StarOffice™ 9 Office Suite
STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION
HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE
Jan 2009
Version 2.1
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................1
Solaris Sparc/x86 Based Installation...............................................................................................2
Local installation.........................................................................................................................................2
Installation............................................................................................................................................2
Apply StarOffice Product Patches/Updates............................................................................................3
De-Installation.......................................................................................................................................3
Linux x86.....................................................................................................................................5
RPM Based (Suse, Red Hat, etc)..................................................................................................................5
Installation............................................................................................................................................5
Installing StarOffice Product Upgrades/Patches....................................................................................6
Deinstallation........................................................................................................................................6
Debian Packages.........................................................................................................................................7
Installation............................................................................................................................................7
Microsoft Windows.......................................................................................................................8
Windows Installer (MSI) Packages...............................................................................................................8
User of the download installation set....................................................................................................8
Customized installation..........................................................................................................................8
Force MS Office Mime Type Registrations...............................................................................................9
Unattended (silent) installation.............................................................................................................9
Administrative installation option. Copy the StarOffice installation set on a network share...................9
Deinstallation.......................................................................................................................................10
Repairing StarOffice installation...........................................................................................................10
Installing StarOffice Product Upgrades/Patches (unattended).............................................................10
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc. 1
Introduction
StarOffice 8/9 introduced a new way to install the product. Previous releases were using a self developed
installer technology which worked on all platform in the same way. There were not much differences between
a StarOffice installation on Windows and Solaris. On the other hand it prevents the usage of Software
deployment tools, which become more and more popular in enterprises. The SO 9 installer packages could be
deployed by almost all software deployment tools but this also implies that SO 9 uses for each platform
different installation package technologies. Solaris packages are being used for Solaris, for Linux RPM packages
and for Windows MSI packages. Anyhow the typical user does not recognize the differences, the setup front
end looks similar through the platforms but not for the administrators, they are using typically the command
line interface to deployment StarOffice through the network. This how to describes exactly this way of installing
StarOffice.
The StarOffice 9 Getting Started Guide describes the usage of the graphical front end. The graphical user
interface is the simplest way to install StarOffice but it does not work for more complex installation scenarios,
like unattended installations. This guides describes the most important command line parameters for a
StarOffice installation.
Please note that this description works also with OpenOffice.org 3.x except for the file names
2 STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Solaris Sparc/x86 Based Installation
Local installation
Installation
The setup of StarOffice 9 based on Solaris Packages with a Java font end. The StarOffice 9 Getting Started Guide
describes the usage of the Java front end.
The new OpenSolaris Installer is currently not supported. The StarOffice 9 packages using the old technology.
The Solaris Packages Manager is powerful tool to deploy software packages locally and through a network.
Users of a DVD find the Solaris packages in the office/packages directory. Please note that the standard
StarOffice 9 DVD does not include the Solaris installation sets anymore due to the fact that SO 9 is pre-installed
on Solaris 10.
Users of the download installation set has to unpack the installation set first. Unfortunately the setup does not
provide a parameter to unpack. Following steps are to expand the installation.
• Become root if necessary
su -
• Extract the installation package on Solaris Sparc
./so9-bin-solsparc-en-US_.sh -x
and on Solaris x86
./so9-bin-solia-en-US_.sh -x
• Likely following error message showed up
The Installation Wizard can't run in GUI mode.
Maybe the DISPLAY environment variable isn't set correctly.
• Due to the fact that we do not need the graphical installer we could leave this error message.
In those cases where the graphic setup appears do not continue to install StarOffice but leave the
installation dialog open.
• You will find the Solaris packages in following directory :
/var/tmp/unpack_staroffice/packages
• Move all packages directory in a directory of your choice.
• Go into this directory
• Cancel the StarOffice setup now
For a silent installation of StarOffice it might be necessary to create an admin file. This avoids recurring queries
at the installation.
echo action=nocheck > /tmp/admin
STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc. 3
echo conflict=nocheck >> /tmp/admin
echo idepend=nocheck >> /tmp/admin
To install the StarOffice packages :
pkgadd -n -a /tmp/admin -d . *
Remove the StarOffice installation packages afterwards :
rm -r /var/tmp/unpack_staroffice
Apply StarOffice Product Patches/Updates
Each Product Update has the same Java based installer front end as the StarOffice installation set. Just call the
setup for applying the update. Anyhow, the Upgrade uses Solaris packages as which could be applied by the
upgrade command of the Solaris Package Manager.
• Download the patch from SunSolve
http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/show.pl?target=patches/xprod-StarOffice&nav=pub-patches
• Extract the patch files from the archive (The file name differ with the patch release)
unzip 139335-0x.zip [Solaris Sparc]
unzip 139337-0x.zip [Solaris x86]
• Apply the patch (The patch has the same number/name as the ZIP archive above)
patchadd 139335-0x [Solaris Sparc]
patchadd 139337-0x [Solaris x86]
De-Installation
Do not delete the StarOffice files from the file system. We strongly recommend to use the StarOffice Java setup
or the pkgrm tool to de-install StarOffice. The Solaris package repository would become inconsistent when you
remove the StarOffice files via rm -r .
