Calc freeze when I try to export ods to xlm 2003 format

[J-Paul BERARD]

I have a file saved in ODS format (only 12 sheets with about 60 lines and 20 rows, a planning for a staff)
This file was an Excel 2013 file with macro that I opened and modified in LO Calc 7.0.2.2

If I save it in Excel2007-365 with macro format, it works
If I export to Excel 2003 xlm format, Calc freezes and once, the system froze !

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
Package: libreoffice (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-26.27-generic 5.8.14
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-26-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu50
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Nov 2 14:46:51 2020
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-04-10 (206 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Beta amd64 (20200402)
SourcePackage: libreoffice
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to groovy on 2020-10-24 (8 days ago)

[Heather Ellsworth (hellsworth)]

Thank you for reporting your bug to help make Ubuntu better!

In the bug description, the auto filled out part says that libreoffice is not installed. So do you have the libreoffice snap installed?

[J-Paul BERARD (arverne)]

Thanks for your answer.
Not at all : LibreOffice is installed by a conventional manner, not like a snap.
It is the package provided by an usual Ubuntu installation (probably 18.04 upgraded until 20.10)

Strange !
But I can tell you that nowadays, if I look for LibreOffice app, I can find Writer, Calc, etc but I can't find anymore the LibreOffice app which allowed the user to choose what he wanted to do in a general window.

And if I try "sudo apt install libreoffice", the terminal give me 21 extra packages : fonts and the next ones :

libbsh-java libcommons-logging-java libpq5 libreoffice-nlpsolver
  libreoffice-report-builder libreoffice-report-builder-bin
  libreoffice-script-provider-bsh libreoffice-script-provider-js
  libreoffice-script-provider-python libreoffice-sdbc-mysql
  libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql libreoffice-wiki-publisher
Paquets suggérés :
  libavalon-framework-java libcommons-logging-java-doc
  libexcalibur-logkit-java liblog4j1.2-java gpa libreoffice-grammarcheck
  libreoffice-librelogo myspell-dictionary openclipart2-libreoffice
  | openclipart-libreoffice pstoedit unixodbc gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad
  libofficebean-java default-mysql-server | virtual-mysql-server postgresql
  mediawiki

[Heather Ellsworth (hellsworth)]

Right so if you are going the deb route, then you should apt install it including the fonts and bits that are needed to ensure libreoffice runs and displays correctly. With the libreoffice deb installed, there will not be a desktop icon for the start center (the all in one libreoffice icon) but you can get there by opening up any libreoffice application and then clicking the X in the right top corner (not the red one that closes the whole app, click the smaller X just below the X to close the window). That will take you to the place where you can launch any libreoffice application.

[J-Paul BERARD (arverne)]

Thanks for the information about closing a window app to discover the LibreOffice start center.

I have installed the extra packages (with many, too many Noto fonts for all languages of all the world even dead languages !). But it has not changed this problem when I try to export an .ods file to .xlm 2003 format.

[Heather Ellsworth (hellsworth)]

Would it be possible for you to attach a log message of the crash then, since it's not related to missing fonts?

Boot the system, reproduce the problem, then grab the journalctl logs with:

$ journalctl -b 0 > myjournal.log

and attach it. This will make it so much easier to diagnose what is actually going on. Thanks so much!

[J-Paul BERARD (arverne)]

I have done that.
Nowadays, L.O. doesn't freeze but when I export the .ods file (112 kB), I get a .xml file of 350 MB !
You will find the log file you asked me.
Thanks !

[Heather Ellsworth (hellsworth)]

Ok so you're no longer hitting the original issue anymore - that's great!

As to why the file would triple in size, it's because odt is a compressed zip archive and xml is the uncompressed zip archive:

https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/he/text/shared/00/00000021.html

See "XML File Structure" section.

[J-Paul BERARD (arverne)]

OK !
But it's not 3 times size but 300 times size ! 112 kB to 350 MB !
And when I open it with Calc, the format is much altered.

[Heather Ellsworth (hellsworth)]

> And when I open it with Calc, the format is much altered.

Ok now this is a real issue if the document does not look the same between the two formats. Please open a new bug with information on this including screenshots if possible. Thanks.!

[J-Paul BERARD (arverne)]

Done : https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libreoffice/+bug/1907670