searched for
>> "libreoffice install", the first result was for a method to install
>> via APT (synaptic):
>>
>> http://www.ubuntugeek.com/libreoffice-gets-3-3-0-stable-version-released-ppa-installation-instructions-included.html
>>
>>
>>      
> I wish I had known this at first.  I just went to libreoffice.org and
> went to their download page and followed their instructions.  There was
> no mention of this process whatsoever.  I didn't see any need to search
> outside of the project's own site.
>
>    
>>> Also, this should have been in the Ubuntu repositories, or LibreOffice
>>> should provide a repository of their own.  As far as I know, I
>>> completely bypassed the Synaptic / Apt package manager.  So, does anyone
>>> know how I can get Synaptic / Apt to understand that his new application
>>> is there and auto update it?
>>>
>>>        
>> There does appear to be a community Ubuntu repo for LibreOffice.
>> Because of the popularity, it will probably be in the main Ubuntu
>> 11.04 repo, when that is released.
>>
>> LibreOffice may not offer a repository, but it did package it for
>> Ubuntu. From personal experience, packaging software for a dozen
>> different Linux distributions (and each of their supported versions)
>> is a MASSIVE task. If you're also expecting them to maintain an APT
>> repository for Ubuntu (and a different repo for RHEL and SLES and
>> Debian, etc.), I think that's an unfair expectation.
>>
>>
>>      
> I don't really understand the difference between a repository and a
> package.  However, I don't think point and click and go installs for the
> top 5 Linux systems, with integration to that system's package manager,
> is too much to ask.
>
>    
>> Synaptic is just a front-end to APT, which is just an interface for
>> dpkg; if you installed packages via dpkg, then Synaptic will see them.
>> To upgrade the packages, Synaptic needs to access to a repository that
>> has new packages - the link above will tell you how to add that.
>>
>>
>>      
> I did use dpkg, as described in the installation instructions.  However,
> I can find no evidence that LibreOffice is installed on my system,
> either in Synaptic, nor in Software Center.  I even tried the first two
> commands in the link you sent, to add the PPA and update the database.
> Still nothing.  At this point, I'd like to get rid of the original
> install, if possible.  and reinstall using the procedure you linked to.
> I don't know how to do that.  I could just activate the new procedure
> using APT, but then I might have two duplicate, possibly conflicting
> installs of LibreOffice.  Help!?
>    
>> I think part of the issue here is one of expectations. Most GNU/Linux
>> users install software in two ways: via their distribution's package
>> manager and via tarball. Young projects often rely on tarballs but
>> they get picked up by distributions as they mature. Right now, it's
>> new.
>>
>>
>>      
> I don't have a big problem with tarballs, kind of like a zip file.
> However, I think I should be able to extract it, click on the result,
> and the application should install and hook into the package manager for
> auto updates and easy uninstalls.
>    
>> Also, we could code a menu option for "uninstall" for each package, or
>> we could tell users "Go to your distribution's package manager and
>> remove it there". The second option saves developer time and maintains
>> a consistent UI for the user.
>>
>> -Lachlan
>>
>>
>>
>>      
> As I mentioned above, it's very hard to install or uninstall something
> like LibreOffice or Java, for example, from Synaptic.  Doing a search
> will yield many lines and you don't know what to select.  Now, I
> wouldn't want to get rid of Synaptic, since it is very useful.  However,
> for something like this, I just want to go to software center, acquaint
> it with a provider's website, if needed, click LibreOffice, and click
> install, and have it all work.  If I want to uninstall it, I just want
> to click that one app name, and click uninstall.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>    

-- 

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Ron Frazier

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