• Become root if necessary
su -
• Create a file 'so_packages' with all StarOffice related Solaris packages
pkginfo -x | cut -f1 -d " " | grep staroffice > /tmp/so_packages
• For a silent installation of StarOffice it might be necessary to create an admin file. This avoids recurring
queries at the installation.
echo action=nocheck > /tmp/admin
echo conflict=nocheck >> /tmp/admin
echo rdepend=nocheck >> /tmp/admin
• Remove all packages listed in the file
pkgrm -a /tmp/admin -n `cat /tmp/so_packages`
4 STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
• Depending on your Java environment you have to deinstall following three packages which including
the Java Runtime Environment which was installed by the StarOffice installer. De-Installing these
packages could damage you Java environment.
pkgrm SUNWj6rt SUNWj6man SUNWj6cfg
STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc. 5
Linux x86
RPM Based (Suse, Red Hat, etc)
The StarOffice setup uses RPM packages with a Java based front end. The StarOffice 9 Getting Started Guide
describes the usage of the Java front end.
RPM package manager has powerful command line interface to install, update and remove RPM packages. The
RPM manager has to be provided by the Linux distribution which is the case for Suse and Red Hat but not for
Debian. Debian has to convert the RPM packages, which is described in the Debian section in the document.
Installation
All RPM packages are located in the RPMS directory of the installation CD.
Users of the download installation set has to unpack the package first. The easiest way to accomplish this is to
execute the StarOffice installation file.
• Become root if necessary or use 'sudo'
su -
• Extract the installation package
./so9-bin-linux-en-US_.sh -x
• Following error message appears most likely
The Installation Wizard can't run in GUI mode.
Maybe the DISPLAY environment variable isn't set correctly.
• Due to the fact that we do not need the graphical installer we could leave this error message.
In those cases where the graphic setup appears do not continue to install StarOffice but leave the
installation dialog open.
• You will find the RPM packages in following directory :
/var/tmp/unpack_staroffice/RPMS
• Move all RPM packages in a directory of your choice.
• Go into this directory
• Cancel the StarOffice setup now
The RPMS directory contains RPM package for the Gnome and Suse integration. Users which did not use a Suse
distribution or the Gnome desktop have to remove this files.
• Linux users with an other distribution than Suse
rm staroffice9-suse-menus-9.x.x-xxxx.noarch.rpm
• Users which did not use the Gnome desktop
rm staroffice9-gnome-integration-9.x.x-xxxx.i586.rpm
6 STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
The RPM command has a rich set of command line parameters. This technical note describes the most
important parameters only. Make sure that you are in the directory where RPM packages are located.
For an installation into the standard /opt directory :
rpm -ivh *.rpm
If you prefer to install in another directory.
rpm -ivh –prefix /export *.rpm
Be careful with this. The Gnome and Suse desktop integration won't work.
Remove the StarOffice installation packages :
rm -r /var/tmp/unpack_staroffice
Installing StarOffice Product Upgrades/Patches
Each Product Update has the same Java based installer front end as the StarOffice installation set. Just call the
setup for applying the update. Anyhow, the Upgrade uses RPM packages as which could be applied by the
upgrade command of RPM.
• Become root if necessary
su -
• Expand the TAR ball with the product update
tar xvf 139331-0x.tar [The file name may differ]
• Goto the RPMS directory
• To apply the Upgrade/Patch :
rpm -U *
Deinstallation
Do not remove the StarOffice 9 directories, it makes your RPM repository inconsistent. Use the RPM package
manager instead but you have to determine the list of StarOffice 9 related packages first.
• Become root if necessary
su -
• Create a file 'so_packages' with all StarOffice related RPM packages
rpm -qa | grep staroffice > so_packages
rpm -qa | grep openoffice >> so_packages
• Check the content of file carefully. All these packages get removed from the system. There are two
packages which relating to StarOffice but they are not in this list.
rpm -qa | grep jre-1_6 >> so_packages
• To remove all StarOffice related packages :
rpm -e `cat so_packages`
STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc. 7
Debian Packages
Installation
StarOffice does not provide Debian packages. Debian users has to convert the RPM packages before they could
start with the installation.
Owner of a StarOffice DVD finding the RPM files in the RPMS directory of the DVD. Users of the download
installation set have to extract the RPM packages first, which is described in the RPM section above.
• Become root if necessary or use SUDO
su -
• Create a new directory
mkdir deps
• Move the system integration and directory files to the newly create 'deps' directory
mv staroffice9-suse-menus-*
mv starOffice9-desktop-integration*
mv starOffice9-dict-*
• The alien utility converts RPM packages into native Debian packages (.DEB). Few Debian based
distributions does not have the installed or uses not the latest release . We recommend to install the
latest release with :
apt-get install alien
or by manually downloading from http://packages.debian.org/alien
• Convert and install the RPM packages
alien -i -k *.rpm
• Go to the newly created 'deps' directory
cd deps
• Install dictionaries by using the –script option
alien -i -k –-script starOffice9-dict-*
• Remove the dictionaries
rm starOffice9-dict-*
• Convert the system integration packages to debian packages
alien *.rpm
• Install the converted Debian packages with the force-overwrite to overwrite the OO.o system
integration.
dpkg -i –force-overwrite *.deb
8 STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Microsoft Windows
Windows Installer (MSI) Packages
The StarOffice setup uses for Windows Microsoft Installer Packages (MSI) which is the standard for installation
packages for Windows. Windows 2000 and newer supporting the Microsoft Installer technology. StarOffice can
be installed either by an user interface or from the command line (prompt). The User Interface driven
installation is described in the StarOffice 9 Getting Started Guide.
