Member Avatar for bmora96

Hello there,
This is for my friend.Is it safe to download openoffice.org onto a Mac? Any problems?
There's a Mac OSX download of openoffice but is it a good idea or a bad idea? Will it cause his Mac any problems?
Thanks in advance for any replies regarding this.
Bmora96

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Thread update and short history: this question came from March 2008, and the Mac/office landscape has changed since then — worth treating the old answers as historical context. asked whether installing an OpenOffice build on macOS was safe; and correctly focused on the install step (not the download) back then. Today the practical choice is to use an actively maintained macOS build (rather than very old X11-based ports) because of architecture changes (Apple Silicon), Gatekeeper/notarization, and ongoing security maintenance. (en.wikipedia.org)

Practical recommendation: prefer LibreOffice for macOS builds maintained by The Document Foundation; get the macOS Intel or Apple‑Silicon build directly from LibreOffice or install the cask with Homebrew (brew install --cask libreoffice) if comfortable with Homebrew. That gives you current security fixes and the correct architecture choice. (newdesign2.libreoffice.org)

Safe-install checklist (quick, applicable steps every installer should follow):

  • Download only from the official project page or Homebrew cask.
  • Verify the file integrity: run shasum -a 256 <downloaded-file> and compare with the publisher checksum.
  • Check macOS signing/notarization with spctl if Gatekeeper blocks an app.

Example commands:

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/LibreOffice.dmg
spctl -a -v /Applications/LibreOffice.app

Apple’s Gatekeeper/notarization docs explain the expected outputs and how to allow a known-safe app; checksum verification procedures are standard practice. (sigilweaver.app)

Compatibility & cleanup notes: pick the correct arch (Intel vs Apple Silicon) on the download page; older X11-era builds require XQuartz if you somehow need them, but that’s only for legacy use. LibreOffice keeps a user profile at ~/Library/Application Support/LibreOffice/4/user if you need to back up or remove settings. If Gatekeeper blocks a known-good app, use the “Open Anyway” / Control‑click → Open flow in Privacy & Security rather than lowering system-wide protections. (xquartz.org)

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Member Avatar for John A

>Is it safe to download openoffice.org onto a Mac?
Yes.

>Any problems?
A potential problem is that you might not have X11 installed, which OpenOffice requires to run. You can install this from your OS X installation CD, although I prefer simply using an Aqua port, NeoOffice instead of OpenOffice, because it uses the native OS X interface libraries, and thus doesn't require X11.

Member Avatar for linux

Can someone tell me why downloading a file would cause problems, unless it was a rootkit or something?

Member Avatar for John A

Can someone tell me why downloading a file would cause problems, unless it was a rootkit or something?

'Downloading' a file will almost never cause problems, even downloading a virus or Trojan won't do any harm if it's never opened. However, judging by the way the OP wrote the post, I presume by 'downloading' he or she meant 'downloading and installing'.

Member Avatar for bmora96

Hello there,
Thanks for the replies. you are right that i havent installed X11. Anyways i made my mistake and will do the rest. Thanks again.
Regards.
bmora96

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