I removed my ~/.openoffice.org* folder and installed openoffice-base-beta but no ~/.openoffice.org folder was created. It gets created when you start soffice-beta the first time.

Maybe the folder was still present from the very past OpenOffice 1.x time?

No, I tidy up my home folder from time to time. Also, there was nothing else in ~/.openoffice.org but the folder 3/

I just tried again:

$ sudo pacman -Rns openoffice-base-beta
$ rm -rf ~/.openoffice.org
$ ls -la .openoffice.org
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-17 07:44 .
drwx--x--x 84 $USER users 20480 2008-09-17 07:44 ..
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-17 07:44 3

I did not run soffice-beta in between executing these commands.

sorry. can't confirm this. everything's fine here and other users reported it also well working.

[root@workstation64 andyrtr]# rm -rf /home/andyrtr/.openoffice.org*
[root@workstation64 andyrtr]# pacman -S openoffice-base-beta
Löse Abhängigkeiten auf...
Suche nach Zwischen-Konflikten...

Pakete (1): openoffice-base-beta-3.0_ooo300_m5-2

Gesamtgröße der heruntergeladenen Pakete: 0,00 MB
Gesamtgröße der installierten Pakete: 330,98 MB

Installation fortsetzen? [J/n]
Prüfe Paketintegrität...
(1/1) Prüfe auf Dateikonflikte [------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) Installiere openoffice-base-beta [------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------] 100%
>>KDE integration is no longer supported!<<
----------------------------------------------------
Please preset Gnome appearance always with
"export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome" even when
you are runnning a different desktop!
or put it in /etc/profile, rc.local, or ~/.bashrc
----------------------------------------------------
see http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Openoffice
how to use extensions now for spell checking
see extension manager what is shipped in the package
----------------------------------------------------
deploying dictionaries now........................
Optionale Abhängigkeiten für openoffice-base-beta
java-runtime: adds java support
[root@workstation64 andyrtr]# ls -la /home/andyrtr/.open*
ls: Zugriff auf /home/andyrtr/.open* nicht möglich: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden

the post.install file doesn't touch any users dierectories! where should it know what users do exist on your system?

Andreas, I understand your argument, but you are wrong. In fact, I just figured out one thing: the file ~/.openoffice.org/3/user/config/javasettings_Linux_x86.xml is installed in the home directory of which ever user installs OOorg. Since I used sudo, it was installed in my home folder, owned by root. If I install as root, the file is created in /root.

Compare the two following sets of comands:

================================================================================

ONE::

$ ls -ls .openoffice.org/3
total 4
4 drwxr-xr-x 17 $USER users 4096 2008-09-17 07:59 user
[$USER@archlap ~]$ ls -la .openoffice.org/3
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 $USER users 4096 2008-09-18 09:41 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 $USER users 4096 2008-09-17 07:44 ..
drwxr-xr-x 17 $USER users 4096 2008-09-17 07:59 user
[$USER@archlap ~]$ rm -rf .openoffice.org/
[$USER@archlap ~]$ ls -la .openoffice.org/3
ls: cannot access .openoffice.org/3: No such file or directory
[$USER@archlap ~]$ sudo pacman -R openoffice-base-beta
Password:
checking dependencies...
(1/1) removing openoffice-base-beta [####################################################################################] 100%
[$USER@archlap ~]$ sudo pacman -S openoffice-base-beta
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (1): openoffice-base-beta-3.0_ooo300_m6-1

Total Download Size: 0.00 MB
Total Installed Size: 291.69 MB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
checking package integrity...
(1/1) checking for file conflicts [####################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) installing openoffice-base-beta [####################################################################################] 100%
>>KDE integration is no longer supported!<<
----------------------------------------------------
Please preset Gnome appearance always with
"export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome" even when
you are runnning a different desktop!
or put it in /etc/profile, ~/.bashrc or ~/.xprofile
----------------------------------------------------
see http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Openoffice
how to use extensions now for spell checking
see extension manager what is shipped in the package
openoffice-spell-* packages are no longer required
----------------------------------------------------
Optional dependencies for openoffice-base-beta
java-runtime: adds java support
libcups: adds printing support
gconf: adds additional gnome support
nss: adds support for signed files/macros
pstoedit: translates PostScript and PDF graphics into other vector formats
[$USER@archlap ~]$ ls -la .openoffice.org/3
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-18 09:43 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-18 09:43 ..
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-18 09:43 user

================================================================================

TWO::


$ su
Password:
[root@archlap $USER]# ls -la /home/$USER/.openoffice.org/3
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-18 09:43 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-18 09:43 ..
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2008-09-18 09:43 user
[root@archlap $USER]# rm -rf /home/$USER/.openoffice.org/
[root@archlap $USER]# ls -la /home/$USER/.openoffice.org/3
ls: cannot access /home/$USER/.openoffice.org/3: No such file or directory
[root@archlap $USER]# pacman -R openoffice-base-beta
checking dependencies...
(1/1) removing openoffice-base-beta [####################################################################################] 100%
[root@archlap $USER]# pacman -S openoffice-base-beta
resolving dependencies...
looking for inter-conflicts...

Targets (1): openoffice-base-beta-3.0_ooo300_m6-1

Total Download Size: 0.00 MB
Total Installed Size: 291.69 MB

Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
checking package integrity...
(1/1) checking for file conflicts [####################################################################################] 100%
(1/1) installing openoffice-base-beta [####################################################################################] 100%
>>KDE integration is no longer supported!<<
----------------------------------------------------
Please preset Gnome appearance always with
"export OOO_FORCE_DESKTOP=gnome" even when
you are runnning a different desktop!
or put it in /etc/profile, ~/.bashrc or ~/.xprofile
----------------------------------------------------
see http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Openoffice
how to use extensions now for spell checking
see extension manager what is shipped in the package
openoffice-spell-* packages are no longer required
----------------------------------------------------
Optional dependencies for openoffice-base-beta
java-runtime: adds java support
libcups: adds printing support
gconf: adds additional gnome support
nss: adds support for signed files/macros
pstoedit: translates PostScript and PDF graphics into other vector formats
[root@archlap $USER]# ls -la /home/$USER/.openoffice.org/
ls: cannot access /home/$USER/.openoffice.org/: No such file or directory
[root@archlap $USER]# ls -la ~/.openoffice.org
.openoffice.org/ .openoffice.org2/
[root@archlap $USER]# ls -la ~/.openoffice.org/3/user/config/javasettings_Linux_x86.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1163 2008-09-18 09:47 /root/.openoffice.org/3/user/config/javasettings_Linux_x86.xml

================================================================================


Given that there is a .openoffice.org2/ in /root shows that the bug was there during the OOorg 2.x period as well. Please have a look at it.

Can you please remove that directory and try to install using --noscriptlet option. I'm not sure if the "unopkg" call in the .install file causes the creation of that directory.

*When I tried to start soffice, it complained about not being able to access the folder ~/.openoffice/3/*

I have the exact same problem and this is the first time I'm installing OOo on this machine (new Arch install).

I'm running pacman thru sudo command. Changing permission manually solved the issue.

I will remove the dictionary deployment for the next release from the post.install script. Then the user directory shouldn't be touched anymore.