Need help (seriously) parsing gnucash data file

Wed May 29 06:39:42 EDT 2013

Hi Len,

I'm not sure I understand you correctly when you say you have now "subscribed to the 
development list". Did you use the website I pointed out to you ? There are several mailing 
lists to subscribe to, but the one for your needs is "gnucash-user" (not "gnucash-devel" which 
I would interpret as being the development list).

Once you have subscribed, "posting a message" is as simple as sending an e-mail. But 
instead of sending it to me directly, you send it to "gnucash-user at gnucash.org".

You will receive replies in the form of e-mails as well. One tell-tale sign you received a mail 
from the list is that it has a footer appended with information on the list itself.

When you want to reply to a message you received from the list, you should make sure the 
reply is also sent to the list and not to me or another correspondent in private. You can do 
this by using the "reply to all" or "reply to list" features of your e-mail program.

That's how e-mail (or mailing) lists work. You just send e-mails to the proper e-mail address :)

Now on to your actual problem: it looks as if your gnucash installation is corrupt. The program 
gives errors trying to load a file that is shipped with the program itself. So you will first have 
to take a step back and reinstall the gnucash program.

In parallel to that, what is the complete name of the data file you are trying to open (including 
the extension) ?

Geert

On Tuesday 28 May 2013 17:05:39 Len Seifert wrote:

    Geert:  I am much obliged to you for your response.  I'm afraid I    don't have much 
experience navigating the lists, and I apologize for    my breach of protocol.  I've now 
subscribed to  the development list    (here, again, based on lack of complete understanding), 
and I've got    the trace file.  I'm reluctant to furnish it to you here, but I    confess that I was 
unable to figure out how to post it.  So, I'll    include it here, but if you'd prefer for me to do 
otherwise, please    say, and I will comply.  The trace file is as follows:    * 09:23:31  WARN 
<qof.engine> [guid_init()] only got 1806    bytes.    The identifiers might not be very random.    
* 09:23:55  WARN <gnc.app-utils> Could not spawn perl: Failed    to execute child process 
(No such file or directory)    * 09:59:33  CRIT <gnc.gui> [gnc_gnome_locate_data_file()]    
Could not locate file ui/gnc-plugin-page-register-ui.xml    * 09:59:35  CRIT <gnc.gui> 
gnc_plugin_page_unmerge_actions:    assertion `priv->merge_id != 0' failed        My operating 
system is Win7.        I'll look forward to your advices.        Len        
On 5/28/2013 9:41 AM, Geert Janssens      wrote:        

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[1]      
(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[2]      

On Saturday 04 May 2013 14:08:44        len.seifert at gmail.com[3] 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.      
>       
> _____________________________________      
> Sent from        http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com[4]          

--------
[1] http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists
[2] http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Windows#Error_messages.2C_Trace_file
[3] mailto:len.seifert at gmail.com
[4] http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com