8 ms·

Ubuntu Bug 255161: Openoffice can’t print on Tuesdays

244 points by franze 12y ago

computatrum 12y ago
This reminds me to a a bug in pdftk that appeared only between April and December when Austria's localization is used: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pdftk/+bug/779908/comments/11 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pdftk/+bug/779908/...
spacefight 12y ago
The tracked and actually fixed bug is: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619
- NAFV_P 12y ago
  I usually rely on LibreOffice, but I was tempted to get OpenOffice back on my machine just to try out the bug. Anyway, thank you for the link.
cbright 12y ago
It's interesting to follow some of abrianb's comments by date: "When I click print I get nothing." -Tuesday, August 5, 2008 "I downloaded those updates and Open Office Still prints." -Friday, August 8, 2008 "Open Office stopped printing today." -Tuesday, August 12, 2008 "I just updated and still print." -Monday, August 18, 2008 "I stand corrected, after a boot cycle Open Office failed to print." -Tuesday, August 19, 2008
- gala8y 12y ago
  My girlfriend just stated, sitting desk to desk: "Every time I remove HN icon from bookmarks bar, it keeps reapearing". My answer, while reading this thread: "Must be a bug, file it." (of course she knows why)
- lauradhamilton 12y ago
  To be fair, if that bug happened to me, even with 10-20 data points I don't think I would have figured out it was a Tuesday bug.
riquito 12y ago
In the end the error was in the program "file", which erroneously was detecting the postscript file as an Erlang JAM file (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619)
- franze 12y ago
  file is funny, i just did file on standard JS file >file main.js >main.js: ASCII C++ program text, with very long lines
  - chrisseaton 12y ago
    Why does file always passive aggressively note the fact that you're using 'very long lines'? I'm not sure it's relevant to the format of the file.
    - scrollaway 12y ago
      `file` does more than identify the file format; it also looks for properties. It can detect sizes and color properties for most image and video formats, various audio properties for audio formats etc. "Very long lines" is sort of a property of text files. It means it's unlikely to have been written by hand for one thing.
      - chrisseaton 12y ago
        Hmmm... I'm cynically inclined to believe it's there as a condescending remark about people the authors of file think aren't real hackers because they're not wrapping their lines to 80 characters.
        tedunangst 12y ago
        I'm cynically inclined to believe it's there to identify people who can't read the source to discover the cutoff is 300 characters.
tagawa 12y ago
This reminds me of the case of the 500-mile email: http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html
- rbinv 12y ago
  This is great :-)
- dangoldin 12y ago
  Also the printer that would jam when printing one file: http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/200811/print_this_file_your_printer_will_jam.html http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/200811/print_this_file_your_pr...
  - couchand 12y ago
    That one is amazing. Just because a bug seems impossible doesn't mean it is. This comment reminds me of the magic switch (story [0], light HN discussion [1]). [0]: http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=181045 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=181045
    - dangoldin 12y ago
      This one's great! Thanks for sharing. Makes you wish there was a real cause though instead of speculation.
  - thomasbachem 12y ago
    Reminds me of the photocopier that altered numbers in documents: http://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_are_switching_written_numbers_when_scanning http://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_...
    - dangoldin 12y ago
      Whoa that's pretty crazy. It seems the pattern is a 6 being mistaken for an 8 but surprised Xerox didn't release the upgrade when they discovered the issue. Why wait for someone else to call you out on it?
Aarvay 12y ago
This made me smile! :)
progx 12y ago
Tuesday is no print day. Save paper ;-)

244 points by franze 12y ago

This reminds me to a a bug in pdftk that appeared only between April and December when Austria's localization is used: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pdftk/+bug/779908/comments/11 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pdftk/+bug/779908/...

spacefight 12y ago

The tracked and actually fixed bug is: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619

NAFV_P 12y ago
I usually rely on LibreOffice, but I was tempted to get OpenOffice back on my machine just to try out the bug. Anyway, thank you for the link.

cbright 12y ago

It's interesting to follow some of abrianb's comments by date: "When I click print I get nothing." -Tuesday, August 5, 2008 "I downloaded those updates and Open Office Still prints." -Friday, August 8, 2008 "Open Office stopped printing today." -Tuesday, August 12, 2008 "I just updated and still print." -Monday, August 18, 2008 "I stand corrected, after a boot cycle Open Office failed to print." -Tuesday, August 19, 2008

gala8y 12y ago
My girlfriend just stated, sitting desk to desk: "Every time I remove HN icon from bookmarks bar, it keeps reapearing". My answer, while reading this thread: "Must be a bug, file it." (of course she knows why)
lauradhamilton 12y ago
To be fair, if that bug happened to me, even with 10-20 data points I don't think I would have figured out it was a Tuesday bug.

riquito 12y ago

In the end the error was in the program "file", which erroneously was detecting the postscript file as an Erlang JAM file (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/file/+bug/248619)

franze 12y ago
file is funny, i just did file on standard JS file >file main.js >main.js: ASCII C++ program text, with very long lines
- chrisseaton 12y ago
  Why does file always passive aggressively note the fact that you're using 'very long lines'? I'm not sure it's relevant to the format of the file.
  - scrollaway 12y ago
    `file` does more than identify the file format; it also looks for properties. It can detect sizes and color properties for most image and video formats, various audio properties for audio formats etc. "Very long lines" is sort of a property of text files. It means it's unlikely to have been written by hand for one thing.
    - chrisseaton 12y ago
      Hmmm... I'm cynically inclined to believe it's there as a condescending remark about people the authors of file think aren't real hackers because they're not wrapping their lines to 80 characters.
      - tedunangst 12y ago
        I'm cynically inclined to believe it's there to identify people who can't read the source to discover the cutoff is 300 characters.

tagawa 12y ago

This reminds me of the case of the 500-mile email: http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html http://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html

rbinv 12y ago
This is great :-)
dangoldin 12y ago
Also the printer that would jam when printing one file: http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/200811/print_this_file_your_printer_will_jam.html http://nedbatchelder.com/blog/200811/print_this_file_your_pr...
- couchand 12y ago
  That one is amazing. Just because a bug seems impossible doesn't mean it is. This comment reminds me of the magic switch (story [0], light HN discussion [1]). [0]: http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=181045 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=181045
  - dangoldin 12y ago
    This one's great! Thanks for sharing. Makes you wish there was a real cause though instead of speculation.
- thomasbachem 12y ago
  Reminds me of the photocopier that altered numbers in documents: http://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_are_switching_written_numbers_when_scanning http://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-workcentres_...
  - dangoldin 12y ago
    Whoa that's pretty crazy. It seems the pattern is a 6 being mistaken for an 8 but surprised Xerox didn't release the upgrade when they discovered the issue. Why wait for someone else to call you out on it?

Aarvay 12y ago

This made me smile! :)

progx 12y ago

Tuesday is no print day. Save paper ;-)