Extra .xac and .log files

[Dave]

I've just started using gnucash and am quite impressed with it! I've got a
question about the extra files produced though.

I presume that the extra .xac and .log files are backups and logs
respectively, and are safe to delete (so long as I've got a backup of the main
file!) Is there any way to stop them being produced? Would this be a really
bad idea for some reason? Can I influence where they're created? Currently
they make it more difficult to see what's going on in the default directory
(ie along with the main file itself). Plus, they ignore my umask settings and
are automatically 644 - not really a problem but I'd like fine control over
this.

Thanks for any info/advice,

-Dave