[O] org-odt compatibility patches

[Jambunathan K]

I am following up this mail with 5 patches. These are small patches that
would help me float org-odt tarball with minimum of hassle (to the
users). 

The new capabilities introduced are strictly for consumption by
org-odt. Wrt master branch, these changes should essentially be NOOPs.

I would appreciate if these patches are considered for next release of
Org.

Jambunathan K.
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