Intro + a bug

[Mike or Penny Novack]

>
> Very interesting observation. Does the directory ".gnucash" get  
> created on both account names? If it does, gnucash's handling of  
> account names and paths is correctly implemented. In that case we'd  
> have to forward the bugreport about the ".gconf" directory to the  
> GConf project: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=161209  
> (Andreas already brought up the issue there). That's fine and we will  
> gladly do so, but I'm asking anyway to narrow down this bug as much 
> as  possible (Are Spaces the problem? Or the Ampersand?)

Yes, all get created except .gconf    The following all exist.
.gconfd
.gnome2
.gnome_private
.gnucash
.gtk-bookmarks

It's not EVERYWHERE tat the problem exists. For example, .gtk-bookmarks 
contains the correct path to the books (and of course one of the 
directory names in that path has space and ampersand in it).

Andreas Kohler just posted THIS on the user list

"that is correct. Spaces are not the problem on Windows, but the
ampersand. In

http://svn.gnome.org/viewcvs/gconf/trunk/gconf/gconf-backend.c?revision=2371&view=markup

you will find that the string invalid_chars is defined as "\t\r\n\"$&<>,
+=#!()'|{}[]?~`;%\\" and if any of those characters appears in a gconf
configuration source address, then that is declared as invalid. In the
end you do not have any writable gconf source and are tied to the
default values."

I have asked there whether this problem is "top level directory name" or 
"anywhere in the path" because if the former, there may be a 
(relatively) easy fix. GnuCash is the first "open app for Windows" that 
I have encountered so far that did NOT create a directory in the user 
data directory to contain all its configuration data but instead drops 
all of these directories (and file) separately into the user data 
directory without grouping them into one subdirectory (increases the 
risk of a "name conflict" problem and complicates backup*).

Michael

* A Windows XP user cannot back up his/her entire data directory from 
own log in  as the burn to CD/DVD process will make a temporary  copy of 
what is to be burned in that directory (recursion error). Pre Gnucash I 
was simply supporting my end user by burning a CD with copies of all the 
data subdirectories actually in use --- My Documents, .Mozilla, 
.Thunderbird, etc. etc., a fairly short list).  I understand that a 'nix 
user would normally back up the entire /home/userID but especially for a 
Windows user who is using open source alternatives, useless to copy each 
time tons of essentially constant app data for the MS apps that are not 
being used. The scattering  of the GnuCash configuration stuff rather 
than grouping into a GnuCash subdirectory more than doubles the number 
of items to be copied!

-- 
There is no possibility of social justice on a dead planet except the equality of the grave.