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64-bit OpenOffice.org installed and working
Posted by JLP on June 15th, 2007
When I got my first 64-bit processor (AMD Athlon 64 3000+) about 3 years ago I sure wanted to take all advantage of what it had to offer by running a 64-bit operating system and 64-bit applications on it. While there was 64-bit Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, there were almost no 64-bit programs and drivers for it. And even today the situation in the Windows world is quite pathetic when it comes to 64-bit computing. It was a few months after I got Athlon 64 when I started to look seriously at Linux which was much more at home on 64-bit hardware.
Searching the internet I found out that the best 64-bit Linux distribution for AMD64 (now called x86-64) was source-based Gentoo Linux. I knew it was harder to set up than normal binary-based distributions, but I was ready for the next level. I was ready to learn more about Linux, ready for 64-bit world and damn all that processor power had to be used for something, like compiling source code for example 
This was not my first encounter with Gentoo. I managed to install it before, on a very slow computer at video store where I worked over summer. So after a few days of of compiling, installation and setting up the new computer was ready and everything was 64-bit. There was only one exception, OpenOffice.org.
At that time OpenOffice.org wouldn’t even compile into 64-bit form. So I had to use 32-bit binary package of OpenOffice.org and 32-bit emulation libraries. Over a couple of years OpenOffice.org 64-bit porting team improved the code to the point it would compile, but reports said it was crashing a lot. A few months have passed and a couple of days ago version 2.2.1 of OpenOffice.org came out. I decided I would try to compile this version into 64-bit form. I did this today and it compiled just fine and after a couple of minutes of testing it didn’t crash at all. So my entire system is now pure 64-bit code and I can safely remove the redundant 32-bit emulation packages.
June 16th, 2007 at 07:03:17
So does this mean that parsek is 64bit safe?
June 16th, 2007 at 11:03:42
Yeah, Parsek should be 64-bit safe. Unless I’ve made some mistake or there is a bug hiding in libtpproto-cpp. But for now it still compiles and runs the same as 32-bit version.
February 9th, 2008 at 18:46:40
Hey there
I’m no whizzkid with computers (well I use them all the time - but I’m a creative esentially!) Like you I’d like to run openoffice on my Windows XP64bit machine too! No idea what ‘compiling’ involves though!!! Have you essentially ‘adjusted’ the program’s code so it doesn’t get upset with XP64? I wonder why openofice haven’t released a version for 64bit users?
..any help much appreciated
Ed
February 16th, 2008 at 15:48:22
@Ed Taylor
I didn’t have to change the source code in any way. It is just the default source code that OpenOffice.org provides. What compiling means is turning this source code into an executable program you can run on your computer. And I’m not sure if it is possible to run OOo in 64-bit on Windows. Situation in Windows is still almost as bad as it was a couple of years ago when it comes to running 64-bit applications. If you really want to run modern 64-bit programs on your modern 64-bit computer you should probably be looking at a more capable operating system which has much better support for 64-bit computing. You should take a look at Linux, it’s completely free. Download and try something like Mandriva Linux or maybe Ubuntu Linux. There is also a special Linux made especially for creativity oriented users: Ubuntu Studio. They can both run directly from CD or DVD so you don’t even have to install it to the hard disk to try it.
April 14th, 2008 at 08:34:11
Which java version are you using for successful installation of 64-bit OpenOffice.org?
Please share the steps to build 64-bit OpenOffice.org with us if possible.
April 14th, 2008 at 20:52:14
@Bhupendra Thosare
I used Java 1.5.0 (if I remember correctly). And the steps in Gentoo Linux are quite simple. I just make sure that java is in my USE flags and then run:
emerge -av openoffice
This downloads all the sourcode and needed dependencies and compiles OpenOffice.org.