One of the fastest ways to install the latest stable version of LibreOffice is through the Flatpak manager, Flathub. Several distributions, released in the past two years, come with Flathub preinstalled as part of their software repositories. See the list below.
There are two ways to install the Flathub package of LibreOffice:
Through the software manager or store
Through the command line
There is one line to type (or paste) into the Terminal application: flatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOffice
Uninstalling the flatpak: flatpak uninstall org.libreoffice.LibreOffice
LibreOffice DEB and RPM packages are what most distros come preinstalled with and offer the individual applications through its software centers. The FlatPak version of the office suite has its advantages, however.
Installing flathub on distros
Each distribution has slightly different commands to use in a Terminal application to install the Flatpak repository. Click here to visit a Web page with instructions for several different distros, including Ubuntu.
Distros with Flathub Preinstalled
Here are operating systems that come preinstalled with FlatHub:
- Linux Mint
- Pop_OS! 20.04 and later
- Endless OS
- elementary 5.1 and later
- Zorin OS
- Pure OS
- CentOS 7
LibreOffice Flatpak overview
This section discusses Flatpaks briefly and gives the advantages and disadvantages over DEB and RPM, as well as SnapCraft.
What is Flatpak
Flatpak is an alternative to Snap and the DEB and RPM package managers for installing LibreOffice and many other applications on a Linux distro. Many distros come with main Flatpak manager, Flathub, pre-installled, and therefore all Flatpaks in the store can be installed on anyone of these distros.
Unlike RPM, DEB, and other package managers, the Flathub manager can be installed on any distro. This means application developers don’t have to do extra work to prepare an application for a particular distro or rely on someone from the distro’s development team to make a particular application work with the distro.
Advantages over DEB and RPM
- The latest versions of LibreOffice can be installed easily on any distro with the Flatpak package preinstalled. This can easily be done through the graphical user interface store or through the command line.
- Latest versions can be installed.
- It, along with all the other installed Flatpak applications, can be updated with a simple command line command: $ flatpak update
- More secure because it is sandboxed, so it doesn’t use the libraries and dependencies provided by the operating system, like the DEB and RPM packaged versions of LibreOffice.
Disadvantages compared to DEB and RPM
- Not as flexible: With LibreOffice Flatpak, all the applications must be installed. DEB and RPM packages downloaded from libreoffice.org allow users to choose which applications to install.
- Takes up more hard drive space.
Advantages over Snaps
Flatpaks and Snaps are seen by most people as the same thing, and in a general sense they are the same. Both offer an easy way for developers to disseminate apps and users to install apps, regardless of what Linux distro the user is running. Flatpaks and snaps can be installed on any distro.
Both also can be installed on Chromebooks.
Many, who believe in the open-source philosophy, prefer flatpaks because they can be installed without the Flathub store that was mentioned previously on this page. Snaps require users to install the Canonical-run Snap Store. Canonical is the corporation behind Ubuntu.
Click here to learn about installing the LibreOffice Snap.
Disadvantages compared to snaps
One major advantage snaps offer is that the Snap Store offers more than just apps. It offers drivers and other software that make operating systems usable. The Flathub Store doesn’t offer this type of software.
Print drivers are an example of software that is available on the Snap Store but not available as a Flatpak. This would affect LibreOffice users.