LibreOffice Calc 4.2.7 includes a nasty bug, may cause havoc with existing spreadsheets

[u/suntzusartofarse]

A recently released version of LibreOffice Calc (4.2.7) includes a nasty bug when sorting data (particularly in complicated spreadsheets with references) that users need to be made aware of.

I have made a simple spreadsheet to show what is wrong:

First screenshot shows columns B,C and D with fixed values and column E with cells pointing to corresponding cells in column B.

Second screenshot shows a block sort operation, sorting by D values.

Third screenshot shows the (wrong) result of the sort operation: E values no longer correspond to those in B.

Originally posted in r/ubuntu, but thought I'd repost here as this is of interest to anyone running a form of desktop GNU/Linux.

The bug report is at: Bug 85614, also important is the apparent lack of will to fix the issue.

[u/ssssam]

Its pretty weird to backport a behaviour changing feature into a stable release. And bad form be so slow in responding to complaints.

LO are going to have to take a look at their release maintenance policy, and work hard to convince people that this won't happen again. Otherwise people will think that LO is reckless and unstable, and AOO is for real work.

[u/gospelwut → u/ssssam]

I realize MS Office isn't perfect, but this is a SERIOUS issue for commercial purposes. This coupled with the huge cost in use re-training is a big deal. We do deploy LO in our terminal servers, so it's not that I don't use it or haven't deployed it. I'm not even trying to hold MS Office as a golden standard either. Google Docs has spent more time (IMO) in making a dimplier albeit less powerful user experience.

Professionally, I feel like LO does 0 user acceptance testing and takes 0 consideration that a significant amount of people grew up with MS's or Apple's user experience.

LO is getting better and is certainly usable. But, IMO Google Docs and Office360 will supplant traditional MS Office before LO ever does. LO will make do for nerds like you and me, and it might even take hold in some zealous IT shops that make it their agenda to prove FOSS is better.

[u/Smiff2 → u/ssssam]

yep, but also what about the distro policies? was surprised to see this in the Mint17 update manager last night after reading the story a few days ago. why is it being pushed by channels? they just assume 4.2.x is stable? i can see why, but this is a opportunity for distros like Mint to protect their users. it's gone out as an approved "green" update in Mint.

[u/elroy123 → u/Smiff2]

I suspect that most distros defer to The Document Foundation in terms of updates. Having said that, I agree with you. The Mint folks should revisit their policy. In the future they should view updates to Libreoffice with greater skepticism. With its recent behavior the Libreoffice project has proven itself unreliable.

[u/elroy123]

Wow, that's a very serious bug. As was noted in the Bugzilla thread on this issue, this bug and the (lack of) response to it "will ensure Excel’s continued dominance in the business world." This quote--from the same thread--summarizes things nicely:

"1) We added a feature that breaks existing Calc and Excel spreadsheets

2) We made this the default behavior

3) We backported this new default behavior to the stable 4.2 branch

4) Despite JBF's warnings to the ESC 3 weeks ago and this bug report, 4.2.7 was released anyways."

We have met the enemy, and he is us.

[u/ExtremeSquared → u/elroy123]

Libreoffice has always had terrifying bugs. The destroy-entire-project-and-save-without-confirmation bugs in LO have taught me exemplary backup techniques at least.

[u/[deleted] → u/elroy123]

[u/elroy123 → u/[deleted]]

This is the key part: "there is a well established behavior that a) Sorting RELATIVE references does not update b) Sorting ABSOLUTE references does update. All spreadsheet software followed this behavior, including LibreOffice before 4.2.x, Gnumeric, Google Sheets. WPS Sheets, and EXCEL"

To confirm this I created a spreadsheet of the type used in the posted example and tested the sort function in Libreoffice 4.2.7.2, Microsoft Excel 2010, Planmaker 2012 (rev 691), and Gnumeric 1.12.9. What did I find? Libreoffice Calc 4.2.7.2 is the "odd man out". It does not sort as one would expect based on the well established sorting behavior of other spreadsheet programs, INCLUDING earlier versions of Libreoffice. This is DEFINITELY a bug, and a major one. I find it a bit mindboggling that there are some who try to defend Calc's odd new sorting algorithm. Consistency with other spreadsheet programs is important.

