not backup but using gnucash in two different distros

[Harold]

Great ideas, Tommy. I will put this into effect immediately.
Thanks,
Harold

--- On Fri, 11/28/08, Tommy Trussell <tommy.trussell at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Tommy Trussell <tommy.trussell at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: not backup but using gnucash in two different distros
To: hh6199 at yahoo.com
Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org, "Doug Laidlaw" <laidlaws at hotkey.net.au>
Date: Friday, November 28, 2008, 11:13 AM

On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 5:02 PM, Harold <hh6199 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I apologize for the confusion but we are getting mixed up and off track. I
didn't create an encripted partition. I messed up with my quoting. Someone
else created the encripted partition and I didn't know what he was talking
about.
>
> Here is what I would like to do.
> Work in Mepis and Gnucash 2.2.6. then later if I am in Mint (with Gnucash
2.2.4) and want to work in Gnucash, what do I need to do to make sure that the
Gnucash in Mint is the exact same as what I left in Mepis.
>
> This has nothing to do with backup. It has to do with working with the
same transactions in Gnucash in two different distros on the same computer.
>
> I have several distros on the same computer. Each distro has its own /boot
partition. There is one swap file that is used by each distro. Each distro has
its own /home directory but they are all located on the same partition. I can
copy files from one /home to another but I am not sure which files I need to
copy so that I will be working with the same balance and transactions no matter
which distro I am in.
>
> I am just unsure about which files I need to get. I have tried doing it in
the past but it seems like some of the transactions that I had entered in Mepis
weren't showing up in Mint.
>
> I hope this explains what I am trying to do.
>
> Harold

I believe there is only one file that contains your data; all the rest
are backup files of one kind or another. SO if you are "losing"
transactions moving between your overly-confusing multi-boot setup,
you must be opening different files.

If you like some aspect of different distros for different
applications, then I would suggest you might want to pick one for your
GnuCash work so you don't get too confused when you switch around. It
also makes it hard because you might have different releases of
GnuCash in different distros so when you come here looking for
assistance you have to correctly recall which version you happened to
be using when the problem occurred.

BUT if you feel you have a good reason for distro-hopping, then why
not just keep all your important data on a removeable USB drive and
make sure you keep a good backup of that drive. I've been doing that
for several years now... when there's a new version release of the
distro I can upgrade and even wipe out my entire home directory if
necessary and I don't have to worry about losing my data. I just need
to make sure the external drive gets copied regularly to a backup
medium that I can move off-site.

Since you are confused about which file contains your data, look right
now at the time stamps... GnuCash data files don't necessarily have an
extension (though they can) so people apparently get confused and
forget the exact name of the file they created when they first opened
GnuCash.

Personally I ALWAYS use desktop shortcuts that point to the correct
files on the removeable drive.... I keep the books for multiple
entities and it's easier for me to make sure I'm opening the right
file if I have a shortcut. I have the drive named so it will always
mount to a spot called "mybook," so the command in the shortcut will
look something like

  gnucash /media/mybook/workfiles/blahblahcorp/financial_data

When my primary system fails, I attach the USB drive to another
system. When the USB drive fails, I will copy the latest backup (that
contains the "blahblahcorp" directory) to a new USB drive.