Oddly, on Haiku hrev56969 x64:
- LibreOffice 7.3.3.2-2:
- application crashing on start - LibreOffice 7.3.7.2-1:
- LibreOffice 7.5.3.2-1:
We can update the LO package at this time to resolve several previous issues.
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Suport ticket opened to properly track this issue.
Thank you all!!
Latest version is available, please update and report any issues at haikuports. Thanks @cocobean !
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I had LibreOffice 6.3 running nicely and was going to make a note about the printers not working. Before I did this I thought it polite to upgrade to the latest version. However this will not load and gives [Could not open “LibreOffice”. (Missing symbol: ).]
Needless to say I have played with this uninstalling, rebooting etc for some time. I have even downloaded the hpkg file directly. This is fine as it unpacks nicely. However I am unable to install the latest LibreOffice so that it runs. All the applications show in the Applications menu - they just do not run.
I think I may have to delete something by hand before reinstalling it. Am quite happy to do this - but what?!
Also I had a question about the password for the root (superuser) user. Is there a default?
If I type “whoami” I get “user”
If I type “su root” I get “password:” and I do not know what this is.
I just want root privileges to alter some file permissions from read only which the system will not let me do as a user.
Thanks for the help. I really like the Libre Office for Haiku and look forward to having the latest version running.
Hello. You are using 32 bit version of Haiku? Because if is the case, there is a known issue related to LibreOffice on Haiku nightly (32 bit only):
LibreOffice 6.4.7.2-10 stoped working (32 bit) · Issue #9219 · haikuports/haikuports (github.com)
In Haiku, you are already the super user. But that said… most things under /system/ are just read-only, you won’t be able to change that. It is not a question of file permissions, it is just how Haiku’s PackageFS works.
When you install a package, it doesn’t gets “extracted/decompressed”… it gets “transparently mounted”, so you get a view of that’s inside it, but you cannot just change it without basically re-creating it.
For more info… see The filesystem section of the Quick Tour, and also the Filesystem Layout page from the User guide.
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My version is R1/Beta4 (Revision href56578+93) x86_64. I now have an understanding of the root/user position in Haiku, have a servicable SMB network file sharing in place and am finding the Haiku on the (old) Dell 630 laptop very stable indeed. And I have printers working.
All I need now is to successfully install the latest Libre Office …
Great support from the community - Thanks.
Also what is the trick for adding the Haiku about screen to messages?
Take a screenshot.
Then looks like a different issue. Please, try to run the application from Terminal, and see if there you get some more details about the issue. Then, submit a ticket here:
Issues · haikuports/haikuports (github.com)
Latest version for 64bit is 7.6.2.1, it launches fine here on R1B4 64bit, could you give a hint on what missing symbol you got when launching it?
Stop assuming your unixy-linuxy knowledge is usable on Haiku as is, spend a bit time to read the user guide and the FAQ and also read a bit about the history of the system and you will see and understand there are significant differences and that you are always root, and still, you can’t write into some specific folders.
Jeez, all commands above are in posix and work fine.
But would the attempted privilege-elevation work? Means can get the user more privilege using those commands which would in return allow him to write into the read-only folders?
So would his previously gathered knowledge work?
The answer is no, and you just generated more uncertainity with your comment for no apparent reason.
The command su is not for privilege “elevation” It is to switch users in a limited context, only granting you additional permissions.
Does deleting files on RO volumes work as root on linux? FreeBSD? MacOS? No it does not. exactly the same as Haiku
There are perfectly valid reasons to have severall names for the root user, FreeBSD uses “root” and “toor”. Switching to toor gives you a default shell if the “nice” one you use for root becomes broken.
The “previously gathere knowledge” you assume to be linuxism has nothing to do with linux, this is just how POSIX operating systems work, including Haiku.
Instead of beeing condescending that “oh your LINUX stuff is wrong” actually explain that packagefs is a read only filesystem, those work the same as in linux, which would have cleared up the confusion between a RW file system with insufficient priviliges to edit and a RO filesystem.
The user explained what their problem was and their attempt to solve it, and which issues they encountered with the solution.
You only have to point out that the solution cannot work in this way and why it cannot work, and then you can offer an alternative to achieve the goal.
(or in this case gather more info of why the file needs to be deleted, is there an issue to resolve? maybe there id a better solution.)
Engaging these questions and or pointing to relevant documentation is a good way to engage new users, beeing condescending and pointing out that documentation in generall exists is unhelpfull and counter-productive.
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While thats true, “su root” from “user” smells to privilege-elevation on the first sight for plenty people, if they don’t know the fact the “user” is already UID 0. The “user” output of the “whoami” command (recommended by most guides) can easily mislead the novice user and reinforce the false idea that a command will not be executed because the root privilege is missing. From the reports of many new users, it is clear that this is a typical mistake. Even if this means they actually mis-interpreted the error message, and it is actually complaining about a read-only fs.
Unfortunately, the thought process of most novice users has already been influenced by all kinds of sketchy linux-centric guides, where the solution to all errors is to insert the “sudo” before the actual command, instead of teaching users to understand the cause of the error and not suggesting brick-and-mortar solutions everywhere.
Also your explanation expects the user know there is a filesystem boundary in the middle of the folder-structure. Which is possible on other OS aswell, but not necessary expected by a novice user.
I don’t get the point of this. If you have meant it is perfectly valid to call the “root” account “user”, this is ok, but still: unexpected, and needs more and deeper knowledge to handle this information.
Your “POSIX works this way” expects plenty of fore-knowledge from the user, what they clearly doesn’t posess. It is enough to remember, how many people tried to solve their issues with “sudo” and with “su” on Haiku.
I think thats exactly what i did, which you have derailed with the “b-but the commands are ok!” which is true, but would never let the user accomplish what he wanted for reasons yet unknown for the user. And while my original comment advised that the user should try to forget his previous fixations and try to get to know the system, your comment only strengthened the misunderstanding from my point of view.
and it doesn’t matter, even if it was completely wrong, there is no need for an aggressive reply with an undertone of “you are stupid and you have no idea what you’re doing”.
Yes, there are some differences in how Haiku works in these aspects, but there are also some similarities and we do advertise POSIX compatibility as one of our features. So, of course users are going to assume their UNIX knowledge applies. We can’t blame the users for that. We can calmly explain where the differences are and why.
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Sorry to have caused all the aggro! I was using UNIX (HP-UX, SunOS et al including Cromemco Z80 implementation) many years ago and have fallen back on my remembered rusty knowledge of UNIX V. I know fully well that su is substitute user but as many newer users seem to think that stands for super-user and I was asking for help I did not think being pedantic would be appropriate. How wrong I was.
That the filesystem shows the rwxrwxrwx unix-like privileges indicated that perhaps these could be altered by a user with sufficient privileges. I now know better.
I was enthusiastic about BeOS before it died, what a shame that was as it was developing nicely with some very good developers and the networking BONE was coming along nicely. A tregedy that it died, there will have been some large corporation skullduggery behind the scenes you can bet. Windows is a nightmare, fundamentally with its underlying architecture and as a user. Haiku is now (on the Dell 630) very stable indeed and with the SMB working and the LibreOffice it is fast becoming a usable daily tool. For those that have the patience and perseverence to set it up.
Thanks again for all the help, expertise and development.
Andrew.
That is sadly a bit of a shortcoming of unix permissions, we can represent “allow write” and “deny write” but not “write is not possible”
Although with the above permissions deleting would always have suceeded on a rw filesystem.