How to connect LibreOffice 7 to JabRef 5.1 in Ubuntu 20

Hello,

I just moved from Mendeley to JabRef. I am working on Ubuntu 20.04, with LibreOffice 7 and I have installed JabRef 5.1.

I have followed the procedure from this page as well as from the official manual. Alas, I can’t connect to the document.

  1. The java runtime option is selected
  2. both JabRef and the Writer office are open
  3. The connection with LibreOffice is successful and JabRef points to the L.O. executable
  4. but when I try to insert a citation, no document is found;
  5. and I can’t select the document:

    I am running this version of Java:
    $ java -version
    openjdk version “11.0.8” 2020-07-14
    OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04)
    OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.8+10-post-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04, mixed mode, sharing)
    How can I solve this problem?
    Thank you

I re-installed L.O. and now the connection is automatic. Case closed.

Hello Gigiux,
in my case it isn’t working either. Could you please specify which LO version was installed and which is installed now (snap/deb) and which JabRef package you installed?

I have LO 7.0.1.2. I think the problem was that I first ran a sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-writer libreoffice-java-common jabref java-common to check whether the right java stuff was present. this command installed a LO 6 that interfered with the communication. When I purged LO and re-installed it, the problem was solved.

I have the same problem. I setted manually the directory of libreoffice program classes.
image

The Jabref start search for the synchrony and finish with the error of Autodetection failed:

com.sun.star.comp.helper.BootstrapException
at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.Bootstrap.bootstrap(Unknown Source)
at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.Bootstrap.bootstrap(Unknown Source)
at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OOBibBase.simpleBootstrap(Unknown Source)
at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OOBibBase.<init>(Unknown Source)
at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel.createBibBase(Unknown Source)
at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel$2.call(Unknown Source)
at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel$2.call(Unknown Source)
at org.jabref.merged.module@5.2.233/javafx.concurrent.Task$TaskCallable.call(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Hi,

by default the new Ubuntu verisons install libre office as snap package. However, due to security restrictions JabRef can’t access LO. You need to uninstall libreoffice from the snap package and install it as normal oldschool apt package. Then it should work fine.

Hi, Christoph, I have install the libreofficer by apt-get install or synaptic. How can I install correctly?

@LyzardKing can you help here? Thanks

Which version of jabref did you install?
To automatically integrate with libreoffice you need to install the deb version of jabref as well…

Hi @LyzardKing, I installed the .deb version 5.1-1 from https://www.fosshub.com/JabRef.html and try to the version 5.2-1, both unsuccessful. My libreoffice version is 7.0.2.2 and libreoffice-java-common is the newest version (1:7.0.2-0ubuntu1)

@Natan_Diego What version of ubuntu are you running?
I’ll see if I can replicate, but it’s strange…

The latest development version should be compatible with LO7
Have you uninstalled the previous version of LO7? .e.g sudo snap remove libreoffice ?

I tested with the versions of libreoffice in the ubuntu repos anche the upstream ppa, and they both work automatically, detecting the correct paths.
Check that the snap is not still lauched by running which libreoffice. That should return /usr/bin/libreoffice

@Siedlerchr, the output of snap remove libreoffice was snap "libreoffice" is not installed. I had already remove and purge the libreoffice by apt and install again.

@LyzardKing I’m using the Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy, the output of which libreoffice was the same descripted by you. /usr/bin/libreoffice.

Thank you both for the helping.

I’m running ubuntu 20.10, with the libreoffice-java-common package installed.
I didn’t set the path manually, it was set already to the correct setting,
and with the deb version of jabref it works…

It’s strange… is the correct directory /usr/lib/libreoffice/program/classes? I need specify something in libreoffice writer in Tools>Advance?

What explains this error descripted above?

com.sun.star.comp.helper.BootstrapException at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.Bootstrap.bootstrap(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.Bootstrap.bootstrap(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OOBibBase.simpleBootstrap(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OOBibBase.<init>(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel.createBibBase(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel$2.call(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel$2.call(Unknown Source) at org.jabref.merged.module@5.2.233/javafx.concurrent.Task$TaskCallable.call(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

The default path should be /usr/lib/libreoffice
You can try and set that path in the manual connect window

@LyzardKing, I changed the directory and didn’t work… The same error appears

com.sun.star.comp.helper.BootstrapException at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.Bootstrap.bootstrap(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.Bootstrap.bootstrap(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OOBibBase.simpleBootstrap(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OOBibBase.<init>(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel.createBibBase(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel$2.call(Unknown Source) at org.jabref@5.2.233/org.jabref.gui.openoffice.OpenOfficePanel$2.call(Unknown Source) at org.jabref.merged.module@5.2.233/javafx.concurrent.Task$TaskCallable.call(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source) at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Waiting someone with the same problem… Trying in a windows with the same version of LO and JabRef worked normally.

@Natan_Diego
Could you check one more thing?
In Tools -> Options -> Libreoffice -> Advanced
is java support enabled (with an installed jre selected)?