Confirmed in 3.6.2.2.

REPRODUCIBLE also on Mac OS X (10.6.8, Intel) with the reporter’s sample file and LibO 3.6.3.1, therefore changed the platform to “All”.


@ Miklós Vanja:

Hi Miklós, one for you?! ;-)

Interesting enough, I can reproduce this issue with LibO 3.5.7.1 and 3.6.0.4, but NOT with LibO 3.3.0, 3.4.0, and 3.5.0 (!). So this bug is a regression, and was probably introduced somewhere in the 3.6 development process and then backported to some 3.5.x version after 3.5.0.

Some further testing shows that this problem was *not* present until 3.5.5.3, but appears first in 3.5.6.1. I hope this will fairly limit the count of commits to check ;-)

(In reply to comment #0)
> The footnotes are encoded {{\super \chftn{\*\footnote
> The double opening brace is an error
> It should be {\super \chftn{\*\footnote

Or the other way around ;-) If you take the complete context of the footnote in 3.5.5.3 (syntax OK):

This is a normal text. Adding a footnote and saving as generates an error in the RTF}{{\super \chftn{\*\footnote \chftn\pard\plain \s26\li339\ri0\lin339\rin0\fi-339\sb0\sa0\noline\afs20\fs20\lang1033{\rtlch \ltrch\loch\rtlch \ltrch\loch
\tab Rich Text Format}
\par }}
}{\rtlch \ltrch\loch
 file.}

to the same lines in the 3.5.6.1 file (syntax error):

This is a normal text. Adding a footnote and saving as generates an error in the RTF}{{\super \chftn{\*\footnote \chftn\pard\plain \s26\li339\ri0\lin339\rin0\fi-339\sb0\sa0\noline\afs20\fs20\lang1033{\rtlch \ltrch\loch\rtlch \ltrch\loch
\tab Rich Text Format}
\par }}
{\rtlch \ltrch\loch
 file.}

you will notice that 3.5.6.1 has not *added* the superfluous second { before \super (the double {{ was already in 3.5.5.3), but rather *removed* the corresponding closing } in the line before the last line:
   }{\rtlch \ltrch\loch
   ^ this } was removed by 3.5.6.1

So one can fix the error either by removing one of the two { before \super, or by adding back the corresponding closing } at the end. Which solution is the better one, will be decided by our RTF expert ;-)

Created attachment 69052 [details]
Simple sample file for bug 55939


This bug is reproducible even with the simplest possible file containing a single footnote and only default settings for formatting etc. (see attachment, created with LibO 3.6.3.1).

Therefore this bug will probably affect *any* file containing footnotes.

Therefore this is a very important regression, and I will nominate it as a “Most annyoing bug”.

I forgot to mention the obvious: the attachment added in the previous comment is in ODF format; open it with LibreOffice > 3.5.6.1 and save it in RTF format; then try to open that new RTF file again, and you will notive the error. When you inspect the RTF file with a text editor, you will see that it shows the same problem as described in comment #0 and comment #5 (non-matching braces; either a brace too much or a missing brace).

Confirmed, the test odt from comment 6 is exported as an invalid RTF. I'll look into this.

Miklos Vajna committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=411f9007e20f8035bd2ab7bbc807c61892a5c64c

fdo#55939 fix RTF export of footnotes



The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds
Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

@ Miklós:

Thank you very very much for fixing this issue so fast!
I will verify the fix when I get a new master (daily) build ...

Fixed in master, -3-6 review: https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/913

Romain: You're welcome. :-)

Miklos Vajna committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-3-6":

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=eee2704a66075793d49a6972babe9444c3df7a87&g=libreoffice-3-6

fdo#55939 fix RTF export of footnotes


It will be available in LibreOffice 3.6.4.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds
Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

VERIFIED as FIXED: While I can still reproduce this bug on Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Intel) with the Master build
  LOdev 3.7.0.0.alpha0+ (Build ID: 370m0(Build:0);
  pull time: 2012-10-21 10:01:47)
I can no longer reproduce it with the newest Master build
  LOdev 3.7.0.0.alpha0+ (Build ID: 370m0(Build:0);
  pull time: 2012-10-27 09:48:34).

Tested both with the original reporter’s sample file (attachment 68503 [details]) and with my own minimal sample (attachment 69052 [details]). The RTF syntax of the exported RTF file is now valid again: the missing closing } after the footnote data is present, like in 3.5.5.3 and before. There are no other differences between the RTF output of the master build dated 2012-10-21 and of the one dated 2012-10-27, so there are no signs of any unwanted side-effects of the patch. The exported RTF file opens correctly again in any RTF editor.


@ Miklós:
thank you again for fixing this nasty issue!

An additional ask:

Could you please -- only in this special case! -- also request backporting of the patch to the 3.5 branch? I know that officially there are no more 3.5.x releases, but nevertheless Michael Meeks has encouraged us to backport important (and simple) fixes to the 3.5 branch; and this is actually done:
e.g., there is right now a 3.5 backporting request by Caolán:

  https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/#/c/921/

And your fix for the present bug is IMHO one of the most important candidates for backporting to 3.5.x, therefore please request it.
Thank you very much!

*** Bug 49502 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***