Tender to finish transition of LibreOffice to ODF 1.3 (ODF 1.3 delta) (#202010-01)

The Document Foundation (TDF) is the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free/libre open source (FLOSS) office suite LibreOffice.

We are looking for an individual or company to finish transition of LibreOffice to ODF 1.3 (ODF 1.3 delta).

This tender builds on the previous ODF 1.3 tender and aims to implement additional features.

The work has to be developed on LibreOffice master, so that it will be released in the next major version.

---

The following required features (section A) need to be implemented:

• chart:data-label-series. Missing feature. It is needed for import from Excel.
  • Relevant bugs in TDF’s Bugzilla: #94235, #133176
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-2117
• chart:regression-moving-type. Implementation of types “center” and “average-abscissa” is missing. It is needed for interoperability with Gnumeric.
  • For this feature, there is existing code that can be extended.
  • Relevant bug in TDF’s Bugzilla: #133423
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3959
• <text:index-entry-link-start> and <text:index-entry-link-end> in user-index. The link marks exist, but the function itself is not implemented.
  • For this feature, there is existing code that can be extended.
  • Relevant bug in TDF’s Bugzilla: #121842
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3941

---

The following are desirable features (section B):

• draw:fill for background of pages. Attribute draw:background-size specifies whether a background fill covers the entire page or only the content area of the page. It belongs to element <style:drawing-page-properties>. ODF 1.3 has extended its use to all kind of pages. Some related bug reports have been set to “fixed”, but the problem is not completely solved, details in the bug report.
  • The respective attribute seems to get written by LibreOffice already. All Writer documents are now the entire page.
  • Relevant bug in TDF’s Bugzilla: #134734
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3937
• draw:z-index more precise with increase from back to front. Problem needs to be solved too for cases when converting from docx to odt.
  • Relevant bug in TDF’s Bugzilla: #133487
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-2122

---

The following features are nice to have (section C):

• Wrong icon of master document template in Windows Explorer
  • Relevant bug in TDF’s Bugzilla: #133285
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-2580
• pivot table based on named range with local scope
  • The previous implementation didn’t work out. This is a rather complex task.
  • Relevant bug in TDF’s Bugzilla: #37268
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3665

---

The following features are purely optional (section D):

• Adapt function wizard to the fact, that the second parameter of DCOUNT and DCOUNTA may be empty (i.e. optional)
  • This can be qualified as an “EasyHack”.
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3906
• chart:coordinate-region. There is no help about this topic. There exists no option to not use this kind of position and size reference.
  • That feature was handled differently until OpenOffice.org 3.0, where the coordinates included the description, now they are without, i.e. the reference changed.
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3928
• fo:min-height as attribute of draw:text-box. LibreOffice does not use that attribute and ignores it on file open. Missing feature.
  • That element seems to be written by Word, but likely not yet by LibreOffice.
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3735

The following feature is purely optional, and not trivial from a UX point of view (section E):

• svg:stroke-linecap at object style vs draw:style in element. Implementation of draw:style is incomplete. Especially there is no UI to define a line style with round dashes.
  • Relevant bugs in TDF’s Bugzilla: #133499 (Implementation has error), #127509, #127348, #127266, #123349, #53276, #127207
  • OASIS reference: OFFICE-3742

---

Required skills

• Extensive knowledge of C++
• Experience working on the LibreOffice source code
• Knowledge of the OpenDocument Format standard, particularly in version 1.3.

Other skills

• English (conversationally fluent in order to coordinate and plan with members of TDF)

We use free, libre and open source (FLOSS) software for development wherever possible, and the resulting work must be licensed under the Mozilla Public License v2.0.

TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

Bidders will get a preference for including a partner or independent developer who has not been involved in a successful tender before.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to certified developers and/or members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.

The task offered is a project-based one-off, with no plans to a mid- or long-term contractual relationship. It is offered on a freelance, project basis. Individuals and companies applying can be located anywhere in the world.

When budgeting, we anticipated that this project (sections A-E) to take in the region of 32 days of work.

TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications for one or more of the aforementioned tasks, your financial expectations and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to a committee at tender20201001@documentfoundation.org no later than November 10, 2020.

Applicants who have not received feedback by December 8, 2020 should consider that their application, after careful review, was not accepted.