package libreoffice-common (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.9-9805

Asked by Glen Cooper

Previously I somehow managed to manually install libreoffice. I've been using it for months now and want to keep using it. Recently within the Spreadsheet app ("OpenOffice Calc"), it said that an update was available. Tried to update within the app itself, but that failed so I left it as-is at least for a week or more.

Today when I did a "sudo apt upgrade -y", that command is now erroring out with unmet dependencies, something to do with libreoffice-core. I haven't figured out what to do about it yet.

See https://pastebin.com/B4TKtbwp

I'm unsure what to do about this. Please email me at <email address hidden> if you have any suggestions.

At the very minimum I would like to keep my system up-to-date with making it so the "sudo apt upgrade -y" command doesn't error out.

Thanks!

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: libreoffice-common (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-48.54~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-48-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.16
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Date: Fri Apr 16 06:41:08 2021
ErrorMessage: trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.9-9805
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-12-10 (126 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.8, Python 3.8.5, python3-minimal, 3.8.2-0ubuntu2
PythonDetails: N/A
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.19.7ubuntu3
 apt 2.0.5
SourcePackage: libreoffice
Title: package libreoffice-common (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: trying to overwrite '/usr/bin/soffice', which is also in package openoffice-debian-menus 4.1.9-9805
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Question information

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Ubuntu libreoffice Edit question
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Solved by:
actionparsnip
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Revision history for this message
Glen Cooper (1glenco) said :
#1

This is probably more of a question than a bug so I'm converting it.

Revision history for this message
Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#2

You can't have libreoffice and OpenOffice installed on the same system if you use the package method of installing. Choose one or the other or install one in /opt using the manual install method (seems pointless and libreoffice development is much more rapid)

Revision history for this message
Glen Cooper (1glenco) said :
#3

Thank you for that! I didn't even realize there was a difference before you pointed that out. I'm looking into those differences more now and will figure out which way to go from here.

Revision history for this message
Glen Cooper (1glenco) said :
#4

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.