LibreOffice warning gives wrong advice: "javaldx: Could not find a Java Runtime Environment!"

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I see the same behavior, on a fresh install of the final 12.04 precise iso for amd64.
I already had libreoffice-java-common, and did not have the file mentioned in the error message.

But I had no java command.

I tried what Oleksij suggested (wajig install libreoffice-base) which noted it would be installing default-jre (icedtea) and libhsqldb-java plus dependencies:

 The following extra packages will be installed:
  ca-certificates-java default-jre default-jre-headless icedtea-6-jre-cacao icedtea-6-jre-jamvm icedtea-netx icedtea-netx-common
  java-common libatk-wrapper-java libatk-wrapper-java-jni libhsqldb-java libservlet2.5-java openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless
  openjdk-6-jre-lib ttf-dejavu-extra tzdata-java

That seems to have solved the problem.

@christopher, which bug are you thinking of? Perhaps bug 733128? Bug 733128 has some discussion of this also, but seems focused on problems related to the ~/.libreoffice/3/user/config/javasettings_Linux_*.xml file

Setting to Wontfix unless there is some faulty behaviour connected with the warning. The warning itself is not serious.

There are still problems with the warning message. Lets focus this bug on fixing that. Please set it to "wishlist" at least, rather than "won't fix".

It sounds like Ubuntu made a decision to not require Java for LibreOffice - presumably to reduce the default distribution size and avoid potential security exposures.

But as documented on the LibreOffice site, some features won't work without Java:

 What features absolutely require Java ? - Ask LibreOffice
 http://ask.libreoffice.org/question/696/what-features-absolutely-require-java

Note that this results in e.g. bug #780399 “Wizard doesn't run without libreoffice-java-common installed. The user should be notified to install it when running a wizard." See also this AskUbuntu question:

 How do I get LibreOffice Extensions to work in Ubuntu 12.04? - Ask Ubuntu - Stack Exchange
 http://askubuntu.com/questions/127570/how-do-i-get-libreoffice-extensions-to-work-in-ubuntu-12-04

Given all that, the warning message should change. Now it emphatically declares that there is a problem, and tells users to install a package that doesn't actually fix the problem.

I'd think we'd want it to figure out whether Java is missing or the javasettings_Linux_*.xml file is causing a problem, and give a warning with better advice to the user, e.g.:

 javaldx: LibreOffice could not find a Java Runtime Environment. That's fine if you don't rely on features that require Java like some wizards, extensions and databases (see http://ask.libreoffice.org/question/696/what-features-absolutely-require-java). If you do rely on those features, install the "libreoffice-base" package from the Ubuntu Software Center.

Neal McBurnett, regarding your comments:
> There are still problems with the warning message. Lets focus this bug on fixing that. Please set it to "wishlist" at least, rather than "won't fix".

Wishlist is a Status, while Won't Fix is an Importance. For more on this please see:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Importance

> But as documented on the LibreOffice site, some features won't work without Java:
What features absolutely require Java ? - Ask LibreOffice
http://ask.libreoffice.org/question/696/what-features-absolutely-require-java
Note that this results in e.g. bug #780399 “Wizard doesn't run without libreoffice-java-common installed. The user should be notified to install it when running a wizard." See also this AskUbuntu question:
How do I get LibreOffice Extensions to work in Ubuntu 12.04? - Ask Ubuntu - Stack Exchange
http://askubuntu.com/questions/127570/how-do-i-get-libreoffice-extensions-to-work-in-ubuntu-12-04
Given all that, the warning message should change.
Now it emphatically declares that there is a problem, and tells users to install a package that doesn't actually fix the problem.
I'd think we'd want it to figure out whether Java is missing or the javasettings_Linux_*.xml file is causing a problem, and give a warning with better advice to the user, e.g.:
javaldx: LibreOffice could not find a Java Runtime Environment. That's fine if you don't rely on features that require Java like some wizards, extensions and databases (see http://ask.libreoffice.org/question/696/what-features-absolutely-require-java). If you do rely on those features, install the "libreoffice-base" package from the Ubuntu Software Center.

None of that justifies changing the warning message. If one reads the official Ubuntu documentation for installing LibreOffice in Ubuntu, and follows the directions to install the entire suite, this issue does not occur:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LibreOffice

libreoffice (Ubuntu) -> Wishlist

Oops - thanks for setting me straight about "wishlist".

As noted above, I saw this on a fresh install of the final 12.04 precise iso for amd64. So in effect I followed the advice at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LibreOffice to use the default install. But that page doesn't deal with the issues around Java and missing features at all. It probably should, and if so, perhaps that is where the warning message should point.

But please change this bug from "Won't Fix" to at least "Confirmed".

Neal McBurnett:

> As noted above, I saw this on a fresh install of the final 12.04 precise iso for amd64. So in effect I followed the advice at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LibreOffice to use the default install. But that page doesn't deal with the issues around Java and missing features at all. It probably should, and if so, perhaps that is where the warning message should point.

More specifically, if you followed https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LibreOffice#Full_installation the problem does not occur.

> But please change this bug from "Won't Fix" to at least "Confirmed".

I will not be toggling the Status of this report without a detailed, objective analysis to justify it.

I think this affects anyone on the default install who launches LibreOffice from the command line.

For more background and implications of not installing Java with OpenOffice, see also this blueprint proposed for the 12.10 Ubuntu release (Quantal):

 LibreOffice package split collateral damage analysis : Blueprints : Ubuntu
 https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-q-libreoffice-split

I think that underscores the significance of the issues, and supports the desirability of at least making the warning correct and helpful, rather than leading the user in the wrong direction.

In the meantime, hopefully this bug report will lead the people who find it in the right direction.

Based on the UDS discussion https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-q-libreoffice-split it sounds like perhaps the warning message should just advise installing the "libreoffice" package. Here is a revised suggestion around that, which also would require a standard summary of the issues on a web page somewhere:

 javaldx: LibreOffice could not find a Java Runtime Environment. That's fine if you don't rely on features that require Java like some wizards, extensions and databases. If you do rely on those features, install the full "libreoffice" package from the Ubuntu Software Center, which will pull in Java and libreoffice-base. See http://wiki.ubuntu.org/???? for background.

Hi

I followed the advice of @Oleksij Rempel, installed the libreoffice-base package and this fix the problem.
So I'm thinking, If it's just a dependency problem why we don't fix it? For me it wasn't just a warning, libreoffice-impress crashed every time and this is disturbing when you have to make usually presentations.

Thanks again for the help.

@fida: libreoffice-base needs libreoffice-java and java, so there is no chance for it to make it into the default install sizewise.

I encountered this warning on Wily. I found this article and installed libreoffice, per Neal's advice. Warning is gone. Thanks.