Installing OpenOffice.org and Extensions Using a Bash Script

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Is it possible to install the latest version of OpenOffice.org and all your favorite extensions using just a simple command? Yes, it is. All you need is a relatively simple Bash script that does the donkey job for you. As a starting point, you can use the script below which installs OpenOffice.org on a Debian-based Linux distribution along with the Writer's Tools and Sun Report Builder extensions.

#!/bin/sh

mkdir ~/tmp     

cd ~/tmp

wget ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/unix/X11/apps/openoffice/stable/3.0.1/OOo_3.0.1_LinuxIntel_install_en-US_deb.tar.gz 

tar -xvf OOo_3.0.1_LinuxIntel_install_en-US_deb.tar.gz 

cd OOO300_m15_native_packed-1_en-US.9379 

cd DEBS 

sudo dpkg -i *.deb 

cd desktop-integration 

sudo dpkg -i openoffice.org3.0-debian-menus_3.0-9376_all.deb 

wget http://code.google.com/p/writertools/source/browse/trunk/WriterTools.oxt 

wget http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/files/79/5/sun-report-builder-1.0.5.oxt  

sudo /opt/openoffice.org3/program/unopkg add ~/tmp/WriterTools.oxt 

sudo /opt/openoffice.org3/program/unopkg add ~/tmp/sun-report-builder-1.0.5.oxt  

rm -rf ~/tmp  

echo "All done!"

Before you run the script, you might want to tweak a few things. First of all, it's a good idea to change the default download mirror to a location closer to you. Also, you can add other extensions to the script. To do this, you have to obtain a direct link to the extension you want to download and add the appropriate wget command. Add then the sudo /opt/openoffice.org3/program/unopkg add ~/tmp/ command followed by the name of the downloaded .oxt file, for example:

sudo /opt/openoffice.org3/program/unopkg add ~/tmp/LoremIpsum130.oxt

Note that the exact path to the unopkg tool may vary, so check this before you run the script.

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