I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a
sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to
install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'unixodbc-bin' has no installation candidate
root@t470#

So what do I need to do to get this working? Ignoring the error and
continuing fails.

What I suspect I need is an up to date guide on how to get sqlite3
working with libreoffice base but I can't find one. All the guides I
can find are many years out of date and I suspect that may be the
reason I'm getting the above error.


--
Chris Green
·

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 15:37:38 +0100, Chris Green wrote:

I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a
sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to
install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc

Why did you type that command?

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'unixodbc-bin' has no installation candidate
root@t470#

So what do I need to do to get this working? Ignoring the error and continuing fails.

What I suspect I need is an up to date guide on how to get sqlite3
working with libreoffice base but I can't find one. All the guides I
can find are many years out of date and I suspect that may be the
reason I'm getting the above error.

Oh, you're blindly following some ancient third-party "guide". Well,
maybe the packages were merged or something. Does it work if you
simply omit the -bin package?

Does your guide tell you *why* each of these packages was needed?
Probably not....

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Chris Green wrote:

I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a
sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to
install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'unixodbc-bin' has no installation candidate
root@t470#

So what do I need to do to get this working? Ignoring the error and continuing fails.

What I suspect I need is an up to date guide on how to get sqlite3
working with libreoffice base but I can't find one. All the guides I
can find are many years out of date and I suspect that may be the
reason I'm getting the above error.

If you don't know what you're doing but you do know the tools,
you can generally make progress.

Most packages have at least one man page, and often a README or
other useful doc in /usr/share/docs/package-name


packages.debian.org has a search function, which can helpfully
look at all releases ever. unixodbc-bin hasn't existed since
buster, and says:

This package contains three graphical applications for use with unixODBC, the Open DataBase Connectivity suite: ODBCConfig, a graphical configuration tool for managing database drivers and access to individual databases; DataManager, a simple browser and
query tool for ODBC databases; and odbctest, a tool for testing the ODBC API itself.

The unixodbc.org site says that the last release of odbcconfig
was in 1999.


Now... all that being said, I have no idea why unixodbc would
have anything much to do with sqlite. The essence of sqlite is
that support is built into your program, not an external
database manager, and all you should have to do is specify where
you want a sqlite file to be created.

and indeed, apt show libreoffice-base-drivers says:

This package contains the database connectivity drivers used by LibreOffices
database functionality:
- ODBC
- JDBC
- dBase
- Calc
- Flat files
.
You can extend this by installing:
.
* unixodbc: ODBC database support
* libmyodbc | odbc-postgresql | libsqliteodbc | tdsodbc | odbc-mdbtools: ODBC
drivers for:
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- SQLite
- MS SQL / Sybase SQL
- *.mdb (JET / MS Access)
* libmariadb-java | libpg-java | libjtds-java: JDBC Drivers
for:
- MySQL/MariaDB
- PostgreSQL
- MS SQL Server and Sybase
* libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb: embedded HSQLDB SDBC Driver
* libreoffice-sdbc-firebird: Firebird SDBC Driver
* libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql: PostgreSQL SDBC Driver
* libreoffice-sdbc-mysql: MySQL/MariaDB SDBC Driver


That | symbol means "any of these alternatives will do" and sure
enough:

libsqliteodbc/stable 0.9998-3+b1 amd64

is available to install.

So you should make sure you have libreoffice-base,
libreoffice-base-drivers, and libsqliteodbc installed.

-dsr-

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> wrote:

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 15:37:38 +0100, Chris Green wrote:

I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a
sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to
install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc

Why did you type that command?

Beacause that's what several of the places (admittedly old) that tell
you what you need to do say that these packages are needed.

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'unixodbc-bin' has no installation candidate
root@t470#

So what do I need to do to get this working? Ignoring the error and continuing fails.

What I suspect I need is an up to date guide on how to get sqlite3
working with libreoffice base but I can't find one. All the guides I
can find are many years out of date and I suspect that may be the
reason I'm getting the above error.

