LibreOffice on Windows Server

Question

LibreOffice on Windows Server

denis.drannikov 1

Hello everyone. Can't solve the problem in Java Web Application. The application has been in production for several years now, I only add new functionality if necessary. For the last half of the year, all that had to be done was to update the libraries. But starting from December last year, it began to “freeze” for clients.

The functionality of the application is to work with documents of various formats: uploading to the server, deleting a document, creating previews, and downloading files. When uploaded to the server, the files are converted to .pdf format. So, the application is running on Windows Server 2016 Standart 10.0.14393 Build 14393 x64-based PC and LibreOffice 6.4.x.x is also installed, WildFly 20.0.0 Final on which the application is launched.

The task was to upgrade LibreOffice 6 to 7. I read the release notes and did not find anything that would prevent me from upgrading the LibreOffice version. We installed version 7.1 (just in December), then the problems started.

The problem is that when loading a file in the .docx/.doc format, the file is not loaded correctly, the preview is “broken”, and the “unkillable” soffice.bin/.exe processes remain on the server in the Task Manager.

As it turned out later, clients use barcodes in documents (but for 4+ years), and I also go to the “File” property in LibreOffice and choose “Properties…”, so I find the checkbox for embed fonts is enabled. If this checkbox is removed, then everything works correctly on any version of LibreOffice. But with it, starting from version 6.4 inclusive and higher - the program “freezes” for 2 minutes. This is the timeout limit in jodconverter per process.

However, if I do the same manipulations on my local machine where Windows 10 is installed, then everything works fine for me, as well as on other local machines. The problem is only on Windows Server 2016, which we have for tests, as well as for clients.
What I tried on the server: I installed the old version of the Java application from 2020 year and LibreOffice 6.4 and 7.1 - it still doesn't work. I took the latest version of the Java application, but LibreOffice 6.0 - 6.3 (inclusive) - and everything works. I also installed font with barcodes from a file - Free 3 of 9, it also did not help for LibreOffice 6.4 and higher.

Installing LibreOffice 6.0 also installed Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2015 x64, I thought that was the problem. But after trying different combinations, I was not successful in solving the problem. At the moment, Microsoft Visual C ++ Redistributable 2015-2022 x64 and Microsoft Visual C ++ Redistributable 2017 x86 are installed on the server. Guided by this article.

Regarding Microsoft Visual C ++ Redistributable, I read an article that earlier, when installing LibreOffice, this package was also installed in a parallel process, but Microsoft changed the license to use the software or something like that, and then The Document Foundation stopped inserting into the LibreOffice installation file Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable.

I want to note that the problem is not in the specification of files or barcodes since I created a completely empty document on the server, through LibreOffice, in the .docx / .doc format and put the font checkbox - it also “freezes”, and all the symptoms that I described above appear.

I came to the conclusion that the involvement of the Java application itself, fonts, or the .docx / .doc format in the error is unlikely, although not excluded.

Can you tell me the solution or where to look for the problem?

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Answer 1

MotoX80 37,686

Can't solve the problem in Java Web Application.

I would start by doing basic application debugging. If it's "freezing", well what is the code doing? What debugging tools do you have available? Do you have an IDE where you can set breakpoints and examine variables and step through the code? Did you put any tracing functionality into the code? Maybe you want to ask for help in a Java development forum.

For Windows tracing you can use Process Monitor. Maybe start by looking for "Access Denied" events.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

denis.drannikov 1 Reputation point

2022-02-20T22:36:40.78+00:00

Thanks for the answer. Yes, I have debugged the code. It all ends with the creation of the thread, through the ExecutorService and Future, namely the get () method in jodconverter library. The code doesn't "fall through" into this method, that takes a task and a task timeout value of 120 seconds. I think it has to do with the intricacies of the IDE, because there are many implementations of this method, both in Java itself and in different libraries. This is true for both normal files and "broken" ones. However, as I wrote above, on version 6.3 everything works fine, but above it starts to freeze. Debug behaves the same way both on the local machine and on the server.

Thanks for the Process Monitor tip, I'll give it a try. I also thought that the problem was access. However, I blamed the Windows Server 2016 security updates for December.
MotoX80 37,686 Reputation points

2022-02-20T23:44:01.443+00:00

It all ends with the creation of the thread, through the ExecutorService and Future, namely the get () method in jodconverter library.

I'm not a moderator, but I'll put on my temporary moderator hat and say that you appear to be heavily invested in non-Microsoft software which is not supported on this site.

While the problem could be the security updates, we have no way to connect the dots. In a lot of posts on this forum, we try to recreate the error to try to determine if it's a common problem or something unique to the users environment. I do have LibreOffice on my laptop, and if you were using IIS I could try to whip up an ASPX page to test.

But I have no clue what WildFly 20.0.0 Final is, or how your app calls LibreOffice. Maybe procmon will show you something.
denis.drannikov 1 Reputation point

2022-02-21T08:38:13.827+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. At the moment, I have answer on the LibreOffice Ask that this is a bug that was very similar to another bug, namely this one. Thanks again for the offered help.

Answer 2

Anonymous

I'd try asking the vendor for support.
https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/community-support/

--please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--

denis.drannikov 1 Reputation point

2022-02-20T19:08:32.17+00:00
Thanks more for your help. But I omitted the fact that I myself had already written on StackOverfolw, as well as on LibreOffice support earlier.
Here are the links:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71171600/libreoffice-on-windows-server

https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/libreoffice-on-windows-server/74205

Sorry for embarrassing you and not saying it right away.

Answer 3

denis.drannikov 1

At the moment, I have written not only here on this issue, but also on StackOverflow and on the LibereOffice Ask. As a result, StackOverflow does not know what to do. On the LibreOffice Ask, I was answered by one of the LibreOffice developers, who said that this is a bug similar to this one, but it was fixed in versions 6.4 and 7.0 - .7.1. And also asked to make a bug report, since this is a different kind of bug, albeit similar. Therefore, I see no point in further discussion of the topic, thanks to everyone who answered.

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LibreOffice on Windows Server

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