Is any kind of core installation (without GUI) available?

[Cortado]

One of our products teams up with OpenOffice 3.3. From the official OpenOffice API, we use mainly Open, Print, Export As PDF, and Save As. Our client software sends documents to the server. On the server, for instance Open and Print calls are pushed through to OpenOffice which will open and print the document.

We will now replace OpenOffice 3.3 by LibreOffice 4.1 and install LibreOffice 4.1 together with our server product. We find it important to have a slim installation. For instance, we do not need a GUI - customers won’t edit the documents, just send and print them.

We wonder if there is a bundle of core modules that provides essential functions but leaves the GUI out. Or does anybody have an idea how this could be done?

[dajare]

I’m fairly sure this isn’t quite what you’re looking for, but perhaps it will spark some other thoughts? There was a post announcing “a project which allows you to access any Linux desktop application remotely through a web browser” which “works quite well with LibreOffice”. Worth checking in case there is any inspiration for your project?

[Cortado]

I heard that it would be theoretically possible to develop a core installation. But because the print functionality is essential for us and a huge part of the Office functionality is needed for printing, practically it’s not worth. The installer would still be quite big.