HowTo: Install OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 in Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 right NOW rather than wait for Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04

OpenOffice.org 3.0.x has been out for awhile now, but unfortunately did not get released in time to be included with Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 back in October 2008, so Intrepid shipped with OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 instead. Bummer.

OpenOffice.org 3.0.x will be included in Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 in April 2009, but as some people have noticed, there are some useful features in OpenOffice.org 3.0.x (such as much improved Word doc importing) that can make waiting another four months seem like a bloody long time to upgrade. You want 3.0 now, not in four months!

So for the impatient among you, here’s the most painless and easiest way to upgrade your OpenOffice.org to 3.0.1 without having to deal with downloading individual packages or TAR archives from the OpenOffice.org website, or manually having to satisfy the extra dependencies that OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 requires.

1. First up, open a terminal.
   
2. Now type in:
   
   $ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openoffice.list
   
   …and your text editor will appear with a blank new file to type into.
   
3. Copy & paste or type in the following line into the editor:
   
   deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main
   
   
   
4. Save your file and close the text editor.
   
5. Now type in at the terminal:
   
   $ sudo apt-get update
   
6. You should observe that a warning message regarding NO_PUBKEY will appear after the update has completed as follows:
   
   W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net intrepid Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 60D11217247D1CFF
   
   This is because you don’t yet have the public key for this OpenOffice.org repository to be able to authenticate anything from it, so we need to add it with the following command at the $ prompt:
   
   $ gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 60D11217247D1CFF
gpg: requesting key 247D1CFF from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key 247D1CFF: public key "Launchpad PPA for OpenOffice.org Scribblers" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)
$
   
   Right, that downloaded the key from the Ubuntu keyserver to your PC. Now we need to tell Apt to use that downloaded key to authenticate with. Do do this, type in:
   
   $ gpg --export --armor 60D11217247D1CFF | sudo apt-key add -
OK
$
   
7. If you now run Step 5’s command again (sudo apt-get update), you will no longer have the NO_PUBKEY warning at the end of it.
   
8. Anyway, once Apt has finished updating itself with a new list of packages, within a few seconds, your Update Manager will pop up the red arrow in the system tray advising that there are new updates to download.
   
   .
   
9. When you open Update Manager, you will find that they are all upgrades to OpenOffice.org 3.0.x including the extra dependencies required! Sweet!
   
   
   
10. Hit the “Install Updates” button. If you are presented with a dialog box warning you that some of the packages cannot be authenticated, then you have not got the Public Key from the Ubuntu Keyserver to authenticate the new OpenOffice.org packages. This is because this OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 repository is not official nor permanent and was only setup to satisfy the impatient ones out there (ie: you!). It is not critical that the packages be authenticated, but that is up to you to decide. If you’d rather not install unauthenticated packages, then just click the Cancel button and stop following these instructions. If you followed Step 6 properly, then you will not get this warning message because the public key you downloaded in Step 6 will authenticate the packages properly and the download of updates will commence immediately as per Step 11.
    
    .
    
11. Hit the Apply button and allow the system to download and install as normal.
    
12. When completed, start up OpenOffice.org as normal and you will see that the splash loader and the Help->About page show that you now have OpenOffice.org 3.0.1!
    
    .
    
13. Pat yourself on the back. You’re done.

How is this possible anyway? Well, seems that demand for OpenOffice.org 3.0.x has been so great that the nice guys at OpenOffice.org Scribblers decided to put together a quick little dedicated repository for it on the Launchpad site, so all kudos and credit go to them. The repo only works for Ubuntu Intrepid, so for users of earlier versions of Ubuntu, you will still need to download the .debs and install them manually from the OpenOffice.org website.

Credit goes to stmok from Overclockers Australia for advising of the public key solution used in Step 6 – thanks!

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