On 2025-07-28 at 11:56, Richard Owlett wrote: > On 7/28/25 10:52 AM, Andy Smith wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> On Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 10:44:36AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: >> >>> Does Debian have a spreadsheet program that can competently >>> read/write xlsx format? >> >> I have never had an issue with LibreCalc's xls support. If an xls >> file is so complicated that LibreOffice can't read/write it >> properly, I suspect you will find it unusable in anything but >> Microsoft software since that is their proprietary format. > > If that were the case, shouldn't it have complained on read also?
Reading a document is often easier to implement than writing it out correctly. Reading is also safer, because you're not overwriting any data; if you try to save the document, you might be doing so to an existing filename, and if the resulting format is invalid by the standards of whatever you want to read it next, then you've just caused data loss. It is not hugely uncommon to implement read support for a format, but not write support for that format, precisely because of that safety consideration. I've seen it in filesystems (e.g., NTFS) and in A/V codecs, among probably other places. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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