Base freezes on startup

[Andy Choens]

Binary package hint: openoffice.org-base

I am running a fully updated Gutsy.

When I start OpenOffice.org Base to build a new database, Base just freezes. This happens if Base is started from the command-line/menu AND when OpenOffice.org is already running.

But, if I open an existing .odb file, everything works as I would expect. Things only freeze when I try to start something new.

I tried to get something out of strace, but I can't get anything into the text file . . . I think because I have to kill the process myself. If someone can tell me how to get some useful output to send in, I'll do it.

I have tried obvious things like deleting my .openoffice.org2/ folder, but it doesn't make any difference. I also tried reinstalling openoffice.org 2.3 but it hasn't helped.

This was working fine just a week or two before Gutsy went gold, so it may have been the end result of something that happened towards the end of the process.

[Andy Choens (andy-choens)]

Tonight I tried using an existing database file (.odb) as a "template" for a project I need to work on from home. OpenOffice.org Base opens the .odb file and lets me rename/delete existing tables and queries, but when I try to design a new table, it freezes up as soon as I start typing to name my first field. Quite literally, it freezes up on the letter f every time.

I have tried to open and use other .odb files and get equally flaky behavior. I sent a couple of these same files to my work computer which runs Base 2.3 on Windows and they work just fine.

The problem is definitely specific to OOo on Ubuntu. The files are not corrupted.

[Andy Choens (andy-choens)]

Resolved

The bug was actually in the theme I was using. Two weeks ago I started using the Resilience GTK theme. I changed my GTK theme back to Clearlooks and all of my OOo problems went away. FireFox seems more stable too.

I'm going to go file a bug against Resilience.

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 131526, so it is being marked as such. A patch for this has been provided already and an update may be available shortly. The current best workaround seems to be using another Gnome theme, e.g. "Human".
Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.