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Install DVD support (libdvdcss) on Debian or Ubuntu
Last updated on October 10, 2022
DVD support through libdvdcss may also be needed by Handbrake (video encoding software)
In earlier Ubuntu releases, DVD support as well as many other media codecs were available through the Medibuntu repositories, unfortunately these have now been shut down.
Where do I find libdvdcss?
VideoLAN, the project behind VLC Media Player, hosts the last stable version of the libdvdcss library for debian-based Linux distributions. For RPM-based distributions such as CentOS, Red Hat, Fedora, SUSE, take a look at this DVD support how-to.
Installation Method 1: install libdvdcss2 through .deb packages
This is the easiest way to install DVD support, it doesn’t involve using the command line. Download the i386 (32-bit systems) or amd64 (64-bitsystems) version of the libdvdcss2 package from VideoLAN (the organization behind the VLC media player).
Open the downloaded file with the GDebi Package Installer, which is probably already installed on your system. Click install and you’re done already.
If you want to stick with the command line, install the downloaded .deb-package with the following command (use Tab ↹ to autocomplete the file name):
sudo dpkg -i libdvdcss2_version_arch_.deb
Newer versions of libdvdcss are only available as .tar.gz:
VideoLAN » Public » libdvdcss » last
(opens in a new window)
Installation Method 2 (recommended): libdvdcss2 repositories
VLC has its own help page on how to install libdvdcss through its repositories. Check it out here and follow the instructions to install repository and public key. Finally you may install DVD support through your system’s package manager (e.g. Synaptic) or with the following command lines:
sudo apt install libdvd-pkg
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg
You should now be able to play DVDs on Ubuntu, Linux Mint no-codecs flavors as well as other Debian-based Linux distros.
By Johannes Eva, October 2013 – October 2022
15 thoughts on “How to install LibreOffice 24.2 on Linux Mint, Ubuntu, MX Linux, Debian…”
You may use the official appimage in Libre Office as well. In fact, on Linux Mint 21 you can’t get rid of the default LO as it may lead to dependency issues. Appimage helps.
Pingback: Ubuntu 21.04: Essentials – Linux Sagas
Issuing
$ sudo apt-get remove libreoffice-coreinstalls an office core no gui. With or without purging. Yielding this:The following packages will be REMOVED:libreoffice-base libreoffice-calc libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-gtk3 libreoffice-impress libreoffice-lightproof-ru-ru libreoffice-math libreoffice-nlpsolver libreoffice-report-builder libreoffice-report-builder-bin libreoffice-script-provider-python libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql libreoffice-wiki-publisher python3-uno
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libreoffice-core-nogui
Many thanks for any clarification!
Right! The correct command for removing completely the stock LibreOffice on Linux is the following:
sudo apt purge libreoffice-commonThe following command also works but misses some packages:
sudo apt purge libreoffice*Thank you for your comment, I updated the article accordingly.
NOTE:- I found that Libre Office version 6.3.2.2 is extremely buggy, it has major dependency problems attempting to install on Linux Mint (Tina 19.2). I wasn’t able to resolve these problems so had to revert the install (remove 6.3.2.2-2) and return to previous version 6.3.1 which works fine.
**Windows 10 (1903) ALSO NOTE that LO 6.3.2.2 installs on W10 but also caused major performance issues and hung my system on reboot. My machine Borked badly so once again had to revert back to LO 6.3.1 which works fine.
Thanks for the Terminal codes. Newbies like me just want it to work and your codes provide the copy and paste necessities for Linux to do its magic.
(If it can’t be done in Linux (and LibreOffice) its not worth doing)
please help me with this error, newbee here
root@Anon:~/libreoffice# sudo dpkg -i *.debdpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
root@Anon:~/libreoffice# cd LibreOffice_6.0.2.1_Linux_x86_deb
root@Anon:~/libreoffice/LibreOffice_6.0.2.1_Linux_x86_deb# sudo dpkg -i *.deb
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
root@Anon:~/libreoffice/LibreOffice_6.0.2.1_Linux_x86_deb# cd debs
bash: cd: debs: No such file or directory
root@Anon:~/libreoffice/LibreOffice_6.0.2.1_Linux_x86_deb# cd DEBS
root@Anon:~/libreoffice/LibreOffice_6.0.2.1_Linux_x86_deb/DEBS# sudo dpkg -i *.deb
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
root@Anon:~/libreoffice/LibreOffice_6.0.2.1_Linux_x86_deb/DEBS# sudo dpkg -i *.deb
dpkg: error: dpkg status database is locked by another process
The last line says it all: check if you are running another instance of dpkg. In last resort, try to remove dpkg lock file:
sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lockThen let dpkg fix itself:
sudo dpkg --configure -aNote that this problem is not per se related to LibreOffice.
In Ubuntu, you could use this repository and LibreOffice will always be upgraded to the latest version:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
Details here:
http://tipsonubuntu.com/2017/01/31/install-libreoffice-5-3-ubuntu/
Please mind that the mentioned PPA is only available on LTS and the latest non-LTS release.
Thank you Stefano, that was the info I was looking for. This method works even for LibreOffice 6.
Would be useful to know how to install such alongside the native repository install of LibreOffice – without conflict. Would be useful to be able to choose, say, LibreOffice Writer 5.2, vs just LibreOffice Writer. Migrations / new versions not always working as seamlessly as one might like with files one might already have. It can be very frustrating to have a new version munge (e.g. formatting) of a current document one depends on, and not being able to ‘un-munge’ it.
Install alacarte to manage the menu itens.
Thanks Ogalho. Alacarte is a great tool, though it has not been updated for a while. An alternative is MenuLibre, which is also not very often updated. Anyway, here is a tutorial for Alacarte:
https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-manage-main-menu-icons-in-gnome/
Alacarte for Linux Mate Edition is named Mozo.
All of them should be good enough to create menu shortcuts for LibreOffice!
Works well. The only problem I had is that the icons were not created. I created them manually by running Writer, Calc and Impress and the using the “Lock to Launcher” option. This is how to run them from the terminal:
Writer: /opt/libreoffice5.0/program/oosplash –writer
Calc: /opt/libreoffice5.0/program/oosplash –calc
Impress: /opt/libreoffice5.0/program/oosplash –impress