Any ideas why lock files do not work in Chrome OS’ Linux VM?

[Paul Menzel]

Dear LibreOffice folks,


Wanting to run LibreOffice on a Google Chromebook with Chrome OS 
117.0.5938.157, one can enable the Linux development environment, a VM 
running Debian 11 (bullseye/oldstable), and install LibreOffice 7.0.4 
into it:

     $ sudo apt update
     $ sudo apt install libreoffice # 1:7.0.4-4+deb11u7

The German tutorial *LibreOffice unter Google Chrome OS auf einem 
Chromebook nutzen* [1] says to disable create of lock files by editing 
`/usr/lib/libreoffice/program/soffice` and commenting out the lines below:

     SAL_ENABLE_FILE_LOCKING=1 export
     SAL_ENABLE_FILE_LOCKING

Then, under expert settings `useLocking` and `UseDocumentOOoLockfile` 
need to be set to `false`.

Does somebody know, why this is needed? Could LibreOffice be improved to 
enable/disable file locking at runtime depending on the environment?


Kind regards,

Paul


[1]: 
https://linux-in-der-schule.de/2021/05/03/libreoffice-unter-google-chrome-os-auf-einem-chromebook-nutzen/