GnuCash <nofile> Opens Dirty?

Sun Feb 4 11:35:58 EST 2018

David C.,

It is apparently my mistake, but I understood the “--nofile” command line argument to mean “Open GnuCash with no file.” 

As in: No. File. Nothing. And if I have Nothing in my file, what, pray tell, is there to save? 

David T.

P.S. — For yucks, I executed “Gnucash --nofile” and immediately saved “Nofile” and opened it in a text editor. Here it is, creating the root account without a file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<gnc-v2
     xmlns:gnc="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/gnc <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/gnc>"
     xmlns:act="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/act <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/act>"
     xmlns:book="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/book <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/book>"
     xmlns:cd="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/cd <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/cd>"
     xmlns:cmdty="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/cmdty <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/cmdty>"
     xmlns:price="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/price <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/price>"
     xmlns:slot="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/slot <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/slot>"
     xmlns:split="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/split <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/split>"
     xmlns:sx="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/sx <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/sx>"
     xmlns:trn="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/trn <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/trn>"
     xmlns:ts="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/ts <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/ts>"
     xmlns:fs="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/fs <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/fs>"
     xmlns:bgt="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/bgt <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/bgt>"
     xmlns:recurrence="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/recurrence <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/recurrence>"
     xmlns:lot="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/lot <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/lot>"
     xmlns:addr="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/addr <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/addr>"
     xmlns:owner="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/owner <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/owner>"
     xmlns:billterm="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/billterm <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/billterm>"
     xmlns:bt-days="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/bt-days <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/bt-days>"
     xmlns:bt-prox="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/bt-prox <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/bt-prox>"
     xmlns:cust="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/cust <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/cust>"
     xmlns:employee="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/employee <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/employee>"
     xmlns:entry="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/entry <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/entry>"
     xmlns:invoice="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/invoice <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/invoice>"
     xmlns:job="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/job <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/job>"
     xmlns:order="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/order <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/order>"
     xmlns:taxtable="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/taxtable <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/taxtable>"
     xmlns:tte="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/tte <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/tte>"
     xmlns:vendor="http://www.gnucash.org/XML/vendor <http://www.gnucash.org/XML/vendor>">
<gnc:count-data cd:type="book">1</gnc:count-data>
<gnc:book version="2.0.0">
<book:id type="guid">a75807d572ced056657e14cf61730861</book:id>
<gnc:count-data cd:type="commodity">1</gnc:count-data>
<gnc:count-data cd:type="account">1</gnc:count-data>
<gnc:commodity version="2.0.0">
  <cmdty:space>template</cmdty:space>
  <cmdty:id>template</cmdty:id>
  <cmdty:name>template</cmdty:name>
  <cmdty:xcode>template</cmdty:xcode>
  <cmdty:fraction>1</cmdty:fraction>
</gnc:commodity>
<gnc:account version="2.0.0">
  <act:name>Root Account</act:name>
  <act:id type="guid">27174afb49511a6a82c3da7274337c90</act:id>
  <act:type>ROOT</act:type>
</gnc:account>
</gnc:book>
</gnc-v2>

<!-- Local variables: -->
<!-- mode: xml        -->
<!-- End:             -->

> On Feb 3, 2018, at 7:03 PM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com <mailto:david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> BTW, I am running 2.6.18 in windows and I do not recall the warning referring to any changes.
> 
> David C
> 
> On Sat, Feb 3, 2018 at 7:54 AM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com <mailto:david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> I just had that experience as I was not logged in to my file server when I started GnuCash and I still think that my earlier comment is true.  GnuCash is offering to save the empty file. The interesting thing, though, is that because the file was unnamed it did not have a asterisk in the filename space on the top banner.
> 
> David C
> 
> On Sat, Feb 3, 2018 at 7:41 AM, David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com <mailto:david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> David,
> 
> I think that a non-existent file with no data is not the same as a file that has been created with no data.  A created file has some structure and some defaults set.  GnuCash is thus saying that it is not a properly saved file with no data.
> 
> David C
> 
> On Sat, Feb 3, 2018 at 1:56 AM, David T. via gnucash-devel <gnucash-devel at gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-devel at gnucash.org>> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> When I open GnuCash with no file (i.e., “gnucash --nofile”), I find that if I immediately attempt to open a different file or exit the program altogether (i.e., without doing anything to the current session), I am warned that all changes to the current file will be lost. Given that I: a) have made no changes, and b) have “nofile” open at the time, this dialog is absurd.
> 
> GnuCash should NOT consider “nofile” to be dirty, and thus should NOT ask that I save “nofile”. I don’t see any bugs filed for this.
> 
> David
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> 
> 
> 