[Libreoffice-qa] Questions about contents of an extension file (mysql-connector-ooo.oxt

[Stephan Bergmann]

On 03/11/2013 06:13 PM, Dan Lewis wrote:
>       I'm not sure to which mailing list this should go to. Perhaps
> someone could tell me. I have created a linux mysql-connector (x86 and
> .x86-64). There are things that I want to know about the contents of the
> extension.

libreoffice at lists.freedesktop.org is probably the best list for 
questions like these.  I'm forwarding to there.

The generic documentation at 
<http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/Extensions/Extensions>, 
augmented with LibreOffice-specific 
<https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/Extension_Development> 
is the authoritative documentation.

> Questions about changing the "description.xml file in the extension:
>
> 1) How do I change this to refer strictly to LibreOffice, or should I
> change it?
>
> <description xmlns="http://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006"
> xmlns:d="http://openoffice.org/extensions/description/2006"
>      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">

Those XML namespace URLs must not be changed.

> 2) How do I change the dependencies to LibreOffice 4.0?
>
>      <dependencies>
>           <OpenOffice.org-minimal-version value="3.3"
> d:name="OpenOffice.org 3.3"/>
>      </dependencies>

Beside the generic OpenOffice-org-minimal-version dependency, there is 
also a specific LibreOffice-minimal-version dependency, see the above 
links to documentation.

> Questions about changing the "manifest.xml" file in the extension:
>
> 1) Can I change the reference to OOo to LO? If so, what part should be
> changed? Can /data/org/openoffice/Office/ be changed to
> libreoffice/Office as long as the openoffice folder is renamed to
> /data/libreoffice/Office/? (The path to the Drivers.xcu will have to be
> changed.)

File pathnames of configuration .xcs/.xcu files within the extension can 
generally be changed arbitrarily.  (In old times, when the configmgr 
loaded data only on demand, the pathnames of the .xcs/.xcu files had to 
match the hierarchical paths in the configuration, that is why you often 
see such configuration files still stored with such long pathnames.)

(The hierarchical paths mentioned in the configuration .xcs/.xcu files 
can generally not be changed, though.)

> <manifest:manifest xmlns:manifest="http://openoffice.org/2001/manifest">
>      <manifest:file-entry
> manifest:media-type="application/vnd.sun.star.uno-components;platform=linux_x86"
>
>          manifest:full-path="components.rdb"/>
>      <manifest:file-entry
> manifest:media-type="application/vnd.sun.star.configuration-data"
> manifest:full-path="registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/DataAccess/Drivers.xcu"/>
>
> </manifest:manifest>
>
> Questions about changing the "components.rdb"
>
> 1) Can it be modified to replace openoffice with libreoffice?

Hard to tell without seeing the contents of that file.  In general, UNO 
implementation names can be changed, as long as the corresponding 
implementation code is adapted accordingly.

FYI, LO has become very picky about duplicate implementation names. 
Therefore, if you change an extension identifier, you /must/ change all 
implementation names.  And, the other way around, if you change any 
implementation names, you should increment the extension version (in 
case you do not change the extension identifier anyway).

> 2) How can I get the extension's license to appear and require consent
> when installing the extension?

See the above links to documentation.  (Using the accept-by attribute to 
require users to agree to the license is just a PITA though, IMO.  But 
IANAL and YMMV, of course.)

Stephan