Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 21067
Bad RTF from word should be fixed, not dropped
Last modified: 2014-03-20 16:43:53 UTC
If an RTF file is missing a closing '}' (as happened to me just now from an RTF document someone had created in word!) OpenOffice.org 1.1.0 (the latest version) will stop and give this kind of message: Error loading document file: /tmp/j.rtf Read-Error. File format error found at 281,7(row,col). OOo then shuts down. Using vi I could easily show that the '{' and '}' were not balanced. If I simply add a '}' to the end of the file, OOo reads the RTF in just fine. Solution: Instead of giving an error message, OOo should try to close all unclosed parenthesis. This problem is due to Bill Gate$ writing such poor software, but OOo should protect itself against his stupidity. As a general rule, it should ALWAYS read in what it can, even if it has to tell the user that things didn't go too smoothly.
Created attachment 10218 [details] example of RTF that OOo gives up on when it could just add an extra '}'
reassigned to mru
This might be a "nice to have" with a quite high effort. I don't think, that it is easy to find out in which place the missing bracket is to be found. Reassigned to User Experience dept. for decision. Also added CMC to cc list if interested.
OpenOffice.org Issue Tracker - Feedback Request. The Issue you raised is currently 'Unconfirmed' pending review, but has not been updated within the last 3 years. Please consider re-testing with one of the latest versions of OOo, as the problem(s) may have already been addressed. Either use the recent stable version: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html or consider trying the new OOo 3 BETA (still in testing): http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/ Please report back the outcome so this Issue may be Closed or Progressed as necessary - otherwise it may be Resolved as Invalid in the future. You may also wish to search for (and note) any duplicates of this Issue that may have advanced further by checking the Issue Tracker: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/query.cgi Many thanks, Andrew Cleaning-up and Closing old Issues as part of: ~ The Grand Bug Squash, pre v3 ~ http://marketing.openoffice.org/3.0/announcementbeta.html
I grabbed a copy of the file and tried it on oo 2.4.0. I got this popup: The document “rtfcrash.rtf” could not be opened. The file is not in the right format. The file might be corrupted, truncated, or in a different format than you expect. so the issue is still there. Furthermore, correcting the file by adding the missing '}' did work. See my previous notes for my suggested correction.
To grep the issues easier via "requirements" I put the issues currently lying on my owner to the owner "requirements".
"General Error. General input/output error." AOO410m14(Build:9760) - Rev. 1573062 2014-03-01_04:11:01 - Rev. 1573123 Debian Opens OK in abiword 3.
The same effects still occur with OpenOffice 4.0.1. However, the original problem occurred 11 years ago and I don't know where the word file came from. If this is not occurring for currently produced RTF files (how would one know?) then the bug should just be retired.
IMHO RTF origin is unimportant. If abiword can open the file, there is no reason Writer won't. PS A reply from a bug reporter after more than ten years is very rare - you’ve made my day :)
(In reply to Edwin Sharp from comment #9) > IMHO RTF origin is unimportant. No, it may be that the program that generated the original bad RTF no longer does so. That means the issue probably won't come up again. > If abiword can open the file, there is no reason Writer won't. But OpenOffice can't handle it... (and is happy if I use vim to add an extra '}' to the end of the file. > PS A reply from a bug reporter after more than ten years is very rare - > you’ve made my day :) :-) I'm persistent like that!!! (I've been working on the mathematics of how living things function for many years and continue to make progress - http://tinyurl.com/tomschneider .)