LibreOffice package split collateral damage analysis

Registered by Björn Michaelsen

This blueprint is about analysing the damage that is done by the spliting of LibreOffice into separate packages, which never was a goal at the upstream project. Because of that, in some cornercases LibreOffice crashes or fails to perform because of missing parts, when not installed completely. This is more severe than in other distros because we ship only a partial installaltion with the default install.
Examples include:
- document wizards not working in the default install (need java components)
- mailmerge not working in writer in the default install (needs libreoffice-base)
- some HTML-imports not working in writer in the default install (needs libreoffice-base)
- formfields/checkboxes not working in writer in the default install (needs libreoffice-base)

Fixing all these upstream is an uphill battle as new dependencies might be added under the radar by new features. So while a full libreoffice install on Ubuntu is doing fine, the default installation on Ubuntu is casting a shadow on both Ubuntu and LibreOffice.

Blueprint information

Status:
Started
Approver:
Jason Warner
Priority:
Low
Drafter:
Björn Michaelsen
Direction:
Approved
Assignee:
Björn Michaelsen
Definition:
Approved
Series goal:
Accepted for quantal
Implementation:
Started
Milestone target:
milestone icon ubuntu-12.10-beta-1
Started by
Sebastien Bacher

Whiteboard

- Tools->Bibliography
- document wizards not working in the default install (need java components)
 - javaldx
- mailmerge not working in writer in the default install (needs libreoffice-base)
 - draw -> pdfimport
 - libdbalo.so
    - some HTML-imports not working in writer in the default install (needs libreoffice-base)
    - formfields/checkboxes not working in writer in the default install (needs libreoffice-base)
 - warning message at startup: "javaldx: Could not find a Java Runtime Environment!" with wrong advice
Visibility of packages?
new metapackage libreoffice-complete/-all?
dbus packagekit/session-installer? easy to do, but the hard and changing problem is the "where to put it"
regression prevention
base dep on openjdk is the size problem for the default CD install
install complete libreoffice -> 49.1 MB .deb size (amd64)
-> Quantal limit is only 800 MB (from 730 MB in Precise), so this is not an option.
split it a little less? install smaller packages which caused trouble which don't pull in JDK yet (35 MB) -> pretty much all the remaining missing things need Java, so this does not buy us much
build reportbuilder and other extensions with ant instead of maven; maven is supposed to be kept in universe
+ 20121020 https://launchpad.net/~penalvch this blueprint also documents having package split collatorally damages triage efforts for LibreOffice bug reports. For example in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libreoffice/+bug/1040037 , one will notice:
Package: libreoffice (not installed)
So, as many original reporters tend not to follow https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LibreOfficeBugWrangling#Bug_Reporting_Template , it creates unnecessary work to figure out which version of LO the OR actually has the problem in. As a WORKAROUND, Launchpad could reject bugs filed via:
ubuntu-bug libreoffice
unless it is installed, to avoid this in the interim.
I added bug 1040037 to related bugs for example. However, one could add a lot more!

(?)

Work Items

Work items:
[pitti] investigate new USB image limit and thus feasibility of installing full LibO: DONE
[bjoern-michaelsen] change reportbuilder to build without maven (together with James Page): POSTPONED
[bjoern-michaelsen] get enough fs space on the buildd for the ppa (marking as done -- request is out, all questions of IS have been clarified, nothing more I can do to push this): DONE

Work items for ubuntu-12.10-beta-2:
[bjoern-michaelsen] if we can't fit JDK into the default install, add the sessioninstaller magic to the few known places which cause trouble (Bibliography, wizard): POSTPONED
[bjoern-michaelsen] collect list of stuff that gets built by libreoffice source pkg but not in the libreoffice meta pkg: DONE
[bjoern-michaelsen] document the situation and workarounds for the common symptoms in commonly-accessed forums (wiki, askubuntu etc): DONE

Dependency tree

* Blueprints in grey have been implemented.

This blueprint contains Public information 
Everyone can see this information.