Need help (seriously) parsing gnucash data file

[Geert Janssens]

Hi Len,

Before I go into your question, let me point out that any questions regarding gnucash should 
be asked via the gnucash-user mailing list (1) (or the nabble forum which is a web front-end 
to this list). You should not ask me this in private as others may learn from your problem as 
well and you will have more of a chance of getting a prompt and useful answer on the list 
than from one person alone.

Having said that, I'm sorry to hear about your trouble and I apologize for the slow response.

In order to help you, you will need to provide us with some more details first:
- What is your operating system ?
- Can you post the trace file of your most recent attempt to open the corrupted file ? (2)

Geert

(1) Refer to this page to learn how to subscribe to the mailing list:
http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists
(2) Here you will find where to find the trace file
(Assumin you are on Windows) 
http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Windows#Error_messages.2C_Trace_file

On Saturday 04 May 2013 14:08:44 len.seifert at gmail.com wrote:
> While checking wherever I could, I came across a dialog you had with someone
> (like me, I suppose) who had a similar problem.  I note that this was in
> 2010 and so I am unsure as to whether you are still doing this kind of
> "public service", but my dilemma being what it is, I thought I might give
> it a try. I'd been using GnuCash for some time, and it's been my blessing
> since some bad old days with Quicken.  A computer crash recently obliged me
> to restore my Acer laptop to factory defaults.  I then downloaded the
> current version (2.4.1.3, I believe) and attempted to open the file (one of
> several; I've saved fairly religiously) from an external hard drive.  I was
> greeted by the "error parsing file" message, and thus began my quest to
> remedy the situation.  I found help that seemed encouraging, suggesting
> that I uncompress the file, open it in a text editor and then edit it in
> the manner described. Unfortunately, I'm not even able to uncompress the
> file, getting a message indicating that it is a broken file.  I attempted
> it with a few other saved data files, with the same result.  I even
> downloaded earlier versions of GnuCash; no soap. I thought I might be too
> old to weep aloud, but while I'm too old for many other things, I'm not so
> sure now. I wonder if you are still doing the kind of things you were, and
> if so, might you be of some help?  I would be enormously grateful.
> 
> _____________________________________
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