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user628388
Asked: 2024-05-07 09:44:05 +0800 CST

How would the version of libreoffice in 24.04 be rolled back to a previous version

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The version of libreoffice included in 24.04 is based on a version at or above 7.5.0.0. As of that version a bug, or regression, LO bug 154975 (https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=154975) was introduced. As a result, LO print requests to large format printers, such as my Canon iX6820 cannot be printed with portrait orientation to standard 8.5x11 paper.

Using a tar ball from documentfoundation.org for a release prior to 7.5.0.0, how would the downgrade be accomplished system wide? The tar ball of version 7.4.7.2, the last prior to the bug, consists of 42 .deb files.

libreoffice

3 Answers

  1. The basic theory works like this:

    1. Use apt to list the LibreOffice that you currently have installed
    2. Use the list to diagram the dependencies among the LibreOffice packages. The LibreOffice package is on top. It depends on a layer of other packages. Chart those layers.
    3. Use apt to remove all of the newer LibreOffice packages.
    4. Use dpkg to install the bottom layer of dependencies, then intermediate layers, and finally the top layer. A shortcut is to use dpkg to install ALL packages in a directory (dpkg -i *) and let dpkg figure out the order, but that method has risks.

    Reading your output is critical.
    You may encounter dependency errors that you must solve.

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  2. Instead of installing so many deb files that may have dependency issues, use Flatpak!

    First, install flatpak.

    sudo apt install flatpak

    Setup flathub

    flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

    Then, list the available versions.

    flatpak remote-info --log flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOffice

    Verify that version 7.4.5.1 belongs to commit a80b2a616462fc2f3594b0013f6774865e99e3194c2b0397fbc7889c8b56ba83

    Now first install libreoffice with flatpak and then install the specific version.

    Run the following commands.

    flatpak install org.libreoffice.LibreOffice
sudo flatpak update --commit=a80b2a616462fc2f3594b0013f6774865e99e3194c2b0397fbc7889c8b56ba83 org.libreoffice.LibreOffice

    The second command requires sudo because you are trying to install a specific commit.

    For Libreoffice 7.3.5.2, use

    sudo flatpak update --commit=25271a241210447920e29b31b37ba5ea6fd35b7bb3c498e7988c8e58e6397081 org.libreoffice.LibreOffice```
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  3. Best Answer

    The Document Foundation keeps previous versions as tar balls which expand greatly. Upon expanding the tar ball, notice the directory structure created begins with two directories, readmes and DEBS. The readmes contain explanatory information which can be summarized as

    1. Change directory to the "DEBS" directory
    2. Issue the command sudo dpkg -i *.deb
      This results in libreoffice being installed in a sub-directory within /opt

    The version of libreoffice present in Xubuntu 24.04 has two symbolic links in /usr/bin. They are libreoffice and soffice. Both point to /usr/lib/libreoffice/program/soffice. Set aside the current symbolic links then create new ones that reference a similar place in /opt. For me, this was /opt/libreoffice7.3/program/soffice.

    If someday, it is necessary to revert to the version that came with xubuntu 24.04, simply put those two original symbolic links back with their original names.

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