Libreoffice startup center shortcut broken

[Javier Alcazar]

[SRU justification]

[Impact]
Directly impacts visibility/discoverability of LibreOffice

[Test Case]
/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xdg/startcenter.desktop should not be a symlink (see comment 4)

[Regression Potential]
restricted, relevant patches are currently:
- on all the 1:4.3.4-0ubuntu1~${distrel}1 packages in the libreoffice PPA (vivid, utopic, trusty, precise): https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+packages
- same for the 4.3 PPA at https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/ubuntu/libreoffice-4-3/+packages
- no regressions reported

[Other Info]
This seems to be related with https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libreoffice/+bug/1200277 that was already fixed, but the libreoffice startup center shortcut remains broken. You can fix it making /usr/lib/libreoffice/share/xdg/startcenter.desktop a file, not a symlink (see comment 4).

Please include the fix in https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/ppa for Precise 12.04.

This was reproduced under Libreoffice 4.3 for Precise using this ppa https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/ppa

Thanks in advance

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

Is this bug reproducible on LibreOffice 4.3 on Ubuntu 14.10 (utopic)? If so, I could apply a fix for it there, and when Rico (https://launchpad.net/~ricotz) updates the backports to Trusty/Precise, it will be fixed there too. If this is precise-only, we would need to speak to Rico if he wants to add the patch for precise only.

[Dariusz Gadomski (dgadomski)]

Here are my observations after looking into this issue:

* Using the version 4.3 available in the ppa the symlinks are created correctly (they point to correct launchers in /usr/share/applications)
* However, for Unity to launch them from the desktop they are required to be executable (which is not the case for any of the launchers - not only the libreoffice ones) - otherwise they are reported as being untrusted and refused to be launched.
* The 'untrusted check' cannot be disabled in Unity for precise.
* There are two workarounds possible:
 a) adding the +x permissions to the launchers in /usr/share/applications
 b) copying (not symlinking) the launchers in question to the user's Desktop directory and making them executable there.

Most probably this is a won't fix.

[Dariusz Gadomski (dgadomski)]

Things look a little different when using gnome fallback session:

1. For applications that have shortcuts in /usr/share/applications drag'n'dropping creates a *copy* of the launcher on the desktop. The copy has a default access rights of 755 which allow execution.
2. For libreoffice-startcenter.desktop a symbolic link is created on the desktop instead (probably because /usr/share/applications/libreoffice-startcenter.desktop is a symbolic link itself).

So as a workaround the user may either:
1. sudo chmod +x /usr/share/applications/libreoffice-startcenter.desktop, or
2. cp /usr/share/applications/libreoffice-startcenter.desktop ~/Desktop

A proper solution could consist of substituting the /usr/share/applications/libreoffice-startcenter.desktop symlink with a copy (similarly like it already happens for the individual libreoffice apps - writer, calc etc.).

[Dariusz Gadomski (dgadomski)]

This fixes the issue for utopic.

Bjoern: would debdiffs for trusty and precise be of any use to you? Or will the backporting be done in another way?

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "utopic_libreoffice_4.3.3-0ubuntu2.debdiff" seems to be a debdiff. The ubuntu-sponsors team has been subscribed to the bug report so that they can review and hopefully sponsor the debdiff. If the attachment isn't a patch, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are member of the ~ubuntu-sponsors, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issue please contact him.]

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

Debdiff applied locally, thanks alot. I will follow up when this build successfully.

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

Patch makes this FTBFS:
https://launchpadlibrarian.net/190409024/buildlog_ubuntu-utopic-i386.libreoffice_1%3A4.3.4~rc1-0ubuntu1_FAILEDTOBUILD.txt.gz

[Dariusz Gadomski (dgadomski)]

Sorry about the previous patch Björn.

Please find a fixed version for Utopic attached.

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

@Dariusz: Sorry, I already tweaked your first patch on my own, so ignoring your updated patch for now (seems we both fixed it in the same way though) ...

The package is in:
 https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/ubuntu/libreoffice-4-3/+packages

And I would be happy to hear about if this fixing your issue.

[Dariusz Gadomski (dgadomski)]

Thank you Björn, I will ask the user to give it a try.

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

@Dariusz: Any feedback?

[Dariusz Gadomski (dgadomski)]

@Björn: my tests show that it fixes the issue, however I still did not get any feedback from the reporter.

[Björn Michaelsen (bjoern-michaelsen)]

@Dariusz: Any update?

Package is in the utopic queue https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/utopic/+queue?queue_state=1&queue_text=libreoffice as libreoffice- 1:4.3.4-0ubuntu1, upstream and ppa already moved along to 4.3.5, but this issue shows up at http://reqorts.qa.ubuntu.com/reports/sponsoring/ still, thus trying to unsubscribe ubuntu-sponsors as discussed on IRC with seb128. However, failed to do so (missing permissions to remove ubuntu-sponsors?)

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Björn, unsubscribed them for you!

[Dariusz Gadomski (dgadomski)]

Hey Björn. Please treat this as fixed, there was no feedback from the users so most probably it was working for them as it was for me in my tests.

Thanks!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package libreoffice - 1:4.4.0~rc2-0ubuntu2

---------------
libreoffice (1:4.4.0~rc2-0ubuntu2) vivid; urgency=medium

  * temporary remove arm64 and ppc64el for first 4.4 upload
 -- Bjoern Michaelsen <email address hidden> Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:45:15 +0100

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package libreoffice - 1:4.3.7~rc2-0ubuntu1

---------------
libreoffice (1:4.3.7~rc2-0ubuntu1) utopic-security; urgency=medium

  * new upstream rc
 -- Bjoern Michaelsen <email address hidden> Tue, 21 Apr 2015 09:41:13 +0100