StarOffice 3.1 Mini-HOWTO: Installation of StarOffice

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## 3. Installation of `StarOffice`

Installation of StarOffice consists of:

- Untarring the distribution files as root in `/usr/local`
- running the `setup` program as a user
- sourcing the `.sd.sh` or `.sd.csh`
- reading section 3.5!!! (do this)

## 3.1 Libc Issues and Fixes

StarOffice is linked with `libc 5.4.4`.

StarOffice 3.1 *will* work on `Libc 5.3.x`. Unfortunately, the setup program requires 5.4.4 or higher. If you have `libc 5.3.x`, you might be able to get around this by acquiring a copy of `libc 5.4.4+` and adding it to your LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable before executing the `setup` script. I haven't tried this, however, so you're on your own.

If you attempt to run the `setup` script on a libc older than 5.4.4, you will get the following error message:

> `line 1: Syntax error at token 'I' expected declarator; i.e. File ...`

To upgrade your libc, FTP to `sunsite.unc.edu` and look in the directory `/pub/Linux/GCC` for the file `libc-5.4.33.bin.tar.gz` (or whatever the latest libc is). Extract the contents of this file in a temporary directory. A new lib/ directory will be created. Su to root and copy the file `libc.so.5.4.33` from this directory to your /lib directory. Now, make the symlink from `libc.so.5` to `libc.5.4.33` with the command:

> `ln -sf /lib/libc.so.5.4.33 /lib/libc.so.5`

then run the `ldconfig` command.

Dr. Romano Giannetti `( romano@iet.unipi.it )` says:

> ...I want only to add that I could install (like you suggested) StarWriter in a redhat 4.2 system which has a libc5.3, without doing the upgrade.

> The exact steps are:

> 1. get a libc.so.5.4.x. If you have a redhat rpm package (as the one you find in the contrib directory), you can extract the library by going in a scratch directory and doing: `rpm2cpio libc.so.5.4.x-y.rpm | cpio --extract --make-directories` The library will appear in ./lib subdirectory

> 2. move libc.so.5.4.x in your home directory. Then (assuming a sh-like shell): `ln -s libc.so.5.4.x libc.so.5` `export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME:/lib:/usr/lib`

> 3. Now you can run setup.

## 3.2 Installing the tar Files

After downloading StarOffice, su or login as root and place the archives in `/usr/local/`. Change directory to `/usr/local/` and extract the files. An example command to decompress a gzipped tar file would be:

> `tar -xzvf filename.tar`

Older systems may require you first use the `gzip -d` command to unzip the file, then use the `tar -xvf` command to untar it.

The files will extract to their locations within the newly created `usr/local/StarOffice-3.1` tree.

## 3.3 Setup und Configuration

After you have extracted the StarOffice files as root, you will need to login with your userid. Change directory to `/usr/local/StarOffice-3.1` and execute the `setup` program. This program will install non-shared files and symlinks needed for each individual user. The standard installation is recommended. There *could* be problems if you do not accept the default installation path.

StarOffice makes use of environment variables. The files `.sd.sh` (formatted for the Bourne Shell) and `.sd.csh` (formatted for the C Shell) provide the environment variable settings for StarOffice. These files are located in your home directory.

If you use `bash`, edit your `.bashrc` and add the line:

> `source /.sd.sh`

After doing this, restart `bash` to bring the environment variables into effect.

If you use a different shell, consult that shell's man page for information on sourcing a file.

## 3.4 COL (Caldera OpenLinux) setup bug

Phil Reardon (`pcr@busprod.com` ) says:

> " I found a bug in the setup script for StarOffice that came with my Caldera COL standard release. It produces // in a path where there should only be one /. To fix it, remove the first slash from this line:

> > `exec ${pfad:='.'}/linux-x86/bin/$name;;`

> There should be no / before linux-x86."

## 3.5 Fixing the LANG variable problem

The `.sd.sh` and `.sd.csh` files set the LANG variable. This causes problems with perl and man. Man will give the error message

> " Failed to open the message catalog man on the path NLSPATH="

Perl will give the error message

> " warning: setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "")..."

The `.sd.sh` file contains a line that sets LANG=us and another that exports a bunch of variables, including LANG. Remove the LANG=us line and remove LANG from the list of variables, and this will be fixed.

In the `.sd.csh` file (which is formatted for the c shell), you need to remove the line that says "setenv LANG us".

Thanks to Adam L. Klein (`alklein@adelphia.net`) for informing me of this fix.

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