This basic step-by-step guide explains you all how to download and install latest version of Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 version on RHEL 6.3/6.2/6.1/6/5.8, CentOS 6.3/6.2/6.1/6/5.8 and Fedora 17,16,15,14,13,12 systems using OpenOffice RPM’s.

You might also be interested in following article:

1. Install LibreOffice 4.0.2 on RHEL/CentOS 6.3/5.8 and Fedora 17/16

What Is Apache OpenOffice?

Apache OpenOffice is a most popular and open source application suit for Linux, Windows & Mac used for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, database, formula and much more. OpenOffice is used by more than 100 millions of users across the globe in corporates, homes and research centers with almost in 15 languages. It is available freely for download and works on all common systems.

OpenOffice 3.4.1 Features

1. Performance improvement for faster startup
2. 15 supported languages
3. ODF Support with encryption option and new functions for spreadsheet
4. Extended support for pivot table in Calc
5. improvements in performance and quality
6. CSV support
7. MailMerge Scan

The complete list of features can be found at Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1.

Requirements for Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1

1. JRE (Java Runtime Environment) 1.5
2. Kernel 2.6 or higher and glibc2 2.11 or higher
3. Minimum 256MB and recommended 512MB RAM.
4. Disk space 400MB

Install Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 on RHEL/CentOS and Fedora

Step 1: Installing JRE (Java Runtime Environment) for OpenOffice

If you like to integrate Java support, you must have latest JRE 1.5 installed on your system. To check whether installed on your system, run the following command. You will get results similar to below.

[root@tecmint ~]# java -version

java version "1.6.0_24"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea6 1.11.3) (rhel-1.48.1.11.3.el6_2-i386)
OpenJDK Client VM (build 20.0-b12, mixed mode)

In case, if you get an error like “command not found” or version below than 1.4, then it means you need to install or update to latest version, using below yum command. Alternatively, you can download JRE for Linux at http://www.java.com/en/download/linux_manual.jsp

# yum install jre

Step 2: Downloading OpenOffice.org 3.4.1

Download OpenOffice.org 3.4.1 using Wget command based on your system bit.

For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora 32-Bit

# cd /tmp
# wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/files/stable/3.4.1/Apache_OpenOffice_incubating_3.4.1_Linux_x86_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz/download -O OpenOffice_3.4.1_Linux_x86_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz

For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora 64-Bit

# cd /tmp
# wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/files/stable/3.4.1/Apache_OpenOffice_incubating_3.4.1_Linux_x86-64_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz/download -O OpenOffice_3.4.1_Linux_x86-64_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz

Step 3: Removing Old OpenOffice Version

Removing existing old OpenOffice and LibreOffice packages from the system.

yum remove openoffice.org* libreoffice.org*

Ste 4: Disabling Old OpenOffice and LibreOffice Package Updates

Disabling feature updates for both by adding a disable option in /etc/yum.conf file.

# vi /etc/yum.conf

## Disable updates for OpenOffice and LibreOffice
[main]
exclude=openoffice.org-ure* libreoffice-ure*

Step 5: Extracting OpenOffice 3.4.1 Package

Use Tar command to extract the package in the current directory.

## For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora 32-Bit ##
# tar -xzvf Apache_OpenOffice_incubating_3.4.1_Linux_x86_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz

## For RHEL/CentOS/Fedora 64-Bit ##
# tar -xzvf Apache_OpenOffice_incubating_3.4.1_Linux_x86-64_install-rpm_en-US.tar.gz

Step 6: Installing OpenOffice 3.4.1 Package

Now execute following RPM command to install all the RPM packages at once.

# rpm -Uvh /tmp/en-US/RPMS/*.rpm /tmp/en-US/RPMS/desktop-integration/openoffice.org3.4-redhat-*.rpm

Step 7: Starting Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1

On the terminal execute following command to start the OpenOffice application.

# openoffice.org3

Step 8: Screenshots of Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1

Start OpenOffice from Desktop

OpenOffice Welcome Screen

OpenOffice About Page

OpenOffice Spreadsheet

OpenOffice Presentation