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kc0arf 68 Posting Virtuoso

OpenOffice.Org, the creaters and maintainers of the open-sourced OpenOffice, have just released version 1.1.5 of their office software suite. The update addresses a security problem concerning a buffer overflow; there are other issues that are repaired since version 1.1.4, such as porting updates (OpenOffice was developed for Linux first, and from there ported to other OS's), document translation issues, new currency formats, and some compiling problems.

The other neat thing about OO 1.1.5 is that the software will now read in the new OpenDocument format introduced with OpenOffice 2.0 beta. Presently in Beta2, OO 2.0 greatly enhances the suite by providing more translation tools, new symbol shapes, new PDF export options (very cool!), a Mail Merge wizard, and integration enhancements to iron out "look and feel" issues with the parent OS. Under Windows, OO 2.0 looks like a Windows application; Linux users will experience a Linux feel to the program.

I am glad that OO 1.1.5 will read in OO 2.0 files, because in my home, I have seen some problems having both of the programs in my environment. My Fedora Core 4 desktop computer has OO 2.0 installed, whereas the Fedora Core 3 laptop has OO 1.1.4 installed. I had a bit of a document conversion issue... now with 1.1.5, I can use the same file formats on both machines.

OpenOffice 1.1.5 is available for the Windows and Linux platforms. On Macintosh OS X, the software is still held in beta status "release canidate", and from my scan tonight, the packages have not been updated recently to reflect the new version. Mac OS X users are stable with version 1.1.2 of the software, or running NeoOffice/J's 1.1 version, which is based on OpenOffice 1.1.4.

I use OpenOffice on Windows, on Macintosh OS X, and on Linux. The suite works very well for me, and I hope others continue to migrate over this excellent software package.

Christian

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Dani AI

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Good call, — running different builds on different machines often shows up as subtle template/macro/format mismatches. Practical, low-friction steps to keep files usable across platforms and versions:

  • Back up the user profile (templates, extensions, custom dictionaries) before upgrading one machine; this makes it easy to restore or copy settings. See the project docs for user-profile and Safe Mode recovery. (LibreOffice user profile). (wiki.documentfoundation.org)
  • For distribution: export a PDF for final delivery. For editable sharing, prefer the open standard ODF and, when edits must survive older toolchains, use the flat XML variant or save to an older ODF compatibility level. Test with copies first.
  • Keep templates/extensions in a single place and sync them between machines rather than relying on implicit profile migration. When macros are critical, document their dependencies (Java, external libs) so the other machine can match them.
  • Verify any installers or large downloads before you run them: compare SHA-256 (or the project’s provided hashes) and, where available, check the detached GPG/PGP signature. Example commands (after downloading the matching .asc or hash from the project mirror):
# compute SHA-256
sha256sum LibreOffice_*.tar.gz

# verify detached signature (after importing the project's public key)
gpg --verify LibreOffice_*.tar.gz.asc LibreOffice_*.tar.gz

Official checksum and signature procedures are documented on the project mirrors. (Apache OpenOffice checksums & signatures). (openoffice.org)

Longer-term context for readers finding this thread years later: the OpenOffice.org community later split — The Document Foundation launched LibreOffice in 2010 and it became the main, actively developed successor; Oracle moved the original codebase to the Apache incubator in 2011 (Apache OpenOffice). Choose the actively maintained path if security and modern compatibility matter. (The Document Foundation history, Apache OpenOffice news). (documentfoundation.org)

For archival and interchange, rely on the ODF standard; it’s the right choice for long-term access and cross-application portability. (OASIS OpenDocument (ODF)). (oasis-open.org)

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