[GNC] Today's search....for .lck

[Adrien Monteleone]

On 8/6/23 6:23 AM, Mahon Finbar via gnucash-user wrote:
> Quite correct....
> 
> For a very long time I have had an issue that when I click the app, it 
> loads, but after the perl stuff it says"cannot find the file - open 
> anyway?" 
The lock file message occurs when there is a lock file (.lck) on the 
last used file.

Lock files are created when GnuCash opens a file and they are deleted 
when GnuCash cleanly exits.

Thus, the presence of a lock file means one of two things:

1. The file is indeed open already. (maybe the app is minimized, or 
maybe the window for it is on an external monitor)

2. GnuCash did not cleanly shut down the last time it was used and the 
lock file remained.

Only if you know for a fact that you are dealing with case #2 is it okay 
to proceed with "open anyway".

> From time to time, seemingly randomly, it opens the (presumably 
> last used) file and away I go. 

I don't think I've ever seen GnuCash continue to do anything unless I've 
chosen an option from the lockscreen warning. If you are observing 
different behavior, I'd call that a bug.

> I am always careful.

Apparently not if you 'presume' the file that gets opened is the last 
used one without making sure. (the file name is in the window title bar) 
And by the names and counts of the files you've provided so far, it 
indeed wasn't the last used file, but a backup. And this has happened 
many times.

But no matter. While you weren't very clear, It appears you are opening 
the app via an app shortcut, and NOT double-clicking the data file. If 
you instead double-click the file, please advise.

Let's move on to cleaning this up. It looks like you started yet another 
thread (not sure why) with a screenshot showing a File Explorer list, 
but it didn't come through. If you can get that screenshot to upload 
(JPG, BMP should work) and we can see the full file list with modified 
and created dates, we can help you sort the mess.

Regards,
Adrien