I recently upgraded libreoffice to 6.0, and everything works great except when I try to open it from the terminal I'm informed that it's not installed.
The program 'libreoffice' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt install libreoffice-common
Before installing 6.0 I ran:
sudo apt-get remove --purge libreoffice*
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove
Then opened the 6.0 download file in terminal and ran:
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
sudo apt-get update
I've been using 6.0 for approx 3 weeks without any other issues. Today was the first time I tried to open it via terminal.
P.s If I simply use:
go /path/to/file.odt
Then the file automatically opens in libreoffice writer.
But when I specify:
libreoffice --writer /path/to/file.odt
I’m told that it’s not installed.
Hi @Huxley, I’m looking at a 17.10 VM (you didn’t say what you’re running). I believe you’re seeing the difference between the way LibreOffice releases their suite and the Ubuntu integration. Or it’s a difference between versions 5 and 6. I would guess the former.
Do you have the basic LibreOffice in a menu? If so you can see what it executes a few ways. I usually right-click and Add This Launcher to Desktop then examine its properties. If you edit the menu you can see properties there, too.
The Ubuntu integration adds /usr/bin/libreoffice as a link to
/usr/lib/libreoffice/program/soffice
which appears to be the LibreOffice executable in case this helps.
EDIT: I just found soffice may be the generic link to the executable. You might try that. It’s in /usr/bin and links the same as Ubuntu’s libreoffice.
Hi, Bill_MI
Yep, forgot to mention I'm using 17.10. You're right re the integration with Ubuntu. Libre installed as 'libreoffice6.0' and typing this into terminal successfully opens the application. Is there any way I can rename it so that it runs as 'libreoffice' in terminal?
The properties on the desktop launcher listed the as command:
libreoffice6.0 %U
I took a noob punt at deleting the 6.0 part but no dice.
/usr/bin/libreoffice linked to
/opt/libreoffice6.0/program/soffice
I checked its properties as well as a quick read inside, but couldn't find anything that looked like an answer.
LOL! I edited same time you posted but your info is good.
I can suggest making a separate link. You’d be manually modifying similar to Ubuntu’s method.
sudo ln -sf /opt/libreoffice6.0/program/soffice /usr/bin/libreoffice
I have a -f “force” option in case a link already exists. It concerns me a bit renaming should have worked.
A little info can’t hurt. You can always check what file will execute with a which libreoffice command. It returns the path.
1 Like
Thanks, Bill. It worked perfectly. Problem solved.
Thanks again for your help, I really appreciated it.
Great! It can get messy under the hood and I sense you learned a lot with this. Good Luck! 
For sure. Every problem I learn to solve makes the next one that little bit easier to understand 
