Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 101604
System wide preferences get lost when updating
Last modified: 2013-08-07 15:26:05 UTC
For Mac OS X, system wide preferences (aka "share"-folder) are installed within the OOo application package folder. This results in loosing all changes when updating the application. For Mac OS X, recommended location for such settings is "/Library/Application Support" (Systems Library, not users'). (Maybe this could be done having replaced "share" folder by an alias to that location)
This is not mac specific, the share folders are within the application on all platforms. but let's ask sb who invented 3 layer office whether there are plans to move the "share" folders outside the office hirarchy.
One note is mac specific after all: there is no update installation on the mac. This might save the contents of the share folder on other platforms I presume.
Thats true, but afaik only on a Mac we don't have an installer which replaces the contents of this folder selectivly butd oan install always by replacing the whole folder and so the "share"-Folder gets "resetted".
@pl: No, at least from the perspective of the three layer change, there is no intent to move shared data outside the OOo installation tree. @is: Please clarify whether and how update installations on other platforms than Mac OS X preserve modifications to shared data.
Updates that are not delivered as patches but as full respins, remove the installed product (Windows) or replace the installed packages (Unix) completely. The content of the "share"-folder is then lost. System wide preferences should not be stored inside the Office installation directory. For Windows there is for example the folder "Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data".
Besides that maybe interesting discussion of the principles of a three layer application install - is there any plan to "save" the systemwide installed content (i.e. extensions) on a mac over an product update? There is not and perhaps never will be an installer routine for Mac which could care for that. But as with windows also a mac has a special place reserved for systemwide application data. Added data_loss keyword because that is what happens.
Removing data loss keyword. It is correct that data in the shared folder gets lost here, but that is the case on any platform where you uninstall a version and install a newer one (see is's remark earlier on). There would be basically two solutions for this: - switch to a package based installation on MacOSX (instead of the current D&D based one). Which has its own set of problems (like not generic Uninstaller), but would probably allow to install in /System/Library and update files there - create a special "update" installer program that somehow finds the old installation and replaces files in there. Anyway this is a feature request and not a bug fix, therefore I'll change this to "Enhancement". Will also assign the issue to is, who would know better about installtion than "macport".