Oh, you're blindly following some ancient third-party "guide". Well,
maybe the packages were merged or something. Does it work if you
simply omit the -bin package?

No, it doesn't work if I just carry on without unixodbc-bin. I wasn't following all **that** blindly! :-)

Does your guide tell you *why* each of these packages was needed?
Probably not....

I doubt if they know!

--
Chris Green
·

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> wrote:

Chris Green wrote:

I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a
sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to
install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'unixodbc-bin' has no installation candidate
root@t470#

So what do I need to do to get this working? Ignoring the error and continuing fails.

What I suspect I need is an up to date guide on how to get sqlite3
working with libreoffice base but I can't find one. All the guides I
can find are many years out of date and I suspect that may be the
reason I'm getting the above error.

If you don't know what you're doing but you do know the tools,
you can generally make progress.

Most packages have at least one man page, and often a README or
other useful doc in /usr/share/docs/package-name

packages.debian.org has a search function, which can helpfully
look at all releases ever. unixodbc-bin hasn't existed since
buster, and says:

This package contains three graphical applications for use with unixODBC,
the Open DataBase Connectivity suite: ODBCConfig, a graphical configuration tool for managing database drivers and access to individual databases; DataManager, a simple browser and query tool for ODBC databases; and odbctest,
a tool for testing the ODBC API itself.

The unixodbc.org site says that the last release of odbcconfig
was in 1999.

Now... all that being said, I have no idea why unixodbc would
have anything much to do with sqlite. The essence of sqlite is
that support is built into your program, not an external
database manager, and all you should have to do is specify where
you want a sqlite file to be created.

and indeed, apt show libreoffice-base-drivers says:

This package contains the database connectivity drivers used by LibreOffices
database functionality:
- ODBC
- JDBC
- dBase
- Calc
- Flat files
.
You can extend this by installing:
.
* unixodbc: ODBC database support
* libmyodbc | odbc-postgresql | libsqliteodbc | tdsodbc | odbc-mdbtools: ODBC
drivers for:
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- SQLite
- MS SQL / Sybase SQL
- *.mdb (JET / MS Access)
* libmariadb-java | libpg-java | libjtds-java: JDBC Drivers
for:
- MySQL/MariaDB
- PostgreSQL
- MS SQL Server and Sybase
* libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb: embedded HSQLDB SDBC Driver
* libreoffice-sdbc-firebird: Firebird SDBC Driver
* libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql: PostgreSQL SDBC Driver
* libreoffice-sdbc-mysql: MySQL/MariaDB SDBC Driver

That | symbol means "any of these alternatives will do" and sure
enough:

libsqliteodbc/stable 0.9998-3+b1 amd64

is available to install.

So you should make sure you have libreoffice-base,
libreoffice-base-drivers, and libsqliteodbc installed.

I do have all those installed:-

root@q957# dpkg -l | grep libreoffice-base
ii libreoffice-base 4:25.2.3-2~bpo12+1 amd64 office productivity suite -- database
ii libreoffice-base-core 4:25.2.3-2~bpo12+1 amd64 office productivity suite -- shared library
ii libreoffice-base-drivers 4:25.2.3-2~bpo12+1 amd64 Database connectivity drivers for LibreOffice
root@q957# dpkg -l | grep libsqliteodbc
ii libsqliteodbc:amd64 0.9998-3+b1 amd64 ODBC driver for SQLite embedded database

I can't get libreoffice base to read from a sqlite3 database though.

As I said there's virtually no up to date information I can find about connecting libreoffice to a sqlite3 database, all the howtos I can
find are many years old (hence the missing unixodbc-bin).



--
Chris Green
·

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 05:58:30PM +0100, Chris Green wrote:

Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> wrote:

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 15:37:38 +0100, Chris Green wrote:

I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a
sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to
install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc

Why did you type that command?

Beacause that's what several of the places (admittedly old) that tell
you what you need to do say that these packages are needed.

