LibreOffice 6.2 on Debian Buster from DEB, AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap

This tutorial for Debian 10 explains how to install LibreOffice version 6.2 with 4 alternative solutions which are DEB, AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap (or I call it simply D.A.F.S.) you may choose one. They all do not remove the already installed version. If you want 32-bit version, choose DEB instead. If you want something else, read on, perhaps you will see good things other than AppImage. I hope this helps everybody. Go ahead and get LibreOffice 6.2 on Debian!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.

[ On Debian 10: Install Guide | Downloads | Mozc/Hiragana | WTDAI ]
[ On DAFS: Snap Guide | Snap Offline & Parallel | KDE Snaps | Using AppImage | Recommended AppImages]

Why bother?

Because up to today, version 6.2 is not available in all repositories of Debian including even Sid and Experimental. Alas, versions 6.1 and 6.3 are available. Hence, we cannot simply apt-get install libreoffice to upgrade the version to 6.2. So, we need other way (at least at the moment) to get this particular version. Okay, let's go to the D.A.F.S.

1. DEB Packages

Download: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download (select DEB from the option)

Advantages:

• Native, normal format of Debian applications.
• Parallel, does not replace the already installed version.
• Small, the compressed package is only 170MB, it's smaller than AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap versions. 
• Easy, no additional tool required and finished with only 1 command.
• 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.. 

Disadvantages:

• Uninstallation is difficult, you need to remove every package name one by one. 
• Complex by number of files, as the package consists of 42 different files.

Actually, LibreOffice is already available as DEB packages provided nicely for us in here 64-bit and here 32-bit. This is the only one option if you are still using 32-bit computer*. This DEB version is packaged by LibreOffice Project and not by Debian Project. To install it, simply extract the .tar package, get the folder with a bunch of files in .deb format, and:

To install, do this command in that DEBS directory:

$ sudo dpkg --install *.deb

And to uninstall, do this command in the same directory:

$ ls | sed 's/.deb//g' | cut --delim="_" -f1 | xargs sudo dpkg --remove 

*) Unless you yourself want to built 32-bit version of AppImage, or Flatpak, or Snap package.

2. AppImage

Download: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/appimage

Advantages:

• Simple, only one file.
• Easy, no command lines use needed, no runtime, no additional tool required, no installation needed and just double-click to run the program.
• Quick setup, it's the quickest one among other solutions here. Try working with different distros in one computer with AppImage, you will know what I mean.
• Portable, you can bring it on USB Stick everywhere you go.
• Parallel, does not replace the already installed one. 
• Small, it's only 248MB that is smaller than Flatpak and Snap versions.
• Uninstallation is easy, as it does not install anything & simply delete the file if you wish.
• No internet access, you can download the .appimage file on other computer and run that file without internet access on Debian computer.

Disadvantages:

• Unpopular, many people still don't know about AppImage. 
• Bigger than DEBs version, by 248MB vs 170MB. 
• 64-bit only, official built is not available for 32-bit PC architecture*.

To install it, simply download the .appimage file, give it Executable permission, and double-click it.



*) However, if you wish, you can built it yourself as the source code is available + AppImageKit is there for packaging AppImage.

3. Flatpak

Download: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/flatpak

Advantages:

• Parallel, it does not remove the already installed one.
• Available, it's compatible to Debian 10.
• Integrated, it's controllable using GNOME Software Center. 
• Uninstallation is easy, with just 1 command.

Disadvantages:

• Huge, or giant, to install LibreOffice alone we need to download 900MB of total data. Flatpak version is the biggest among all solutions here. 
• Needs direct internet access, you access the internet in order to get the Flatpak first and then get the intended program later on the Debian 10 system. 
• Complex setup, it requires command lines use, it needs you to add repository URL first to download the intended program.
• Slower setup, it's the slowest solution compared to all solutions here. It downloads the most size, it requires the most time, you will know it if you try to work with different distros in one computer.
• Not independent, you need to install additional tool to make it works.
• Not portable, more complicated (time, effort, size) if you want to bring it everywhere in USB stick. AppImage is better here.
• 64-bit only, not 32-bit version currently available. 

To install it, you need to install the flatpak program first using apt-get, and then add new repository URL, and finally install LibreOffice using flatpak.

$ sudo apt-get install flatpak
$ flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
$ flatpak install org.libreoffice.LibreOffice

To uninstall it, run this command:

$ flatpak remove org.libreoffice.LibreOffice

4. Snap

Download: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/snap

Advantages:

• Parallel, it does not replace the already installed version.
• Available, it's compatible to Debian 10.
• Uninstallation is easy, just by 1 command.
• Simple setup, no additional repository URL entry needed.

Disadvantages:

• Huge, second to Flatpak solution as it needs to download 400MB of data.
• Not portable, running the .snap file on other distros requires additional tools and direct internet access.
• Not independent, you need to install additional tool to make it works. 
• Slower setup, it's slower than AppImage although it's still quicker than Flatpak by its size and requirements of direct internet access.
• Needs direct internet access, you access the internet in order to get the Snapd first and then get the intended program later on the target computer and these cannot be done using other computer.
• 64-bit only, currently no 32-bit version available. 

To install it, you must install Snapd first (the required runtime) and then install one more required Snap package and finally install LibreOffice Snap itself.

$ sudo apt-get install snapd
$ snap install core
$ snap install libreoffice

To uninstall it, run this command:

$ snap remove libreoffice

References

• AppImage website
• Flatpak website
• Snap website 
• Differences between Snap, AppImage, and Flatpak (Askubuntu)
• Comparing AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap (Verummeum)
• Cross Distro Applications (Nitrux Project Blog)
• AppImage vs Snap vs Flatpak (Ostechnix)
• Solutions: Snappy, Flatpak, and Appimage (Datamation)
• Comparing LibreOffice 6.2 from AppImage, Flatpak, and Snap (UbuntuBuzz)

---

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.