It's not the least eventful package installation I've ever done in Linux and BSD, but tapping into Debian Backports to install the Document Foundation's new LibreOffice suite and replace the formerly Oracle-controlled, now-in-limbo OpenOffice is fairly easy if you follow the steps, refrain from panic and just type in the letter "y" a few times.

I added the Backports repository to my sources, issued the Aptitude command and then watched as the system removed OpenOffice and replaced it with LibreOffice.

I didn't use the Synaptic Package Manager for this installation. Instead I used Aptitude, which I tend to trust more when things get complicated.

Here are my comments on the installation as well as the terminal session. In the short preamble, commands or text I entered in the system as well as their locations are in italic. Once the terminal output starts, my additions/comments are in bold.

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I don’t exactly keep tabs on what’s happening at Mozilla with Firefox/Iceweasel, but I came across this ZDNet article: Attention Firefox 4.x users - Firefox 5.0 is your security update by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.

The short version is that Mozilla is continuing development for Firefox not in the 4.0.x series but in 5.x. So there will presumably be no security updates past 4.0.1, which is what I’m running now from the Debian Mozilla Team’s repository.

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Turmoil in the free-office-suite world has led to the formation of the Document Foundation and its forking of OpenOffice.org into LibreOffice, and much if not most of the Linux world has declared its support for the more-community-oriented LibreOffice.

Just about every major (and most minor) Linux distribution that used to ship OpenOffice.org is now either already shipping or pledging to ship LibreOffice instead. I get the feeling that some will continue to offer OpenOffice in their repositories, but when it comes to the default office suite going forward, LibreOffice will fill that roll.

If I’m not incorrect, Ubuntu, OpenSuse and Fedora are already shipping LO.

And LibreOffice has been available in Debian Sid and Wheezy for awhile.

But what about Debian Squeeze, the project’s Stable release? Stable Debian releases traditionally don’t get new packages in their core repositories. That means LibreOffice will be included in the next Stable release, the current Testing release (Wheezy). Wheezy will be declared stable sometime in the future. I’d say a year from now.

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Yes, I do use Windows. XP and 7, depending on the hardware.

So what software and services do I bring along for the ride?

• Notepad++
• IrfanView
• Firefox
• Thunderbird
• FileZilla
• Dropbox
• Avast! Free Antivirus
• Google Chrome
• Pidgin
• GIMP
• Inkscape
• Audacity

I'll write more about each of these applications in the future. They're sort of in order of most valuable to least. The Notepad++ text editor and IrfanView image viewer/editor are definitely my top 2 applications in Windows.

I had some trouble with the domain under which this still-emerging Ode blog began its life.

Long story short, I moved the blog from a subdomain to the main stevenrosenberg.net domain on my hosted space.

Making the move was easy. All I had to do was move the files from one part of the web server to another, after which I edited the paths in ode.cgi and ode_config to point to the new location.

Unfortunately all my files got new date stamps, and the original entry, which you might see below this one, also has a June 10, 2011 date, since Ode (and Blosxom before it) uses the text file's creation date as the post date.

In my test Blosxom site (not online at present), I managed to install the addin that preserves the original file date. I'm planning to install the Indexette addin in Ode to do the same thing. At that point I'll correct the original date. I'm in the habit of putting the numerical date into the filename of just about everything I do, so it won't be hard to remember that original file date when I finally do have Indexette installed and working.

I also added a favicon.ico. I lifted the one from the main Ode site. I'll replace it eventually when I dig deeper into the design.

(Note: This post refers to the Debian site I had at the time and not this Ode-running Debian site.)

Sorry it took so long.

I had a couple of issues with my web host. They're not exactly related but became so once the whole ball got rolling.

My attempt to renew the domain name for this site failed, so the domain expired. Once I learned of the expiration (hint for the future: make the e-mail contact for your domain an e-mail account you actually check), I re-did the renewal, this time successfully.

Being honest, I think the "fail" was on my part. I renewed a few domains and probably renewed one that didn't "need" it while skipping one of those that did need it.

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Now that the transition to the new Alioth server is complete, The Debian Mozilla Team's http://mozilla.debian.net site is back, as is the repository. I know because I got an Icedove update this morning.

Added to the choices of newer Mozilla appsat http://mozilla.debian.net are versions 5.0, Aurora and Beta of Iceweasel (aka Firefox). So you can get even closer to the bleeding edge of Firefox development on your Squeeze, Wheezy or Sid system.

Those Debian users (including myself) who use the Debian Mozilla Team APT archive at http://mozilla.debian.net for newer versions of Iceweasel and Icedove (aka Firefox and Thunderbird) may have noticed that the archive has been down for at least three (if not more) days.

While this is not exactly comforting to users, the reason, via Mike Hommey’s site (originally from the Debian User Forum) and according to the Debian Infrastructure Announce mailing list is a comprehensive upgrade to the Alioth server:

Dear Debian developers, contributors and visitors,
This is a reminder that some of the Alioth admins are gathered this week-end to work on alioth.debian.org. One of the goals of the sprint is to upgrade Alioth in every way we can find: kernel, Debian release, FusionForge software, hardware, and so on. This will very probably result in temporary downtime of the service, especially during the move. We should be done by late afternoon (UK time) on Sunday, May 22nd. We apologize for the inconvenience, which we hope will be compensated by a noticeable increase in performance. Roland.
–
Roland Mas

The wait is over. There are now new kernels in squeeze-backports. There’s also Liquorix, which is what I’m using now.

Welcome to my new blog. It looks a lot like the Ode home page because I'm using Ode to run the site.

And I happen to like the default theme, called Logic.

There's a bit of work to do when it comes to adopting a new platform and customizing it, so this Ode blog should look less like http://ode-is-simple.com in time.

I hope to have many different kinds of content here, and possibly different styles/themes for each category, all without a fancy blogging CMS, reams of PHP code, a database and all that goes with that.

Let's see how it goes.