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

[Ron Frazier]

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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