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#1459 - Ubuntu: PDF generations fails
Server: Ubuntu Server 16 SuiteCRM 7.8.10 Mail-Marge-Reports extension: 2.5.1 (paid version) LibreOffice cde path: /var/www/html/crm-test/cde-libreoffice-pdf/libreoffice.cde LibreOffice working directory: /var/www/html/crm-test/cde-libreoffice-pdf/cde-root/tmp (Apache user may write) HOME variable: /root
I am trying to create a PDF document from an uploaded docx-template.
It works to create a DOCX file from the template. It does NOT work to create a PDF file from the same record and using the same template.
suitecrm.log shows: Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - Path env before: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - Path env after: /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - file_name: /var/www/html/crm-test/cde-libreoffice-pdf/cde-root/home/GEN-6d8633c9-4011-aeed-ed60-5bb520f7f1ff.docx Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - file_name_sandbox: GEN-6d8633c9-4011-aeed-ed60-5bb520f7f1ff.docx Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - file_name_pdf: /var/www/html/crm-test/cde-libreoffice-pdf/cde-root/home/GEN-6d8633c9-4011-aeed-ed60-5bb520f7f1ff.pdf Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - pdf_command: /var/www/html/crm-test/cde-libreoffice-pdf/libreoffice.cde --headless --nologo --nofirststartwizard --convert-to pdf /home/GEN-6d8633c9-4011-aeed-ed60-5bb520f7f1ff.docx --outdir /home Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - pdf_command - return_output: Array ( )
Wed Oct 3 22:01:41 2018 [27791][1][DEBUG] PDF - pdf_command - return_var: 127
I find it surprising that the PDF generating command seems to insist on using /home (Apache user does not have write permission to this directory) instead of the configured LibreOffice working directory. On the other hand, this behaviour seems to be hardcoded in /var/www/html/crm-test/modules/DHA_PlantillasDocumentos/Generate_Document.php: $pdf_command = $sugar_config['DHA_OpenOffice_cde'].' --headless --nologo --nofirststartwizard --convert-to pdf /home/'.$file_name_sandbox.' --outdir /home'; exec($pdf_command, $return_output, $return_var);
Why? And what can be done to overcome the problem?
Regards, Wolf
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WSiedler
6 years ago
Sorry, Mail-Merge-Reports version should be 2.5.12 Premium.
6 years ago
Oh, well...
I manually changed that command to: $pdf_command = $sugar_config['DHA_OpenOffice_cde'].' --headless --nologo --nofirststartwizard --convert-to pdf /var/www/html/crm-test/cde-libreoffice-pdf/cde-root/home/'.$file_name_sandbox.' --outdir /var/www/html/crm-test/cde-libreoffice-pdf/cde-root/home';
Unfortunately, it didn't help. Generated PDF file is still empty (0 bytes).
Any pointers? I need to get this working until 12th of October... :-(
6 years ago
Further update: The issue is not that pressing anymore. I managed to get PDF generation going by installing the full LibreOffice Package from the Ubuntu repositories.
I do think, however, that 750 MB of storage space is a bit much for pure PDF generation. Besides I fundamentally dislike to install a fat application like LibreOffice on a server.
I believe now that the LibreOffice-CDE package is incompatible with the operating system. For future Linux users of your extension, I believe the limitations of the CDE option should be more clearly explained.
Regards, Wolf
6 years ago
Hi Wolf,
Cde package will no longer receive support, and will be removed from MMR in future versions. Please review the answer to the case https://store.suitecrm.com/support/mail-merge-reports/1461. There you can find instructions for the installation of LibreOffice headless (it's a lite installation of LibreOffice to be able to generate pdf).
"LibreOffice working directory" parameter is used only for "LibreOffice exe/binary path", not for "LibreOffice cde path".
Regards
6 years ago
Review also this case https://store.suitecrm.com/support/mail-merge-reports/1443. We have not testet already MMR with LibreOffice 6.0, but probably will work.