Enterprises typically using the command line options to accomplish unattended or silent installation. Microsoft
Installer provides a rich set of command line parameters, this note describes the most important parameters.
Please note that the Advertise option (/J{m|u}) of the Windows installer is not supported by the StarOffice
installation package.
User of the download installation set
The download installation packages are packed and so its need to be extracted in order use the options as
described below.
1. Open the Windows Command Line Prompt
2. The StarOffice download installation file provides two parameters to extract
1. /EXTRACTONLY=ON
2. /D → Specifies the destination directory for the extracted files
3. The command line may look like this :
so9-bin-windows-en-US_.exe /EXTRACTONLY=ON /D=C:\
Customized installation
Customized installations are good for optimizing StarOffice for a specific demands. The Windows Installer uses
'transformation templates' to customize the normal installation package. The StarOffice Enterprise CD, which is
part of the Enterprise Edition, includes a Wizard to create transformation templates.
1. Start the Transformation Wizard directly from the Enterprise CD or expanded download installation set
2. Enter the directory where the staroffice9.msi packages are
located. This could be the Office directory on your installation CD or
the directory with the expanded files from the download
installation set. (See above to expand the download installation
set)
3. Click next to specify the modules/features and the location of the StarOffice installation.
STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc. 9
4. Click next to make StarOffice or another Office suite to the preferred suite for editing of Microsoft Office
documents.
5. Choose a location for the transformation template and click create.
6. To install StarOffice with the transformation template
msiexec /qn /i staroffice9.msi TRANSFORMS=
Force MS Office Mime Type Registrations
StarOffice 9 does not register for the Microsoft Office mime types if a MS Office or an other application using it.
Following MSI Property force SO 9 to registers for all MS Office mime types.
msiexec /qn /i staroffice9.msi REGISTER_ALL_MSO_TYPES=1
and for registering a specific MSO mime type
msiexec /qn /i staroffice9.msi REGISTER_EXT=DOC REGISTER_EXT=DOT
and in case the setup should not register a MSO mime type
msiexec /qn /i staroffice9.msi REGISTER_NO_MSO_TYPES=1
Unattended (silent) installation
The parameter /qn suppress the User Interface and all message boxes during the installation.
msiexec /qn /i staroffice9.msi
Administrative installation option. Copy the StarOffice installation set on a network share.
The installation type does not install StarOffice on machine, it copies the installation files, ready for a StarOffice
installation, in a directory. The user could start the StarOffice setup from this directory for a local installation.
msiexec /a staroffice9.msi
10 STAROFFICE 9 - INSTALLATION HOW TO - TECHNICAL NOTE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Deinstallation
The deinstallation from the command line of MSI packages is not easy. Using the original name of the MSI
package does not work. The Windows Installer expect the ProductCode of the application. The product code
for an English StarOffice installation set is different to the product code for a German or Italian installation set.
StarOffice saves this ProductCode into the setup.ini that is located in the program directory of StarOffice. The
parameter for the deinstallation is /X and the /qn- parameter for a silent installation.
msiexec /qn- /x {C5E4D0D0-EACC-4013-B48D-C3F104F21DCD}
Heads up: It is likely that the ProductCode {C5E4D0D0-EACC-4013-B48D-C3F104F21DCD} won't work for you. You
have to determine the product code for your StarOffice installation. How to do it, see above.
Repairing StarOffice installation
Existing StarOffice installations could also be repaired. The MSI installation provides a rich set of options
msiexec /f [p|o|e|d|c|a|u|m|s|v] /x {Product Code}
A description of all repair options is available here :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/command_line_options.asp
The Product Code is described above.
Installing StarOffice Product Upgrades/Patches (unattended)
There are two flavors of Product Updates available. Feature Product Updates (PU 2, 4, 6..) (also called minor
updates) which are available as MSI or MSP packages. The bug fix Product Updates (PU 1, PU 3,...) (also called
micro updates) are provided as MS Installer patches (MSP).
Micro Patch (MSP) insta lla tion
msiexec /qn- /p starOffice9_servicepack_X.msp
Prod uc t Upda te 1 patc h install ation
The final (un-patched) release of StarOffice 9 has an issue which makes it necessary to apply a Hotfix first before
the regular patch could be installed.
msiexec /qn- /p starOffice9_runfirst.msp
msiexec /qn- /p starOffice9_servicepack_1.msp
Minor Patc h (MSI) install ation
msiexec /qn /i staroffice9_productupdate_X.msi