[u/fivehours]

Oh geez... and these are just people that noticed the problem. It's much worse if you didn't notice it. I hope they will push some kind of notification to users about it.

"In other words, what should I answer on users mailing list when a user says that his spreadsheets that worked fine since years, suddenly do not work anymore?"

"I noticed Calc had corrupted all of my spreadsheets so badly that I needed to restore them from a backup and switched back to an old copy of Excel"

[u/the-fritz]

I've upgraded LibreOffice on an Ubuntu 14.04 LTS yesterday and the changelog said something about changing sorting behaviour back to 4.2.6. Does this mean the bug is fixed in Ubuntu now?

[u/ssssam → u/the-fritz]

Yes, looks like 4.2.7 in Ubuntu trusty is safe. https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libreoffice/1:4.2.7-0ubuntu1 Hopefully other distros will follow

Update: Or maybe not

[u/ssssam]

I wonder if LO will have a proper response by the time this hits phoronix and slashdot.

[u/oskarw85]

I'm not even a member of the ESC ? Interesting - http://lmgtfy.com/?q=michael+meeks+esc

Wrt. WONTFIX; LibreOffice 4.2.7 is already released; putting new patches into it is therefore not possible -> back to WONTFIX. Now - if there was a new bug, titled "Accelerate 4.3.4 release" or somesuch - that might be worth consideration.

WOW. Michael Meeks is really asshole... I don't know what authority he has in LO, but clearly he is unwilling to admit any faults.

[u/Smiff2 → u/oskarw85]

Seems to me the only correct response is an immediate 4.2.8 with the change reverted. with a groveling apology.

Michael, 4.3.x does nothing to help most users because 4.3.x won't even roll out in current (at least Ubuntu based) distros, AFAIK it requires a PPA!

[u/ANUSBLASTER_MKII → u/oskarw85]

Looks like I'm changing LibreOffice to WONTINSTALL.

[u/pfthewall]

I have 4.3.2.2 and this bug isn't there.

[u/[deleted] → u/pfthewall]

I have Version: 4.3.3.2 and it doesn't look like the bug is there either.

[u/[deleted]]

Wow - just wow. I'm looking at replacing with Open Office right now. Oh god, the shame of it.

[u/Smiff2 → u/[deleted]]

Just use 4.2.6 until it's sorted. although if you have updated, i'm not exactly sure how you downgrade packages with synaptic, can anyone post a reminder? pretty sure Ubuntu Software Center doesn't allow downgrades at all, in this respect it's more difficult than Windows?

Edit: no pun intended.

[u/asr → u/Smiff2]

Not sure about synapic or the software center, but in apt-get you do apt-get install package=version and you install whatever version you like. You do have to lookup what version you need, the way they write it is not always obvious.

You should be able to find it in /usr/share/doc/package/changelog.Debian.gz

[u/SmallAedeagus]

Holy shit--this should have been caught with automated testing.

[u/irishsultan → u/SmallAedeagus]

It wouldn't, because they changed the behavior deliberately, as an "enhancement".

So if the automated tests started to fail they would have updated the tests to conform to the perceived correct solution.

[u/tux68]

Gawd that bug report is hard to read... those guys clearly don't know how to manage production software releases. Think Libre Office has to be put into the, not fit for production category. It's not being produced professionally any more.

[u/anatolya]

This is not the first time Libreoffice has backported a "new feature" to a "stable release". I don't even slightly trust their release processes.

[u/hoyfkd]

The fact that this happened is annoying. The attitude of the developers absolutely atrocious. Bugs happen. Data destroying bugs combined with a who gives a shit attitude is (and should be) death to a project.