Ubuntu下安装openoffice4.x

1. Remove all the packages from the installed version
Go to  Synaptic  or your package manager and mark all the  openoffice.org  packages installed to be removed (there is the string  ubuntu  in their version number). This is mandatory for your  first  upgrade of the distro delivered OOo version, no need to do that for the following upgrades.
Note: don't use the Ubuntu Software Center to remove OOo because it seems that some packages are left and conflict with the install with official debs.
For Ubuntu (flavors prior to Jaunty 9.04), the system will also remove the  ubuntu-desktop  package. No worry, this is a meta package that can be removed safely. But in case you want to upgrade your whole distro, you'll have to install back this package (and the OOo original version).

2. Download the tarball (.tar.gz file) from the official OOo web site
See here :  http://www.openoffice.org/download/  (or  http://download.openoffice.org/other.html  and select the  Linux DEB  version depending on your architecture, 32 or 64bit).
If you've troubles getting the automatic download, see on the mirrors:  http://distribution.openoffice.org/mirrors/#mirrors .

3. Extract the tarball in your home directory  (or any other directory you want)
Either do that with your file browser and your archive manager (usually available in the context menu) or open a terminal (you should be directly in your home directory) and :

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tar -vxzf filename

Example (for 2.4.0):  filename  = OOo_2.4.0_LinuxIntel_install_en-US_deb.tar.gz
Hint: no need to type the whole filename, just start with the first characters and hit the TAB key for the auto-completion.

You should see a new folder, say OOo_inst_folder.
Example (for 2.4.0):  OOo_inst_folder  = OOH680_m12_native_packed-1_en-US.9286

4. Install the created .debs

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cd OOo_inst_folder/DEBS
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

5. Update the Applications menu
Go to the desktop integration subfolder.

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cd desktop-integration

Run again the previous installation command.

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sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Here you are, menus should have been updated.

6. Troubleshooting
If you had run the Ubuntu version before, you might face a problem starting OOo the first time. If so, try to  reset the user profile . But during the welcome process, don't transfer your personal data (if you had 2.x), former configuration files might corrupt the new profile.

Installing from the RPMS  (for the record)
If you've the RPMS package and don't want to download again the DEBS package, you can convert the RPMs to DEBs using the following command to be launched before step 4:

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sudo alien -d --scripts *.rpm