Bug 125718 - Regression in TDF deb packaging: from 6.2, libreoffice executable has been moved to /usr/local
Summary: Regression in TDF deb packaging: from 6.2, libreoffice executable has been mo...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
6.2.0.3 release
Hardware: All Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
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Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Dev-related
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Reported: 2019-06-05 16:08 UTC by Callegar
Modified: 2023-10-23 18:03 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

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Description Callegar 2019-06-05 16:08:08 UTC
Description:
Since LibO 6.2, LibO deb packages install the main libreoffice executable in /usr/local/bin rather than in /usr/bin as LibO 6.1.x deb packages were doing.

This is a regression and a reopening of bug 89963 that had first been introduced with the packaging of LibO 4.4 and then fixed (notwithstanding the closing of that bug as invalid).

Packages to be installed by means of the OS package manager (either provided as part of the OS distribution or externally) should not touch the local hierarchy. That is for the system administrator to deal with autonomously with no risk that any software installation/upgrade/removal done by system tools touches it at all, changing what the administrator had done in unexpected ways.  Furthermore, on some systems /usr/local will be mounted read only or mounted from the network (being shared with other hosts).

This is clarified in the debian and ubuntu policy documents. Section 9.1.2. says:

"packages must not place any files in /usr/local, either by putting them in the file system archive to be unpacked by dpkg or by manipulating them in their maintainer scripts"

and

"because /usr/local and its contents are for exclusive use of the local administrator, a package must not rely on the presence or absence of files or directories in /usr/local for normal operation"

The filesystem hierarchy standard Section 4.9 says:

"The /usr/local hierarchy is for use by the system administrator when installing software locally. It needs to be *safe from being overwritten* when the system software is updated. It may be used for programs and data that are shareable amongst a group of hosts".

Please, build policy compliant deb files, to avoid breaking systems where:
- /usr/local is readonly
- /usr/local is shared among multiple hosts and local root cannot write it
- /usr/local/bin is used to contain custom wrappers to libreoffice because of some local needs.

There should be no negative consequence of putting libreoffice6.2 in /usr/bin given that the document foundation provided LibO debs will anyway need not to be installed side-to-side or mixed-with the debian/ubununtu provided LibO debs.

The issue is also present with LibO 6.3.0 beta 1.

Steps to Reproduce:
See description

Actual Results:
See description

Expected Results:
See description


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
[Information automatically included from LibreOffice]
Locale: en-US
Module: StartModule
[Information guessed from browser]
OS: Linux (All)
OS is 64bit: yes
Comment 1 Xisco Faulí 2019-06-06 07:50:10 UTC
Since this is debian specific, I'm wondering if this should be reported to the debian bugtracker instead ?
@Rene, what is your opinion here ?
Comment 2 Rene Engelhard 2019-06-06 08:02:31 UTC
No, the debian bug tracker is not for the Deb files you ship....
Comment 3 Rene Engelhard 2019-06-06 08:08:21 UTC
Fwiw: https://packages.debian.org/experimental/arm64/libreoffice-core/filelist (or -common, &writer etc). And we don't ship a 6.2 anywhere (anymore, right now) except on https://people.debian.org/~rene/libreoffice/6.2/ ...
Comment 4 Julien Nabet 2019-06-06 08:23:09 UTC
Taking a look here:
https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=libreoffice

I see 6.2 only for Sparc64 in experimental

Sergio: what's your processor? What's Debian verison do you use? How did you get deb files?
Comment 5 Callegar 2019-06-06 11:46:56 UTC
Sorry, my fault... I meant the deb packages built by TDF for debian and ubuntu...
Comment 6 Julien Nabet 2019-06-06 19:35:38 UTC
In this case, it can be a pb with a dependency. I don't know if it can be considered as a bug.
Comment 7 Ming Hua 2019-06-06 23:22:27 UTC
I don't see how moving executables from /usr/bin/ to /usr/local/bin/ has anything to do with dependency.

Are the TDF .deb packaging details (the debian/ subdirectory under source tree) avaiable anywhere public?
Comment 8 Julien Nabet 2019-06-07 04:48:56 UTC
Can’t help here, uncc myself
Comment 9 Xisco Faulí 2019-10-21 12:22:02 UTC
Hello Sergio Callegari,
Could you please try to reproduce it with the latest version of LibreOffice
from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/ ?
I have set the bug's status to 'NEEDINFO'. Please change it back to
'UNCONFIRMED' if the bug is still present in the latest version.
Comment 10 QA Administrators 2020-04-19 03:37:06 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 11 QA Administrators 2020-05-20 03:41:40 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 12 Callegar 2020-05-20 09:00:06 UTC
Sorry for missing a notification that action was required on my side.

The issue is still present in fresh (LibO 6.4.4.1).
Comment 13 QA Administrators 2022-05-21 03:39:42 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 14 Callegar 2022-05-21 08:18:17 UTC
Issue still present in 7.3.2