I would like to know the best way to install Libreoffice on Fedora Kinoite (or Fedora Atomic in general ig), to
have the most smooth and stable integration with the desktop and window manager (even on multiple screens)
always have the latest LibreOffice Version (see also this discussion)
reliable interaction and integration with other applications like Zotero
I originally uninstalled the Libreoffice install that came with the distro to troubleshoot some problem which in the end turned to be not be related to Libreoffice at all. Since the Libreoffice prominently features the RPM install option on the Downloads page (and somewhat hides the Flatpak option) I downloaded the _rpm.tar.gz, unpacked it and then ran sudo rpm-ostree install *.rpm in the /rpms folder. This layered (is that the right terminology?) many diffferent rpm packages, and with every update I had to repeat this for all the packages.
In the last months I got to understand the Fedora Atomic system a bit better, and saw that RPM is not always the recommended way and some projects even explicitly recommend Flatpak as install method for Atomic Desktops. At this point I had a feeling that using the Flatpak from Flathub (and not the Fedora repos) would be the best option accomplish my goals stated above. However this comment by @linuxguy-cyber makes me doubt that, since they write “if you do want the latest version always, just remove the rpm version of LibreOffice and install it from Flathub instead” but also “if you’re using KDE or LXQt, then you might wanna consider the rpm version as it has significantly better performance”. My main question now is: Is this is also true for Fedora Kinoite, and if so, Is there a better way to do this using rpm-ostree? Or should I just stick to Flathub?
I did a lot of web search and could not really find a satisfying answer so I opened this topic. I know this may be a very specific use case, but maybe someone else already faced this problem
I usually go with Flatpaks when installing GUI apps on Fedora Atomic desktops.
Since I’m on Silverblue, I’m using LibreOffice from Flathub with no issues. I remember doing the same when testing Kinoite in a VM, and saw no significant performance issues. The only annoyance was the Wayland icon instead of the app icon when lauching LibreOffice’s apps.
For Kinoite I would not use the upstream rpm tarball with rpm-ostree unless you have a specific bug that only that build fixes. It creates a lot of layered packages and makes upgrades more annoying than they need to be. Flathub is the cleanest fit for Atomic desktops: easy rollback/removal, current versions, and fewer host changes. If Zotero integration is important, test that workflow first, but I would start with the Flathub LibreOffice and only layer the Fedora RPMs if you hit a real integration/performance problem.
Just use the Flatpak. I’m on Bluefin (based on Silverblue) and that just works best. Don’t overcomplicate. It will auto update etc.
Just fyi Collabora Office is also available as Flatpak and it’s based on LibreOffice but has a better UI. I read somewhere the Collabora Devs are actually the biggest contributors of code to LibreOffice.
In Silverblue, Kinoite, Bluefin and Aeon, I have used the LibreOffice Flatpak. It gets updated in a very timely manner, and I haven’t had any trouble with it.
Hello, sorry, I have been inactive for a long time.
Yes, this is true. The version of LibreOffice that is packaged on Flathub uses the GTK (GIMP Toolkit) VCL.VCL stands for Visual Class Library. Its job is to:
Create windows, buttons, menus, dialogs, and other UI elements.
Handle drawing, fonts, keyboard, and mouse input.
Abstract away platform-specific GUI APIs so LibreOffice can run on different operating systems and desktop environments.
A VCL plugin tells LibreOffice how to communicate with the native desktop toolkit.
Qt VCL uses the Qt toolkit. (KDE and LXQt)
GTK VCL uses the GTK toolkit. (GNOME, Cinnamon and pther derivatives)
I have noticed, from my experience, that the Qt VCL offers much better performance than the GTK VCL on KDE and LXQt as these are Qt-based desktop environments. So LibreOffice runs natively, much more smoothly if you use it in with the Qt VCL in a Qt environment.
However, if your hardware is decent, the performance drop could be minimal (I can’t test it or guarantee that.) However, for immutable distros, like Kinote, I’d generally prefer Flatpak. You can try both and see what you’re satisfied with
There have been requests to use the Qt VCL for LO in Flatpak as well, but it hasn’t been accepted yet.
