Hi! Greetings from the Escuelas Linux team. We are small Linux distribution that can be downloaded from https://sourceforge.net/projects/escuelaslinux/.
Some more references about our activity can be found by doing an Internet search, or on own Facebook account, escuelas.linux
We still provide a 32-bit edition of our distro, because among our users there are a lot of low-income public schools, in which are still in use old computers with about 512 MB to a 1 GB of RAM. That amount of RAM would make running a Linux 64-bit system awfully slow, so we have to accommodate to the needs and possibilities of what is available in poor areas, those in which even having an old computer is still somehow a luxury.
We perfectly understand that TDF releasing 32-bit Linux LibreOffice packages was not worth anymore, given the small amount of downloads. Certainly some of those downloads were made by us, as we only required one download of a given LibreOffice version to have it installed in our distro and be used in hundreds of computers. A lot of those computers could not even be traceable, since there are no Internet connection in poor or remote schools. But we believe that even if we reported who and where are those schools, that would be still a small amount to be worth the effort and resources required to match the bigger amounts of downloads that seems to be receiving the LibreOffice 32-bit Windows counterpart.
Given that TDF ended the provision of Linux 32-bit distribution neutral binaries, but not the 32-bit compatibility, we would like to step up to produce by ourselves the 32-bit distribution neutral deb packages from LibreOffice 6.3 and up. We are not aware of other distros or volunteers releasing the most recent LibreOffice version to date (6.3) as 32-bit distribution independent binaries.
Recently, the official LibreOffice Blog published instructions about how to compile LibreOffice on Linux. However, we’d like to be able not only to compile LibreOffice, but we would like to learn how to be able to produce by ourselves the same set of 32-bit distribution-independent deb packages that were compressed as a .tar.gz, that is, the LibreOffice binaries (LibreOffice_?.?.?_Linux_x86-_deb.tar.gz), the translated user interface (the LibreOffice_?.?.?_Linux_x86-_deb_langpack_??.tar.gz) and the offline help (LibreOffice_?.?.?_Linux_x86-_deb_helppack_??.tar.gz). As for the user interface and the offline packages, our main focus would be Spanish language.
On the download section is always available the following source code packages:
libreoffice-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
libreoffice-dictionaries-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
libreoffice-help-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
libreoffice-translations-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
But, given our inexperience, we don’t know how to use this source packages to produce the same set of 32-bit deb packages as were previously provided by TDF. Since LibreOffice is distributed in a lot of languages, we guess that the user interface and offline packages are not created manually one by one by hand, some useful scripts could have been created to automate as far as possible those tasks.
So, we respectfully ask for some pointers and steps required to reach this goal. In this way, we might be able to continue the production of the 32-bit deb packages, freeing TDF of that burden as planned but, at the same time, we could provide those packages for the parties that could be still interested in them. We could not be able to support rpm-based binaries though, someone else would have to step up if there's a need for that.
Please let us know if this request of help is feasible for the Developer(s) that are responsible of the LibreOffice packaging.
Some more references about our activity can be found by doing an Internet search, or on own Facebook account, escuelas.linux
We still provide a 32-bit edition of our distro, because among our users there are a lot of low-income public schools, in which are still in use old computers with about 512 MB to a 1 GB of RAM. That amount of RAM would make running a Linux 64-bit system awfully slow, so we have to accommodate to the needs and possibilities of what is available in poor areas, those in which even having an old computer is still somehow a luxury.
We perfectly understand that TDF releasing 32-bit Linux LibreOffice packages was not worth anymore, given the small amount of downloads. Certainly some of those downloads were made by us, as we only required one download of a given LibreOffice version to have it installed in our distro and be used in hundreds of computers. A lot of those computers could not even be traceable, since there are no Internet connection in poor or remote schools. But we believe that even if we reported who and where are those schools, that would be still a small amount to be worth the effort and resources required to match the bigger amounts of downloads that seems to be receiving the LibreOffice 32-bit Windows counterpart.
Given that TDF ended the provision of Linux 32-bit distribution neutral binaries, but not the 32-bit compatibility, we would like to step up to produce by ourselves the 32-bit distribution neutral deb packages from LibreOffice 6.3 and up. We are not aware of other distros or volunteers releasing the most recent LibreOffice version to date (6.3) as 32-bit distribution independent binaries.
Recently, the official LibreOffice Blog published instructions about how to compile LibreOffice on Linux. However, we’d like to be able not only to compile LibreOffice, but we would like to learn how to be able to produce by ourselves the same set of 32-bit distribution-independent deb packages that were compressed as a .tar.gz, that is, the LibreOffice binaries (LibreOffice_?.?.?_Linux_x86-_deb.tar.gz), the translated user interface (the LibreOffice_?.?.?_Linux_x86-_deb_langpack_??.tar.gz) and the offline help (LibreOffice_?.?.?_Linux_x86-_deb_helppack_??.tar.gz). As for the user interface and the offline packages, our main focus would be Spanish language.
On the download section is always available the following source code packages:
libreoffice-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
libreoffice-dictionaries-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
libreoffice-help-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
libreoffice-translations-?.?.?.?.tar.xz
But, given our inexperience, we don’t know how to use this source packages to produce the same set of 32-bit deb packages as were previously provided by TDF. Since LibreOffice is distributed in a lot of languages, we guess that the user interface and offline packages are not created manually one by one by hand, some useful scripts could have been created to automate as far as possible those tasks.
So, we respectfully ask for some pointers and steps required to reach this goal. In this way, we might be able to continue the production of the 32-bit deb packages, freeing TDF of that burden as planned but, at the same time, we could provide those packages for the parties that could be still interested in them. We could not be able to support rpm-based binaries though, someone else would have to step up if there's a need for that.
Please let us know if this request of help is feasible for the Developer(s) that are responsible of the LibreOffice packaging.
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