GnuCash backup files

[Cristian Marchi]

Thanks Geert for the explanation (clearer than my example!). In 
particular point 3 answer my question.
BTW the problem was solved after the user read the section of the 
GnuCash guide about how backup files works.

Thanks for the explanation!

Il 12/10/2012 17:44, Geert Janssens ha scritto:
> On 10/09/2012 03:26 PM, Cristian Marchi wrote:
>> I've a question about the auto deletion of backup files by GnuCash 
>> older than X days as set in preferences: does it remove the files 
>> based on timestamp or by parsing the date in the filename? I've an 
>> Italian user reporting the deletion of a GnuCash file that he 
>> currently used with a filename set as a backup file. I was wondering 
>> if GnuCash could have deleted the file because its filename was 
>> composed with a date older than X days.
>> I'll try with an example: let's say my financial data are managed in 
>> a file named "data.20120101.gnucash" saved last time on 2012.01.01. 
>> Let's say I have preferences set to remove backup files after 5 days. 
>> Now if I open the previous file on 2012.01.08 (more than five days 
>> later) could my file be deleted by GnuCash? And what if the same file 
>> with the same name was saved last time less than five days before the 
>> reopening?
>>
> Cristian,
>
> Your example is not completely clear to me, I'm afraid. Can you give 
> more details about the filenames (you talk of opening a backup file, 
> but don't specify what it is called exactly for example).
>
> In general (from reading the code) I see there are a lot of rigorous 
> checks in the old file cleanup code. Let's take datafile 
> example.20120101.gnucash and backup file 
> example.20120101.20120930225014.gnucash as example files below:
> 1. any file that doesn't end in .LCK, .xac, .gnucash or .log are never 
> touched.
> 2. any file that does not begin with the name of the opened file is 
> skipped. So if you open the datafile, any file that doesn't start with 
> example.20120101.gnucash will be skipped. Our backup file begins with 
> this string, so it's still a candiate for deletion. If on the other 
> hand you open the backup file, the normal data file will be skipped, 
> because it doesn't start with example.20120101.20120930225014.gnucash
> 3. The opened file itself is skipped, so if you open the data file, 
> that file itself will not be deleted. If you open the backup file, the 
> backup file won't be deleted.
> 4. Files ending in .LCK get a special treatment (only the active 
> lockfile is kept), but that's not relevant to your questions.
> 5. At this point possible candidates to be deleted should
>    a. start with the open file's name
>    b. end in .log, .gnucash, or .xac
> The next check now is whether there are a dot and 14 digits right 
> before the extension. That's the timestamp gnucash adds to the backup 
> and log files. If this patterns isn't found, the file is skipped. So 
> if you open the data file, the backup file above still matches all 
> criteria up until now.
> 6. Finally the code checks if the file is older than the retention 
> time defined in the preferences. This doesn't use the timestamp in the 
> filename, but the file's actual modified time.
>
> This is so both in current 2.4 branch as in trunk.
>> While talking about this feature, when GnuCash checks for the 
>> deletion of backup files? every time you start it?
>>
> Yes.
>
> Regards,
>
> Geert
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