This is a good example of how to install a complex set of applications from one download.

RC-2 how install Open Office 3.0 beta step by step

[quote author=woodsmoke link=topic=4022.msg60738#msg60738 date=1210475738]

Hi

Here is how to specifically install OO beta for 3.   :beta:  I ASSUME it will work for any that follow on:

It can be installed ALONGSIDE a current, stable OO.

Dowload the tar from open office, the one with debs

http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/

Extract the tar, I put the file and extracted files in downloads.

You will see a folder and if you go into the folder you will find several layers of folders. Follow them until you get to the files with all the debs in it.

when you are in the actual folder where you can see all the debs, go to

tools

open terminal

in the terminal copy and paste this whole line:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

when you hit return you will be asked for a password, enter it and it automatically installs oo beta 3 to the "opt" folder.

My computer/root folder/opt

You will see the stable folder and after it the beta

Inside are the various components, such as "swrite"(from Star Write)  you can click them to determine that they function and you will then have to make menu items for them

I would recommend making a separate sub menu, maybe in office, so you don't mix them up.

MANY, MANY, thanks to papabear    ;D  :u   for the hint on how to find the particular lin in Ubuntu forums, I kept putting the * in quotes or typing some variant of open office!

woodsmoke

[/quote]

Starting with a Clean installation of OpenOffice

This  How-to will shed more light on the installation process. In particular : --

Clean removal of all config files

So, after this long explanation, you know some facts about the file structure of OOo on your system.

So, what happens at deinstallation time? When an administrator with write permissions to the "network installation" files starts a deinstallation, this only removes the "network installation" files. All the "user" folders of all users are still there. These folders contain the customized configuration that the users have set up, among other files like custom wordbooks, custom autotexts, and much more.

This means if there might be some problem with the user configuration, that uninstalling and reinstalling will not help at all. The user configuration gets not changed by a reinstallation. At least this is true for small upgrades from one developer snapshot to the next. There may be some changes when you install a new release version to the same network folder as the old version. But normally this would not happen, because release versions have different folder names for the "network installation" folder.

What to do? The right way to perform a clean reinstallation, deleting all existing user settings from previous versions, is as follows:

1. First, as an administrator, uninstall the "network installation" files.
2. Then delete the "user" folder from the user's home directory, as stated above. If you do not want a clean reinstallation, do not touch this user folder. You will lose all your user settings and user extensions.

   If in doubt, just rename that folder or move it to another place.

3. Then remove the "OpenOffice.org installation files" folder if it exists.
4. Now the admin can perform an installation of the new "network installation" folder, and every user can start OOo again to automatically copy the "profile" folder to the "user" folder.

After a clean install, every user must set all the personal settings again. Documents that have been saved to other folders are still there, of course.