How to install Apache OpenOffice 4.1.11 in Fedora 35

In this guide, we are going to install Apache OpenOffice – a free alternative for Office productivity tools – in Fedora Workstation.

Apache OpenOffice is an open-source office productivity software suite containing word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, formula editor, and database management applications. OpenOffice is available in many languages, works on all common computers, stores data in ODF – the international open standard format – and is able to read and write files in other formats, included the format used by the most common office suite packages. OpenOffice is also able to export files in PDF format. OpenOffice has supported extensions, in a similar manner to Mozilla Firefox, making easy to add new functionality to an existing OpenOffice installation.

Prerequisites

Updated Fedora Workstation
Root access on the workstation or user with sudo access
Internet access from the workstation

Table of Content

Ensuring that Java is installed
Installing Apache OpenOffice
Starting Apache OpenOffice

1. Ensuring that Java is installed

Java is required for Apache OpenOffice. Ensure that Java is installed using this command:

sudo dnf install -y java-latest-openjdk

Check Java version:

$ java -version
openjdk version "11.0.12" 2021-07-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11.0.12+7)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11.0.12+7, mixed mode, sharing)

Installing Apache OpenOffice

Before installing, check to see if LibreOffice has re-routed the OpenOffice binary.
Type whereis soffice from a console.

If this is symlinked to libreoffice, remove the symlink.

sudo rm <meta charset="utf-8">/usr/bin/soffice

This will NOT remove LibreOffice, this will only disallow LibreOffice to redirect the normal OpenOffice binary — typically /usr/bin/soffice — to libreoffice instead.

If you have an older version of OpenOffice, please delete it entirely before this install.

sudo dnf erase -y openoffice*

To get Openoffice, head to the downloads page here and download the appropriate file for your OS. If you prefer the

If you prefer the terminal, download OpenOffice using this command:

$ curl -LO -C - https://liquidtelecom.dl.sourceforge.net/project/openofficeorg.mirror/4.1.11/binaries/en-US/Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.11_Linux_x86-64_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  161M  100  161M    0     0   723k      0  0:03:48  0:03:48 --:--:--  920k

Confirm the downloaded package name:

$ ls
Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.11_Linux_x86-64_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz

Then extract it and change to the directory.

This will create an installation directory. The name of the installation directory will be the language abbreviation for the install set, e.g., en-US.

tar -xzvf Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.11_Linux_x86-64_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz
cd en-US/

Change into the RPMS subdirectory of the installation directory.
You should see a lot of rpms here and one sub-directory called desktop-integration.
Install this new version by typing rpm -Uvih *rpm. By default, this will install Apache OpenOffice in your /opt directory.

$ cd RPMS/
$ sudo rpm -Uvih *rpm

Verifying...                          ################################# [100%]
Preparing...                          ################################# [100%]
Updating / installing...
   1:openoffice-ure-4.1.11-9808       ################################# [  2%]
   2:openoffice-core01-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [  5%]
   3:openoffice-en-US-4.1.11-9808     ################################# [  7%]
   4:openoffice-impress-4.1.11-9808   ################################# [ 10%]
   5:openoffice-en-US-base-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 12%]
   6:openoffice-en-US-calc-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 15%]
   7:openoffice-en-US-draw-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 17%]
   8:openoffice-en-US-help-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 20%]
   9:openoffice-en-US-impress-4.1.11-9################################# [ 22%]
  10:openoffice-en-US-math-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 24%]
  11:openoffice-en-US-res-4.1.11-9808 ################################# [ 27%]
  12:openoffice-en-US-writer-4.1.11-98################################# [ 29%]
  13:openoffice-base-4.1.11-9808      ################################# [ 32%]
  14:openoffice-calc-4.1.11-9808      ################################# [ 34%]
  15:openoffice-core02-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 37%]
  16:openoffice-core03-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 39%]
  17:openoffice-core04-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 41%]
  18:openoffice-core05-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 44%]
  19:openoffice-core06-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 46%]
  20:openoffice-core07-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 49%]
  21:openoffice-draw-4.1.11-9808      ################################# [ 51%]
  22:openoffice-images-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 54%]
  23:openoffice-4.1.11-9808           ################################# [ 56%]
  24:openoffice-math-4.1.11-9808      ################################# [ 59%]
  25:openoffice-writer-4.1.11-9808    ################################# [ 61%]
  26:openoffice-brand-writer-4.1.11-98################################# [ 63%]
  27:openoffice-brand-math-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 66%]
  28:openoffice-brand-base-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 68%]
  29:openoffice-brand-calc-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 71%]
  30:openoffice-brand-draw-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 73%]
  31:openoffice-brand-en-US-4.1.11-980################################# [ 76%]
  32:openoffice-brand-impress-4.1.11-9################################# [ 78%]
  33:openoffice-ogltrans-4.1.11-9808  ################################# [ 80%]
  34:openoffice-gnome-integration-4.1.################################# [ 83%]
  35:openoffice-graphicfilter-4.1.11-9################################# [ 85%]
  36:openoffice-javafilter-4.1.11-9808################################# [ 88%]
  37:openoffice-onlineupdate-4.1.11-98################################# [ 90%]
  38:openoffice-ooofonts-4.1.11-9808  ################################# [ 93%]
  39:openoffice-ooolinguistic-4.1.11-9################################# [ 95%]
  40:openoffice-pyuno-4.1.11-9808     ################################# [ 98%]
  41:openoffice-xsltfilter-4.1.11-9808################################# [100%]

Alternatively, you can use a GUI package installer, reference the installation directory, and install all rpms at the top level. This may also aid you in determing any dependency problems if they exist.

Nexyt, install the desktop integration features for your setup.
Change to desktop-integration (in the installation directory) and install an appropriate desktop interface using RPM.

$ cd desktop-integration
$ sudo dnf install -y ./openoffice4.1.11-redhat-menus-4.1.11-9808.noarch.rpm

Starting Apache OpenOffice

Finally, start up Apache OpenOffice 4.x.x to insure it’s working.

This is OpenOffice landing page:

Checkout

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