How to use LibreOffice on Ubuntu 24.04 using AppImage?
Whether you are a regular user of the Ubuntuverse (Ubuntu and its derived Distros) or a passionate user of the entire Linuxverse, surely in due time (April, 2024) or later, you will have learned about the official announcement of the release of Ubuntu 24.04. Or if you are a frequent or regular reader and visitor of our great website, perhaps you found out about said advertisement here or some other subsequent one related to it. Being good examples of this, our publications called "Ubuntu 24.04 LTS “Noble Numbat” has already been released and these are its new features" y "Things to do after installing Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat".
And as usual, after a launch as important as it is for the Canonical company and the Ubuntu project; since it is logical, normal and even necessary, the emergence by many users, communities, organizations and creators of Linux content (blogs, vlogs and podcasts) of practical and useful tutorials. Both to resolve some bugs or limitations found, and to improve or optimize the performance, scope and use of said new operating system. And precisely, in that same vein, today we bring you an ideal and useful tutorial on "how to use LibreOffice in Ubuntu 24.04 using AppImage".
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Noble Numbat Desktop Wallpaper
But before starting this new tutorial on «Ubuntu 24.04 and LibreOffice in AppImage format», we recommend you explore a previous related post with said Distro and version, at the end of reading it:
The long-awaited version of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS with code name "Noble Numbat" has already arrived and as is tradition in April versions with an even year (an LTS version is released every two years) one of the improvements that stands out is that It will be the first LTS edition of Ubuntu to receive 12 years of updates (5 years, generally available, plus another 7 years for users of the Ubuntu Pro service) which guarantees support until 2036.
Ubuntu 24.04 and LibreOffice AppImage: Installing FUSE (Libfuse2)
Solution to the problem of running LibreOffice AppImage on Ubuntu 24.04
Whether you have a recently installed Ubuntu 24.04 or if you have been using it for a long time, one of the best recommendations you can follow is to add support for FUSE 2-based AppImage applications. Since, as is well known, Ubuntu implements support for FUSE 23.10 by default since version 3. Which reinforces its intention or objective that its own packaging format called Snap is the preferred one when a user needs to install any application.
However, a good example that, Using Snap is not always better than using other formats such as Flatpak or AppImage, is the download size that will be needed to be able to use a particular application. For example, install the LibreOffice application on a freshly installed Ubuntu 24.04 It asks us for a download of almost 1.2 GB, while its use through the AppImage format only requires less than 350 MB. And that's not to mention that we could download the AppImage from any other computer with a better Internet connection speed and without the need to install extra add-ons or dependencies.
Therefore, and whether the AppImage to be used is from LibreOffice or another application, the command order necessary to make support for AppImage applications based on FUSE 2 possible is the following:
sudo apt-get install libfuse2t64
Or failing that, simply:
sudo apt-get install libfuse2
What we have been able to verify in the following screenshots:
LibreOffice via Snap
Running LibreOffice AppImage without Libfuse2 installed
Running LibreOffice AppImage with Libfuse2 installed
Tip: Do not install full Fuse 2 on Ubuntu 24.04
And finally, it is important to highlight or warn that, the Fuse package (Fuse 2) should not be installed completely, since this forces the operating system to uninstall Fuse 3 and with it, an essential part of the Graphical Desktop (GNOME 3). Making it possible for after the next reboot, do not bring up the graphical user interface (GUI). As shown in the following image:
Ubuntu Pro is a professional support service that Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, provides to companies. However, it is also available (On up to 5 computers) for free for home users. This service provides access to security updates for 10 years and allows you to apply patches to the Linux kernel without having to update. Activate Ubuntu Pro
Summary
In summary, to install «Ubuntu 24.04 and LibreOffice in AppImage format» It is possible with the simple execution of a command order, which allows quickly and easily the implement support for Fuse 2 by installing the LibFuse2 library (libfuse2t64). And it is worth noting that, once this trick, recommendation or post-installation step has been executed, it will be useful for many AppImage apps that have not yet implemented the use of Fuse 3, which is the current standard for Ubuntu since version 23.04. And in case you know another method or alternative to achieve this goal, we invite you to tell us about it via comments so that in the future we can dedicate a great and practical publication to it.
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