OpenOffice Calc freezes and causes 100% CPU when selecting certain cell

[Andy D.]

Binary package hint: openoffice.org-calc

First some info:

1.) lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.04
Release: 8.04

2)sudo apt-cache policy openoffice.org-calc

openoffice.org-calc:
  Installed: 1:2.4.1-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1:2.4.1-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 1:2.4.1-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1:2.4.0-3ubuntu6 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

Now, onto the problem. Please see the attached file and follow along to see if you can replicate the problem on your setup. I can do it every time if I follow these steps:
1.) Open the attached file.
2.) Copy cell C6 to cell F6.
2.) Click on cell F6.
3.) In the formula bar, highlight the "E6" in the formula from left to right.
4.) Click on cell B6, to replace "E6" with "B6".
5.) Press the "Enter" key

at this point, on my computer, open office calc becomes unresponsive, and the process 'soffice.bin' takes all available CPU cycles. The only thing to do at this point is to kill the offending process.

[Andy D. (0-launchpad-20-andromodon-spamgourmet-com)]

This is usually useful as well:
uname -a:
Linux pierre 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Wed Jun 18 14:43:41 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

P.S. I think the problem is related to editing after copying and pasting. I've since run into the bug several times with the same document, but other cells when I copy and paste, edit the pasted cell and press enter.

[isenguard (lyndon)]

Confirmed for the attached spreadsheet, but I was unable to reproduce in a new spreadsheet.

[Andy D. (0-launchpad-20-andromodon-spamgourmet-com)]

In case it helps, that file's history is pretty straightforward (i.e. It wasn't downloaded, converted from another version, or imported from excel). I started it from a blank sheet it in the same version of open office a couple hours before running into the problem. Nothing unusual was done to it, really.

[Chris Cheney (ccheney)]

Do you still have this problem on 1:2.4.1-1ubuntu2? I tried to reproduce the problem with the new version and was unable to.

Thanks,

Chris

[Andy D. (0-launchpad-20-andromodon-spamgourmet-com)]

I just upgraded to 1:2.4.1-1ubuntu2 and followed the steps in the first posting exactly. The first time I tried it (slowly), the program didn't freeze. When I do it faster, however, the program does freeze. I suspect, Chris, that you were deliberately and slowly going through the steps. Try doing it quickly. There may be a timing issue in this bug.

In summary, version 1:2.4.1-1ubuntu2 seems to be affected.

[Noam (noam-halevy)]

Same here. I also run into this in my own spreadsheet.
After some debug I suspect the problem is due to the paste-edit sequence.
If , after pasting, I immidiatly edit the cell (pressing F2), the problem occur on both smaple spreadsheet and my own.

If, after pasting, I select another cell and then go back to the F6 cell and edit it, all is well.

Very annoying bug, BTW.

Thanks,
    Noam.

[Noam (noam-halevy)]

I checked further and it seems that if you unmerge the cells in row 1 and 5 , the problem goes away.
What does row 1 and 5 has to do with cells in row 6? I can't say.

I do remember that OO has many problems with cell merging in both Calc and Writer.
I guess they did not fix all of them in 2.4.

Does anyone know if this bug report is being propogated to the openoffice developers ?

[Chris Cheney (ccheney)]

Do you still have this problem with openoffice.org 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2 in Ubuntu 8.10?

[Noam (noam-halevy)]

Hi,

you mean 8.04 ? Yes, I still have this problem. I did not have a
chance to test it on OO3 yet.
Will try later this week.

2008/10/21 Chris Cheney <email address hidden>:
> Do you still have this problem with openoffice.org 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2 in
> Ubuntu 8.10?
>
> ** Changed in: openoffice.org (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
> --
> OpenOffice Calc freezes and causes 100% CPU when selecting certain cell
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/243851
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Chris Cheney (ccheney)]

No I mean 8.10 which is why I said that... you can get a test cd here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

[Chris Cheney (ccheney)]

The release candidate for 8.10 will also be released later this week on or around Thursday Oct 23.

[Noam (noam-halevy)]

I just checked it with OO-3 on ubuntu 8.04 and the bug seams to be fixed.

[Henning Sprang (henning)]

same issue here with Hardy and OOO 2.4.1 - and especially one specific document.

After reading this, I tried to remove a merged cell in the document - I'll check if the problem goes away with this.

What I don't understand is how I would use OOO 3 on Hardy. I see only 2 being available.