On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:33:52 -0500 Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Kay Schenk <kay.sch...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 6:23 AM, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: > > > >> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 3:08 AM, Andrea Pescetti <pesce...@apache.org> > >> wrote: > >> > On 13/11/2012 Painius wrote: > >> >> > >> >> then I should notify all of you to see if someone > >> >> else has the problem and possibly a solution. His tip did > >> >> not keep AOO from crashing, so here goes... > >> > > >> > > >> > Frequent crashes are often due to the first of our Known Issues: > >> > > >> http://www.openoffice.org/development/releases/3.4.1.html#AOO3.4.1ReleaseNotes-KnownIssues > >> > > >> > Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0 and 3.4.1 manage the user profile differently > >> than > >> > previous versions. The old user profile is automatically converted so > >> that > >> > users can keep their extensions and settings. In a minority of cases, > >> > especially with highly customized profiles (many extensions or > >> > customizations) the conversion doesn't succeed. Common symptoms are: > >> > frequent application crashes, problems with dictionaries or thesaurus, > >> > OpenOffice starting and crashing after a few seconds. To solve this, just > >> > reset/rename your user profile as explained in the official OpenOffice > >> > forum. > >> http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12426 > >> > > >> > >> So if this is our #1 issue, is there anything we can do to improve it? > >> Deleting the profile is really a power-user remedy. It requires > >> more OS knowledge than the typical user has, especially on Windows > >> where folders like this are hidden by default. > >> > >> Has anyone tried to figure out exactly what is happening? Is there > >> anyway we can finally fix this in AOO 4.0? We might not be able to > >> migrate every extension, but at least make it so that if something > >> cannot be converted we write out some diagnostic info in a text file. > >> And if something doesn't convert, we skip it entirely? IMHO, it is > >> better to require a reinstall of an extension than to create an > >> unstable profile. > >> > >> -Rob > >> > > > > This has NOT been an issue with Linux (in my experience), even though > > Hagar's response on the forums gives instructions for how to deal with it: > > > > http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12426 > > > > Do we know what OSes are most affected? > > > > > > I have never seen the issue either, on Windows or Linux. But I may be > just missing the combination needed. > > What is frustrating is that we don't know the cause. > > Is it a problem with a single popular extension? A problem with a > single setting, or many settings? All settings of a specific data > type? A robustness issue dealing with bad data? A new bug? An old > bug? > > Studies have shown that most people don't report problems. If > something doesn't work they'll just stop using it. But they'll tell > their friends. So for every person who has reported this issue, we > should consider that there are many more how are just suffering in > silence, or have already given up. > > On the other hand, if this just goes away in AOO 4.0 then a > well-publicized , easy to use profile clean-up tool might be the only > thing we can do for current users. > > -Rob Rather than a separate profile clean-up tool perhaps a better approach would be to incorporate the functionality for this within AOO, accessible only by command line. # A separate tool is OS dependant, which means we have to have a number of them (each with detailed instructions); incorporated into OpenOffice at a command line level it knows the target OS so we don't need individual separate OS dependant applications. Being driven from command line prevents inadvertent application of such a potentially dangerous utility, and at command line level it ought be simple(ish) to cause OpenOffice to reboot into graphics mode and thereby generate a new default User Profile. -- Rory O'Farrell <ofarr...@iol.ie>
