Using for GnuCash for multiple companies

[jralls at ceridwen.us]

> On July 4, 2014 at 1:52 PM Axel Essbaum <axel at essbaum.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 4 Jul, 2014, at 16:15, jralls at ceridwen.us wrote:
>
> >
> > > On July 4, 2014 at 5:46 AM Axel Essbaum <axel at essbaum.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Hello everyone,
> > >
> > > I've been a GnuCash user for about 5 years, and I'm now using version
> > > 2.4.11 on a Mac (haven't upgraded since everything pretty much works
> > > fine).
> > >
> > > I am starting a couple of new companies and wondering what accounting
> > > software to use. The question hinges partially on the need to be able to
> > > open both company's accounts at the same time, but also to be able to have
> > > different settings for each, including date format, currency, fiscal year
> > > start and end dates, etc.
> > >
> > > One company is in the US and one is in Switzerland and I need to use
> > > different date formats for each, for example.
> > >
> > > As of GC 2.4.11 it appears that the date format is set in the GnuCash
> > > Preferences and I suspect this will affect both companies, is that right?
> > > Is there a workaround besides using a separate user account on my computer
> > > for each company? Can I upgrade to 2.6.3 and get around this?
> > >
> > > Somewhat related: can I run two different versions of GC at the same time?
> > > Meaning, can I run my existing company under 2.4.11 but also install and
> > > (concurrently) run 2.6.3 for the new companies? I'm hesitant to upgrade
> > > the existing company from 2.4.11 for fear of breaking the invoice printing
> > > (which was very fiddly to make work in 2.4.11).
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Since you're on a Mac, you can certainly run two versions of GnuCash; it's
> > even safer with 2.6 than it was with 2.4 as we've gotten rid of the
> > dependency on dbus and so don't need to make a link in /Library to point to
> > the dbus executable. Not only that, but it's because they use different
> > preference systems, so you can change any preference settings on GnuCash 2.6
> > without affecting your 2.4 setup. Just rename the old one to Gnucash24.app
> > before dragging the new one to wherever you keep it. Before launching
> > GnuCash 2.6 you might want to edit the GNC_DOT_DIR value in
> > Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/Gnucash to a different value; that way they'll
> > keep separate history lists, which will make it less likely that you open a
> > file with the wrong version.
>
> Wow, sounds great John! But I'm having a bit of trouble getting 2.6 to open
> without it trying to open my old 2.4 database.
>
> What I did:
>
> Removed an old .gnucash folder from ~
> Renamed ~/Library/App Support/GnuCash to ~/Library/App Support/GnuCash_2.4.11
> Renamed Applications/Gnucash to /Applications/Gnucash24
> Changed GNC_DOT_DIR value in Gnucash24.app/Contents/MacOS/Gnucash to point to
> ~/Library/App Support/GnuCash_2.4.11
> Downloaded and installed GC 2.6
>
> With 2.4.11 running, when I launch 2.6, it complains about not being able to
> get a lock for my 2.4 database.
>
> Any idea how 2.6 is still knowing about my 2.4 database?
>

Huh. Must be copied in prefs as well as GNC_DOT_DIR. The first time you run
GC2.6 it copies and translates your prefs from ~/.gconf/apps/gnucash to
~/Library/Preferences/org.gnucash.Gnucash.plist.

You can either click the "Create New File" when it tries to open the old file or
you can start it from a terminal with the --nofile option.

Regards,
John Ralls