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The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

simonwillison.net

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Re: The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

#42

Post by kennywinker »

quotemstr wrote: post #22
cpursley wrote: post #3

I still don’t understand why with all their cash these companies dont redo their apps in Rust or native. They are all so heavy and dog slow. There are already some very fast cross platform (wasm too!) libraries that can do what poppler does as well as parse and produce various office file formats. Because 2gb is crazy town, these things could be around 100mb, just throw some tokens at the problem.

What makes you think Rust is automatically better? (Also, "Rust or native" is a strange dichotomy. What's not native about Rust?)

I think “or native” is a gesture at swift/objc for mac and C# or whatever people write windows apps in.

Re: The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

#43

Post by alex-moon »

OutOfHere wrote: post #33
alex-moon wrote: post #15

Someone may need to explain to me what is wrong with this sorry. Is it because it bloats the app with functionality that some users will never use? I feel like that is fairly usual for productivity/business apps generally.

Actually, people do use and require the functionality, which is the point. The title as posted might be incorrect.

Yes, that's what I mean - maybe that didn't come across cos I said "bloats". I work for a business that builds web apps for corporates - LibreOffice is bundled in most of the repos of ours that I've seen, a bit like Imagick is in the broader sector.

Re: The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

#44

Post by embedding-shape »

zatkin wrote: post #38
simonw wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure. Someone who hasn't installed the ChatGPT (or Codex) apps yet could confirm this by installing the apps, seeing if that ~/.cache directory exists, then try running a prompt that needs Python or Node.js or LibreOffice and see if it downloads them when needed.

I've never installed the ChatGPT app on my Mac until today. I ran the app, signed in, and I see the same. % ls ~/.cache/codex-runtimes/codex-primary-runtime/dependencies/native/libreoffice-headless libreoffice manifest.json

On a Windows installation I see this:

    PS C:\Users\user> ls C:\Users\user\.cache\codex-runtimes\codex-primary-runtime\dependencies\native\
    Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
    ----                 -------------         ------ ----
    d-----         8/27/2026  10:09 AM                git
    d-----         6/16/2026   9:18 PM                jxrlib
    d-----         8/26/2026   7:37 PM                libheif
    d-----         6/17/2026   5:32 AM                poppler
    d-----         8/27/2026  10:09 AM                powershell
So doesn't seem bundled with all installs at least.

Re: The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

#45

Post by embedding-shape »

mrob wrote: post #36
MattDamonSpace wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

frankly how dare you

How is simonw to blame for somebody else submitting it to HN?

True, I feel like the entire HN community is to blame for this, particularly pg and dang.

Re: The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

#47

Post by vb-8448 »

verdverm wrote: post #17
cpursley wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just throw some tokens at the problem. I’ve vibed up a Rust Crux hybrid app that runs well on macOS, iPad and wasm and does some pretty complex xml manipulation and other document work. Absolutely smokes electron and you get native UI. Ref: https://redbadger.github.io/crux/

one does not just "throw tokens" at a problem, Ai is not that capable, and we are talking about MS Office file format, likely a NP hard problem

But in case they succeed the return on image will be astonishing.

Re: The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

#48

Post by tyre »

verdverm wrote: post #13
nomel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bundling all of LibreOffice seems like a pretty huge dependency What's the alternative library you see?

Why not computer use or using the tools the user prefers instead? The primary office suites have APIs/CLIs now

Computer use is slow and can take control of the application focus. I’ll be doing things while Claude runs in the background. Suddenly it decides to open the app and try to do something + screenshot it.

Re: The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice

#49

Post by doc_ick »

cpursley wrote: post #11
sudo_cowsay wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that easy. Also, they have "priorities." Although their priorities are different than the users'.

Just throw some tokens at the problem. I’ve vibed up a Rust Crux hybrid app that runs well on macOS, iPad and wasm and does some pretty complex xml manipulation and other document work. Absolutely smokes electron and you get native UI. Ref: https://redbadger.github.io/crux/

On top of everyone else’s great points, if you make your own “fork” of something, then you have to consistently maintain it. Which can be done with tokens, but an extra cost with something that’s not as user tested.
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