`apt show libreoffice` says unixodbc
is the package for ODBC database support.

For what it is worth: sqlite3 and ODBC are not the same.

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'unixodbc-bin' has no installation candidate
root@t470#

So what do I need to do to get this working? Ignoring the error and continuing fails.

What I suspect I need is an up to date guide on how to get sqlite3 working with libreoffice base but I can't find one. All the guides I
can find are many years out of date and I suspect that may be the
reason I'm getting the above error.

Oh, you're blindly following some ancient third-party "guide". Well,
maybe the packages were merged or something. Does it work if you
simply omit the -bin package?

No, it doesn't work if I just carry on without unixodbc-bin.

Please elaborate. For https://xyproblem.info reasons.


Groeten
Geert Stappers


$ apt show libreoffice
Package: libreoffice
Version: 4:25.2.3-2
Priority: optional
Section: metapackages
Maintainer: Debian LibreOffice Maintainers <debian-openoffice@lists.debian.org> Installed-Size: 74.8 kB
Depends: libreoffice-base, libreoffice-calc, libreoffice-core (=
4:25.2.3-2), libreoffice-draw, libreoffice-impress, libreoffice-math,
libreoffice-report-builder-bin, libreoffice-writer, python3-uno
Recommends: fonts-crosextra-caladea, fonts-crosextra-carlito,
fonts-dejavu, fonts-linuxlibertine, fonts-noto-core, fonts-noto-extra,
fonts-noto-mono, fonts-noto-ui-core, fonts-sil-gentium-basic,
libreoffice-nlpsolver, libreoffice-report-builder,
libreoffice-script-provider-bsh, libreoffice-script-provider-js,
libreoffice-script-provider-python, libreoffice-sdbc-mysql,
libreoffice-sdbc-postgresql, libreoffice-wiki-publisher,
libreoffice-java-common (>= 4:25.2.3~), fonts-liberation (>= 1:2),
fonts-liberation-sans-narrow
Suggests: cups-bsd, firefox-esr | thunderbird | firefox, ghostscript,
gnupg, gpa, hunspell-dictionary, hyphen-hyphenation-patterns,
imagemagick | graphicsmagick-imagemagick-compat, libgl1,
libreoffice-gnome | libreoffice-plasma, libreoffice-grammarcheck,
libreoffice-help (= 25.2), libreoffice-l10n (= 25.2),
libreoffice-librelogo, libxrender1, myspell-dictionary,
mythes-thesaurus, openclipart-libreoffice, pstoedit,
unixodbc, gstreamer1.0-plugins-base, gstreamer1.0-plugins-good,
gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly, gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, gstreamer1.0-libav,
default-jre (>= 2:1.8) | java-runtime (>= 8) | java8-runtime | jre,
libsane1, libofficebean-java
Conflicts: libreoffice-dev (<= 1:5.0.3~rc1-2), libreoffice-dev-doc (<= 1:5.0.3~rc1-2)
Homepage: http://www.libreoffice.org
Tag: role::metapackage
Download-Size: 48.7 kB
APT-Sources: http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable/main amd64 Packages Description: office productivity suite (metapackage)
LibreOffice is a full-featured office productivity suite that provides
a near drop-in replacement for Microsoft(R) Office.
.
This metapackage installs all components of libreoffice:
* libreoffice-writer: Word processor
* libreoffice-calc: Spreadsheet
* libreoffice-impress: Presentation
* libreoffice-draw: Drawing
* libreoffice-base: Database
* libreoffice-math: Equation editor
It also recommends additional packages (e.g. fonts) in order to match an
upstream LibreOffice install as closely as possible.
.
You can extend the functionality of LibreOffice by installing these
packages:
* hunspell-*/myspell-*: Hunspell/Myspell dictionaries
for use with LibreOffice
* libreoffice-l10n-*: UI interface translation
* libreoffice-help-*: User help
* mythes-*: Thesauri for the use with LibreOffice
* hyphen-*: Hyphenation patterns for LibreOffice
* libreoffice-gtk(2|3): Gtk UI Plugin, GNOME File Picker support
* libreoffice-gnome: GIO backend
* unixodbc: ODBC database support
* cups-bsd: Allows LibreOffice to detect your CUPS printer queues
automatically
* libsane: Use your sane-supported scanner with LibreOffice
* libxrender1: Speed up display by using Xrender library
* libgl1: OpenGL support
* openclipart-libreoffice: Open Clip Art Gallery with LibreOffice index
files
* firefox-esr | thunderbird | firefox:
Mozilla profile with Certificates needed for XML Security...
* openjdk-11-jre | openjdk-8-jre | java8-runtime:
Java Runtime Environment for use with LibreOffice
* pstoedit / imagemagick / ghostscript: helper tools for EPS
* gstreamer0.10-plugins-*: GStreamer plugins for use with LibreOffices
media backend
* libpaper-utils: papersize detection support via paperconf
* bluez: Bluetooth support for Impress (slideshow remote control)
$
--
Silence is hard to parse

