Prevent libreoffice from being installed

Hi folks,

I installed Fedora Gnome 35 Workstation and Libreoffice came with it. I removed everything related to it, but when I try to update the system, dnf always pulls the packages back

sudo dnf update
================================================================================
 Package                       Arch   Version            Repository        Size
================================================================================
Upgrading:
 ...
 libreoffice-core              x86_64 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          110 M
 libreoffice-data              noarch 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          652 k
 libreoffice-graphicfilter     x86_64 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          261 k
 libreoffice-gtk3              x86_64 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          554 k
 libreoffice-help-en           x86_64 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          2.9 M
 libreoffice-langpack-en       x86_64 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          106 k
 libreoffice-opensymbol-fonts  noarch 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          152 k
 libreoffice-ure               x86_64 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          2.2 M
 libreoffice-ure-common        noarch 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          1.6 M
 libreoffice-x11               x86_64 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35   updates          240 k
 ...

Is it possible to stop this from happening?

Looks like some packages of libreoffice are still installed and thus, considered in the update. The packages in your list have never been removed (dnf just wants to update them, not install). I assume you have just removed the major applications like libreoffice-calc and libreoffice-writer.

Generally, sudo dnf remove libreoffice-core libreoffice-data libreoffice-gtk3 libreoffice-graphicfilter libreoffice-help-en libreoffice-langpack-en libreoffice-opensymbol-fonts libreoffice-ure libreoffice-ure-common libreoffice-x11 should remove the libreoffice packages you have in your list.

But let’s check if some further packages of libreoffice are still installed: sudo dnf list libreoffic*

This command will output all packages with “libreoffice” in the name.
First, it will output the “Installed Packages” and then the “Available Packages”. Installed packages can also be identified by the @ before the repository name (e.g., @updates instead of just updates implies installed). The “available packages” are not relevant for us. But if there are still libreoffice packages installed, feel free to remove them with sudo dnf remove <package name>. But always check the list of applications/dependencies that are to be removed along. If this won’t work or if you are unsure which packages to remove, let us know.

Because I have LibreOffice installed, on my system the above command looks like that:

[user@localhost ~]# sudo dnf list libreoffic*
Last metadata expiration check: 1:17:25 ago on Tue Feb  8 00:34:03 2022.
Installed Packages
libreoffice-calc.x86_64                                                                               1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-core.x86_64                                                                               1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-data.noarch                                                                               1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-draw.x86_64                                                                               1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-filters.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-graphicfilter.x86_64                                                                      1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-gtk3.x86_64                                                                               1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-help-de.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-help-en.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-impress.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-kf5.x86_64                                                                                1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-langpack-de.x86_64                                                                        1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-langpack-en.x86_64                                                                        1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-math.x86_64                                                                               1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-ogltrans.x86_64                                                                           1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-opensymbol-fonts.noarch                                                                   1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-pdfimport.x86_64                                                                          1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-pyuno.x86_64                                                                              1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-ure.x86_64                                                                                1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-ure-common.noarch                                                                         1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-writer.x86_64                                                                             1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-x11.x86_64                                                                                1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreoffice-xsltfilter.x86_64                                                                         1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
libreofficekit.x86_64                                                                                 1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       @updates         
Available Packages
libreoffice.x86_64                                                                                    1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-TexMaths.x86_64                                                                           0.49-3.fc35                                                            updates          
libreoffice-base.x86_64                                                                               1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-bsh.x86_64                                                                                1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-emailmerge.x86_64                                                                         1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-gallery-vrt-network-equipment.x86_64                                                      1.2.0-16.fc35                                                          fedora           
libreoffice-gdb-debug-support.x86_64                                                                  1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-glade.x86_64                                                                              1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-grammalecte.x86_64                                                                        2.1.2-3.fc35                                                           fedora           
libreoffice-help-ar.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-help-bg.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-help-bn.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-help-ca.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
libreoffice-help-cs.x86_64                                                                            1:7.2.5.2-4.fc35                                                       updates          
...
...
...
1 Like

Wow, that was fast! Thanks for the quick response, much appreciated.

If I’m not mistaken, I ran

sudo dnf remove libreoffic*

in the past, which worked just fine. But something might’ve gone wrong, because calling libreoffice was working and sudo dnf list libreoffic* didn’t show any package. Then I removed the files myself (sudo rm -r ... :sweat_smile:).

Now after installing it again and running the command you showed, it seems to be deleted for good. Let’s see if dnf will try to install it again in the future.

Thanks so much!

Add a line in /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
exclude=libreoffice*
This will stop any further updates for installed libreoffice packages.

Be careful with that. If there is software installed, you should update it, for both stability and security reasons.

Focus on removing what you don’t want. Not on avoiding its updates.

Focus on using DNF. I could imagine that the rm action broke its rpm database, leading to unexpected behavior. Reinstalling libre is likely to have given dnf the possibility to repair it.

The question is not just which command you used to remove it but also what was the output of that command. There is a reason if dnf does not remove some packages (e.g., you had other software installed depending on these packages or such, or something is marked as protected). It is definitely possible to remove libreoffice completely with dnf (and this is the way it should be done to avoid unintended behavior). After the dnf remove command, check the output and the dnf list command when it is about “multiple package” applications.

My guess is that you removed the writer, calc, impress and such (so, the major applications), but your dnf remove command did not contain the core package, which is why you could still open the common libreoffice window (although it would have been no longer possible to open the writer or calc), and this is why gtk3, etc. remained installed (and thus, updated) as well (the core depends on them).

1 Like

I have found another package in similar situation as libreoffice in the past:

$ which mcomix3
/usr/bin/mcomix3
$ sudo dnf list mcomix3
Last metadata expiration check: 0:05:42 ago on Sat 12 Feb 2022 06:00:35 PM -03.
Available Packages
mcomix3.noarch                                  0-0.23.D20211016git483f4b3.fc35                                  updates
$ sudo dnf remove mcomix3       
No match for argument: mcomix3
No packages marked for removal.
Dependencies resolved.
Nothing to do.
Complete!

@darley

The package is not installed.

This means only that this package is available for installation, but it is not yet installed; see the last column:
updates → not installed but available at the updates repo
@updates → installed

Thus, the output of dnf list mcomix3 and dnf remove mcomix3 is consistent. Whatever you have in /usr/bin/mcomix3, it is not managed / was not installed by dnf. Maybe you installed it using pip or another tool, or manually? Open a new thread if there are further issues.

1 Like

Oh, sorry about the noise, Here’s the thread.