Bug 159758 - Unable to convert documents with LibreOffice AppImage
Summary: Unable to convert documents with LibreOffice AppImage
Status: RESOLVED NOTOURBUG
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.2.6.2 release
Hardware: All Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL: https://git.libreitalia.org/libreital...
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Commandline
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2024-02-18 09:05 UTC by joey.joey586
Modified: 2024-08-21 04:09 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
empty document created in LO 7.6 in safe mode (8.26 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2024-02-18 17:59 UTC, joey.joey586
Details

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Description joey.joey586 2024-02-18 09:05:00 UTC
Description:
Trying to convert documents between formats results in error message "Error: source file could not be loaded".

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Download any AppImage from appimages.libreitalia.org website
2. Run in terminal "LibreOffice.AppImage --convert-to docx *.odt"
3. Error message shown in description above will appear

Note: this error happens when converting between any format, not just odt to docx.

Actual Results:
Error message is shown, and document(s) are not converted.

Expected Results:
Document conversion should succeed with the message "convert Document.odt as a Writer document -> Document.docx using filter : MS Word 2007 XML"


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: Yes

Additional Info:
This error happens on all appimages on the appimages.libreitalia.org repo.

Extracting the appimage then running the soffice.bin binary to convert documents works however.
Comment 1 Julien Nabet 2024-02-18 13:42:53 UTC
Please upgrade a recent LO version 7.6.4. Indeed 7.2 branch is a bit old (2021/2022, see https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan/7.2)
Comment 2 joey.joey586 2024-02-18 14:12:11 UTC
(In reply to Julien Nabet from comment #1)
> Please upgrade a recent LO version 7.6.4. Indeed 7.2 branch is a bit old
> (2021/2022, see https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan/7.2)

Sorry, I should have clarified: it happens on all appimages from 7.2 to the latest (24.2).
The 7.2 I put in the bug report is the oldest version I could find where the bug happens.
Comment 3 Julien Nabet 2024-02-18 14:43:47 UTC
Ok, would it be possible you attach an example file so we can give it a try ?
Don't forget to sanitize the file if needed (see https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/Bugzilla/Sanitizing_Files_Before_Submission).
Comment 4 joey.joey586 2024-02-18 17:59:42 UTC
Created attachment 192622 [details]
empty document created in LO 7.6 in safe mode

Here is the document.
FYI, all types of documents cannot be converted, including spreadsheets (.ods), presentations (.odp), and drawings (.odg).

Doesn't matter if the documents are empty or has content; LO appimage will fail to convert any file given to it.
Comment 5 QA Administrators 2024-02-19 03:12:08 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 6 Julien Nabet 2024-02-19 07:39:05 UTC
With LO Debian package 24.2.0.3, I don't reproduce this.
I suppose it's specific to AppImage version.
Can't help here => uncc myself.
Comment 7 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-02-28 11:50:02 UTC
With the AppImage, file names have to be absolute paths instead of relative. Otherwise it will look in the directory where it is mounted.

For example, something like this would work:

LibreOffice.AppImage --convert-to docx /home/stragu/Downloads/sample.odt --outdir /home/stragu/Downloads/

Alternatively, you can use readlink. For example:

LibreOffice.AppImage --convert-to docx $(readlink -f sample.odt) --outdir $(readlink -f .)

Emiliano, is this something that could be improved on at all on https://git.libreitalia.org/libreitalia/loaih ?

(setting to "new" as the issue is reproducible, although I'm not sure what can be done and where it should be done)

Version: 24.2.0.3 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: da48488a73ddd66ea24cf16bbc4f7b9c08e9bea1
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.5; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 8 Emiliano Vavassori 2024-02-28 12:11:04 UTC
(In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #7)
> With the AppImage, file names have to be absolute paths instead of relative.
> Otherwise it will look in the directory where it is mounted.

Confirming, it seems quite standard behaviour with AppImages to me: https://github.com/AppImage/AppImageKit/issues/479

> Emiliano, is this something that could be improved on at all on
> https://git.libreitalia.org/libreitalia/loaih ?

At worst it will require a change of the toolkit inside the script; more generally, I am not sure I can deliver *at all* (my efforts until now were just porting the previous script to Python, providing a new interface and automating the builds). But of course I will look into it.

> (setting to "new" as the issue is reproducible, although I'm not sure what
> can be done and where it should be done)

I agree; generally, AppImages are to be considered a community effort, unless the ESC would decide otherwise. Unfortunately I cannot provide development or other kind of support activities for AppImages (for sure, alone).
Comment 9 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-02-29 10:57:23 UTC
OK, let's close as "not our bug" then. Thank you Emiliano!
Are you OK to open an issue on your repo, to track it and link it to this report?
Comment 10 Emiliano Vavassori 2024-02-29 14:36:41 UTC
(In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #9)
> Are you OK to open an issue on your repo, to track it and link it to this
> report?
https://git.libreitalia.org/libreitalia/loaih/issues/4

Unfortunately, the Gitea has no public access, at least for the moment - feel free to peruse this bug ID or, maybe better, contacting me in private.
Comment 11 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-02-29 14:45:03 UTC
Thank you! :)