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Geert Stappers <stappers@stappers.nl> wrote:

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 05:58:30PM +0100, Chris Green wrote:

Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> wrote:

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 15:37:38 +0100, Chris Green wrote:

I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to
install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc

Why did you type that command?

Beacause that's what several of the places (admittedly old) that tell
you what you need to do say that these packages are needed.

`apt show libreoffice` says unixodbc
is the package for ODBC database support.

Yes, and it's installed.

For what it is worth: sqlite3 and ODBC are not the same.

Yes, I know that. ODBC is a (sort of) interface specification and
sqlite3 is a database 'engine' that works using a file rather than a
server.

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'unixodbc-bin' has no installation candidate
root@t470#

So what do I need to do to get this working? Ignoring the error and continuing fails.

What I suspect I need is an up to date guide on how to get sqlite3 working with libreoffice base but I can't find one. All the guides I can find are many years out of date and I suspect that may be the reason I'm getting the above error.

Oh, you're blindly following some ancient third-party "guide". Well, maybe the packages were merged or something. Does it work if you
simply omit the -bin package?

No, it doesn't work if I just carry on without unixodbc-bin.

Please elaborate. For https://xyproblem.info reasons.

libreoffice simply doesn't open sqlite3 databases. It tells me the
database is corrupt and that's all.

--
Chris Green
·

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 08:46:49PM +0100, Chris Green wrote:

Geert Stappers wrote:

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 05:58:30PM +0100, Chris Green wrote:

Greg Wooledge wrote:

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 15:37:38 +0100, Chris Green wrote:

I'm trying to install the libraries and drivers required to use a sqlite3 database with libreoffice writer. However when I try to install the required packages I get an error:-

root@t470# apt install unixodbc-dev unixodbc-bin unixodbc

Why did you type that command?

Beacause that's what several of the places (admittedly old) that tell
you what you need to do say that these packages are needed.

`apt show libreoffice` says unixodbc
is the package for ODBC database support.

Yes, and it's installed.

For what it is worth: sqlite3 and ODBC are not the same.

Yes, I know that. ODBC is a (sort of) interface specification and
sqlite3 is a database 'engine' that works using a file rather than a
server.

....

Package unixodbc-bin is not available, but is referred to by another
package.

....

Oh, you're blindly following some ancient third-party "guide". Well, maybe the packages were merged or something. Does it work if you simply omit the -bin package?

No, it doesn't work if I just carry on without unixodbc-bin.

Please elaborate. For https://xyproblem.info reasons.

libreoffice simply doesn't open sqlite3 databases. It tells me the
database is corrupt and that's all.

Yes, that is all in this thread for me.

And I think it would be good thing for the mailinglistarchive and
the larger community around this mailinglist if the

libreoffice simply doesn't open sqlite3 databases. It tells me the
database is corrupt and that's all.

gets raised in a fresh thread.


Groeten
Geert Stappers
--
Silence is hard to parse

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)