15 Apr 2002 cpw   » (Apprentice)

A mail to the OpenOffice guys:

Hello, folks.

I've just attempted to install OO 641d on Linux and have noticed problems which in my opinion should be considered release-critical.

  • setup -net should be the default when logged in as root.
    Instead, setup -net is an undocumented feature! The setup binaries do not respond to -h or -?, the command line option summary request convention, and there is no installation guide. I eventually found it by browsing the discussion list archives.
  • setup binary does not respond to -h or -? with a list of command-line options
  • user setup should occur automatically upon first run of a common binary (soffice), and user files should be placed in ~/.openoffice.org<build>
Problems I do not consider release-critical:
  • Local user files should not include complete dictionaries, et al - only personal customizations

I do not understand why OO still doesn't behave as an application on a multi-user system should. I had hoped that this would have been fixed since SO 5.x, but it has not. There has been enough time to fix it, so I can only presume this is done deliberately.

I am also disappointed by the unavailability of issuezilla to anonymous browsing, which I also do not understand.

Yours forlornly,
-- Chris Whip

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