Tim Coulter
23 Sept. 2004

By creating a new template, setting that new template as default, and then
editing the template file outside of OpenOffice, I was able to prevent
OpenOffice.org Calc, Draw, Impress and Writer from running on a Linux machine. I
tested this error on two separate configurations. Here are my steps:

1)Run OpenOffice.org Calc. A new spreadsheet labeled “Untitled1†should be
opened by default.

2)From the menu bar, select File > Templates > Save...  A “Templates†dialog box
should pop up.

3)In the “New Template†edit box, type “New Template†(without the double
quotes). Make sure the “Default†category is highlighted under the “Categories†
list box. 

4)Select the “OK†button, and the “Templates†dialog box should disappear. 

5)From the menu bar, select File > Templates > Organize...  The “Template
Management†dialog box should pop up.

6)Expand the template folder named “Default†by double-clicking on the that
folder. Once expanded, the template entry “New Template†should show up as a
child under the “Default†folder.

7)Right click on the “New Template†entry and select “Set As Default Templateâ€
from the pop-up menu.

8)Click the “Close†button in the “Template Management†dialog. The “Template
Management†dialog should disappear.

9)Close OpenOffice.org Calc by selecting File > Exit from the menu bar.

10)Edit the file "~/.openoffice/1.1.2/user/template/New Template.stc" with your
desired text editor. 

11)Delete the first 5 characters in this file. (The number 5 is a random number
chosen that successfully corrupts the template file).

12)Save the "~/.openoffice/1.1.2/user/template/New Template.stc" file.

10)Run OpenOffice.org Calc again. After the OpenOffice.org loading screen
disappears, nothing should happen, and OpenOffice.org Calc fails to start.


Performing the steps above with OpenOffice.org Writer, Impress and Draw will
yield the same results. Note: Calc, Draw, Impress and Writer create template
files with the file extensions .stc, .std, .sti, and .stw respectively. When
performing steps 10, 11, and 12, make sure the correct file is edited and saved. 

Note for OO.o 1.1.0: The template file(s) used in steps 10, 11, and 12 are
located in the "~/.openoffice/user/template" directory.

I was able to get Calc, Writer, Impress and Draw running again by deleting my
“~/.openoffice†directory. After re-running either of the OpenOffice programs,
my user directory was re-created and the default settings were restored. The
command used to delete my “~/.openoffice†directory was "rm -rfv ~/.openoffice".

This issue is very similar to issue 34575:
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=34575

The configurations used to test this error are:

Machine 1:
	Gentoo Linux Kernel 2.6.8-gentoo-r3
	Running OpenOffice.org 1.1.2
	AMD Athlon XP Mobile processor 2600 (2.0 Ghz)
	ATI Radeon Mobility IGP 320M (U1)
	768 MB RAM total
	64 MB RAM shared with video card

Machine 2:
	Fedora Core Linux Kernel 2.6.7
	Running OpenOffice.org 1.1.0
	Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 Ghz
	1 GB RAM