Using Gnucash from multiple computers?

[Geert Janssens]

On Tuesday 14 October 2014 13:24:15 John Ralls wrote:
> On Oct 14, 2014, at 11:57 AM, Sean Clarke <seanchk at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi John,
> > 
> > Ok I'm not sure if I've done this right (which means I pretty sure I
> > haven't!)
> > 
> > I created a .bashrc file and put it in /home
> 
> No, not /home. That’s the enclosing dir for all users. Based on below
> you want /home/sean/.bashrc
> > I created a new folder in Google Drive called gnucash
> > 
> > The full path to that folder is /home/sean/Google Drive/gnucash
> > 
> > 
> > The content of my .bashrc file (I found an example of one online and
> > copied it)
> > 
> > PS1='\u$'	# The prompt contains the user's login name.
> > 
> > HISTSIZE=50	# Save 50 commands for when the user presses the up
> > arrow.
> > 
> > # All the directories to search for commands.
> > PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11
> > 
> > # To prevent the user from accidentally ending a login session,
> > # disable Ctrl-D as a way to exit.
> > IGNOREEOF=1
> > 
> > stty erase "^H"	# Make sure the backspace key erases.
> > 
> > GNC_DOT_DIR="$home/sean/Google Drive/gnucash”
> 
While none of the extra information is harmful, you probably don't want 
it in there either. It subtly alters the behaviour of your interactive 
shell.

If you didn't have a .bashrc in your home directory (being /home/sean) 
you can start with an empty file and just put these two lines:
GNC_DOT_DIR="/home/sean/Google Drive/gnucash"
export GNC_DOT_DIR

(This assumes that is the real path to your Google Drive directory. If 
not adapt to your taste).

If you did already have a .bashrc file, you could just append those two 
line to the end.

> No, $home is “” unless you’ve set it to something. The automatically
> set variable is $HOME, and it points to /home/sean. Say echo $HOME
> to see.
> 
> In order for the environment variables declared in .bashrc to affect
> anything they must be exported; that can be done on the last line
> that defines them in the .bashrc or separately. For example export
> GNC_DOT_DIR=“$HOME/Google Drive/gnucash"
> 
> > I've restarted the PC but don't see anything different happening.
> 
> Restarting is for Windows. You need only log out and back in.
> 
> However, if you’re starting from a desktop icon or “Activities” menu
> or similar, you’ll need to consult your distro’s documentation to see
> how to set the environment for those. They may not read the
> bash-specific files, so you might need to use .profile or .login
> instead.
True. .bashrc is only read for an interactive shell (ie one in which you 
enter text commands directly). For environment variables to be picked up 
by gnucash when starting from the system menu, you should add the above 
two lines to another file. On Fedora you'd use .bash_profile.

Maybe it's different on your system (was it Ubuntu ?)

One way to find out could be to open a terminal and enter "man bash". 
Scroll all the way down to the end (a long document) where you will find 
a section called "FILES". That section explains which files are being 
used at which time. You would want the file used for
"The personal initialization file, executed for login shells"

I hope you're not getting swamped in all this low-level information :)

Geert