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Got a Mac and a curious mind? Build your own Collabora Office and see the magic happen.

Build Collabora Office

This is the Collabora Office macOS desktop app (macos/).

Requirements

  • Node.js — needed for building the JavaScript parts in browser/. Install Node.js (20.x) by downloading the macOS .pkg from the Prebuilt installer tab at https://nodejs.org/en/download. It provides the npm and node commands.
  • libtool — for ./configure:
    brew install libtool
    
  • The Python helpers used by the build:
    /opt/homebrew/bin/pip3 install --break-system-packages lxml
    /opt/homebrew/bin/pip3 install --break-system-packages polib
    
  • The Command Line Tools for Xcode:
    • xcode-select --install
    • Afterwards you might need to update them in System Settings > General > Software Update.

Clone the monorepo

All the source code now lives in a single Gerrit monorepo; the former Collabora Office core is the engine/ subdirectory of the online repo, so there is no separate repository to clone any more. Code review happens on Gerrit, not GitHub pull requests; see the first contribution guide for the full workflow.

For an anonymous read-only clone:

git clone https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/online collabora-office
cd collabora-office

If you have a Gerrit account and plan to push changes for review, clone over SSH instead:

git clone ssh://YOUR_USERNAME@gerrit.collaboraoffice.com:29418/online collabora-office
cd collabora-office

Build the engine

Move into the engine/ subdirectory of the monorepo and build the main branch with the following autogen.input.

If you want a localized (translated) user interface, also clone the translations repository into engine/translations from the top of the clone before building, and replace --without-lang with --with-lang (see the autogen.input below); the engine picks up the .po files from there:

git clone https://gerrit.collaboraoffice.com/translations engine/translations

autogen.input:

# Distro
--with-distro=CPMacOS-LOKit
--disable-mergelibs

# Overrides for the debug builds
--enable-debug
#--enable-dbgutil

--enable-werror
--enable-symbols
# For an en-US-only build (no localizations):
--without-lang
# For a localized UI, drop the line above and list the languages instead, e.g.:
#--with-lang=de fr es

For dependency installation, refer to https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/BuildingOnLinux

Build Collabora Office

Configure

Run this from the top of the monorepo (one level up from engine/):

./autogen.sh && ./configure \
--enable-macosapp \
--enable-experimental \
--with-app-name="Collabora Office" \
--with-app-package-name=com.yourpackage.name \
--with-vendor="Your Name" \
--with-lo-path=engine/instdir/your-built-lo.app

POCO, zstd and libpng are built as part of the engine and taken from its workdir, so they no longer need to be installed (via Homebrew or otherwise) or passed on the configure line.

Adjust your-built-lo.app to match the app bundle name produced by your engine build.

Build the JavaScript bits

Just run make from the terminal.

Build the Desktop Edition

Open the macos/coda/coda.xcodeproj project in Xcode and choose Build and Run current scheme.

That’s it!

Pre-built download

If you just want a pre-built macOS version instead of building locally, please use the TestFlight preview build: 👉 https://testflight.apple.com/join/sbkwMzMt

Edit page

build make
  • Requirements
  • Clone the monorepo
  • Build the engine
  • Build Collabora Office
    • Configure
    • Build the JavaScript bits
    • Build the Desktop Edition
  • Pre-built download
Build Collabora Office for Linux

Build Collabora Office for Linux

Linux lover? Build Collabora Office and unleash your inner hacker.
Build Collabora Online for Web

Build Collabora Online for Web

Are you interested in contributing but do not know where to start? Head over to the documentation or start by following these step-by-step instructions and build CODE from scratch.

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