Re: [libreoffice-users] Which was the last version of LO able to run on Win XP?

On 13.10.2017 16:03, Cley Faye wrote:
> 2017-10-13 14:41 GMT+02:00 DaveB <noreply@tasit.net>:
>
> > Please let's not have discussions about MS having ended support for XP.
> > There are still an enormous number of machines out there running XP SP3
> > POS Ready 2009, which MS are still actively supporting. MS most recent
> > XP update (October 2017) added support for TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 to XP POS
> > Ready 2009, See Microsoft Secure Blog: http://bit.ly/2ylRGDo
> >
> > I have successfully screwed up LO on a client's XP POS Ready machine (my
> > fault for not testing on a VM first), by installing LO 5.4.2 over the
> > previous 4.4.7.2 install. The 5.4 installer completes without any
> > complaint, gleefully removing the old version, but on start up the
> > splash screen flashes and soffice dies without a murmur. Would have been
> > nice if the devs had added the very simple system check call to
> > installer and blocked the install. Yes, the information is there for
> > anyone who wants to dig down into the release notes:
> > http://bit.ly/2yjj2Ir But how many users read software release notes or
> > EULAs? It's also about time we updated the misleading "/System
> > Requirements/" page http://bit.ly/2yh0SHo which still reads
> > "/LibreOffice on a Windows system are as follows: Microsoft _*Windows
> > XP*__*SP3*_, Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows
> > Server 2012, or Windows 10/".
> >
> > Two questions:
> >
> >  1. Which was the last version able to run on Win XP?
> >  2. Are there any known security issues with that version?
> ​After a quick test, I found that the 5.3.7.1 version works fine in XP​.
> The latest 5.4 doesn't, but I'm not sure exactly which subversion started
> to fail. I can confirm however that it doesn't output any error message,
> neither on the GUI or on the command line. The splash screen just flash. No
> error or warning in system logs either.
>
> The website should probably be updated (or, if possible, the issue causing
> a crash fixed instead). I'm tempted to say that losing XP compatibility
> wasn't done on purpose.
>
> I can't provide an answer for known security issues, although common sense
> says that it's more likely to have some (there's always security issues)
> and that they might be fixed in more recent versions. However, not talking
> too much about the end of support of XP, it is itself a large attack vector
> at this point, so I'm not sure that obscure security issues with
> libreoffice would be relevant. Beyond the usual "disable script by default"
> advice, it's most likely safe enough to use in such conditions.
After some considerable testing, I came to much the same conclusion and
installed 5.3.7.1 on the client's machine. Surprising how fast and
smooth it runs under XP on a ratty old single core Pentium.

IIRC there was agreement at a fairly recent ESC meeting that XP support
would be dropped, but I wasn't able to track down the minutes of that
meeting to know which was the first version it applied to.

Yes unpatched XP machines are a large attack vector, but when you see
the number of security updates MS rolls out for the XP POS edition each
month it's obvious that MS are really knocking themselves out to keep
that edition patched. There must be a fair number of heavyweight
corporate/government customers MS wants to keep on-side. Let's all hope
that MS are working even harder to keep the UK's "/Windows XP for
Warships/" fully patched http://bit.ly/2ynpmys Could get a bit exciting
to have hacked nuclear submarines popping off Trident missiles.

I've checked LO security advisories http://bit.ly/2ykHcCn and there
doesn't appear to be anything in 5.3.7.1 that might case my client any
major headaches. He has a regularly updated copy of MS Security
Essentials installed, plus a fairly solid firewall and intrusion
monitoring setup.

Dave

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