OpenOffice 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10

OpenOffice 3.0 is not released with Ubuntu 8.10. I downloaded OOo300 (.deb) from the OpenOffice web site, unpacked them and tried to install it.

Using the update shell script did not work

Installing all .debs packages manually is possible but tedious. One also risks that aptitude or apt-get does not see the installation. Certainly, old packages are not removed. This page describes the procedure. Not recommended.

Using dpkg-scanpackages to create a Packages.gz is a possibility. However, this requires to install from a local drive which produces errors. Not nice, but works.

The Fast lane

The following procedings seems the fastes and most secure way to install OpenOffice 3.0 and maintaining the upgradability on the fly:

1. Launch Synaptic Package Manager
2. Select Settings/Repositories (this will start the Software Sources control panel)
3. Add the following line to the Third party software repositories:
   

   deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main

4. Close the dialog and confirm that the list of repositories will be reloaded
5. Choose Mark All Upgrades
6. Apply changes.

This will upgrade your OpenOffice 2.4.1 to 3.0. It will also migrate your settings (some things are reset though, like the year offsetting digit replacement).

Warning!
I have tested this on Ubuntu 8.10 32bit and it works. On 8.04.1 64bit it seems that not all programs are available as packages (e.g. Draw and Impress are missing). I turns out, this is due to missing libraries.