Learning, need clarification

Fri Feb 13 11:07:26 EST 2015

Please remember to include the gnucash-users list in replies, so others can
benefit from our conversation.

If you can read the .gnucash file as text after uncompressing it, you are
using the XML back end. As of now, unless you are trying to do something
that GnuCash doesn't fully support, it should not matter, as a user, which
backend you use, except that the SQL backend isn't considered ready for
default usage.

On Fri Feb 13 2015 at 10:51:00 AM David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I also took the 7 zip route and, sure enough, it is readable in WordPad I
> see all my accounts and other familiar entries.
>
> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 10:27 AM, David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> After much searching I think I am using SQL. I found the sqlliter3.exe in
>> a gnu folder by doing a custom search.
>>
>> Now I have to figure out how to use it.
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 9:58 AM, Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> The .gnucash file is compressed XML, and Win7 identifies the file type
>>> primarily by the extension. So when it sees a file ending in ".gnucash", it
>>> doesn't know it's XML. Even if it did, since it's compressed, it'll look
>>> like gibberish until it's uncompressed.
>>>
>>> You can use the program 7zip to uncompress it, or you can, within
>>> GnuCash, go to the Edit->Preferences dialog, and, under "General" find and
>>> untick "Compress files" option. There may be other options in the
>>> preferences you might want to adjust as well.
>>>
>>> Once you save your data file after that, you can rename it with a .xml
>>> extension, then your Win7 will recognize it as an XML file and allow you to
>>> look at it with an XML viewer. Not that there's any real need to.
>>>
>>> I, too, tried to open a new book in Win7, and was not asked about a
>>> backend. I suspect that the standard Win7 build does not include SQL
>>> support.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri Feb 13 2015 at 9:21:57 AM David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Forgot the attachment.
>>>>
>>>> And when I re-installed there were no questions about back end.
>>>> ""When you first started GnuCash, it asked you in one of those
>>>> questions you probably didn't know what meant: what back end did you want
>>>> to use? XML was the default.""
>>>>
>>>> I am running win 7.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 9:12 AM, David Christopher <chrstdvd at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks Buddha, Your last paragraph above is what I had before I
>>>>> deleted all those files.  Whatever the long named one was I renamed it
>>>>> DavidAnn and now I have it and two log files in the folder. I will watch
>>>>> the folder to see what happens as time moves on by and I get more accustom
>>>>> to using GNUcash.
>>>>>
>>>>> Frankly, I thought the DavidAnn file which had a created date of 1/30
>>>>> was the original file and did not have the information that I had added
>>>>> since then.  So i probably did open one of the back ups because I thought
>>>>> it contained the latest data.  I will watch it as I add transactions and
>>>>> see if the file size gets larger.
>>>>>
>>>>> I found this link to read xml files for using Google Chrome. When I
>>>>> click Control O it and choose the .gnucash file it downloads the file to my
>>>>> downloads folder and then opens Gnucash as if I doubled clicked the icon on
>>>>> desktop. I do not see an xml file.
>>>>>
>>>>> So, I tried this link and clicked the Browse button, found the file
>>>>> and opened it and that site says it is not an xml file.  So maybe I do have
>>>>> a sql file.
>>>>>
>>>>> I attach a screen shot of my File > Open screen.  What does the
>>>>> highlighted choices indicate if anything.  When I try the bottom two It
>>>>> asks for a username and PW and I just stick one in and get an error message.
>>>>>
>>>>> Maybe I should read your response, Uninstall and re-install and pay
>>>>> attention this time.  I think that is what I will do.  I will let you know
>>>>> how it turns out.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 7:52 AM, Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri Feb 13 2015 at 3:19:54 AM David <chrstdvd at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ref:
>>>>>>> http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-could-not-obtai
>>>>>>> n-the-lock-file-td4675956.html
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I wanted to reply or ask a question concerning the above thread, but
>>>>>>> since I
>>>>>>> am squeaky new here I thought I should start my own thread.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Later on before posting this I went back to help and typed in Backup
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> Restore into search box and got one hit.  But I do not think it says
>>>>>>> exactly
>>>>>>> what the first article said, because I can not find the sentence
>>>>>>> that talks
>>>>>>> about before and after a version what format the database file is
>>>>>>> written in
>>>>>>> in that topic.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 1.  Is the database used by Gnu built into the program?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yes, maybe, depending on what platform you are running, I think?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> GnuCash runs on many platforms, each of which may have it's own
>>>>>> conventions for what gets installed and what doesn't. I believe GnuCash
>>>>>> uses Postgresql or MySql, both of which ship with standard Linux
>>>>>> distributions, but not with Windows. I do not know if the GnuCash installer
>>>>>> for Windows ships with the database engine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 2.  Am I using a Sql database?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Probably not. With the current release, the SQL backend is not
>>>>>> considered reliable enough -- not that the SQL database will crash and lose
>>>>>> data, but in that the developers aren't sure they have successfully caught
>>>>>> all the areas where consistency checks and the like need to be made. They
>>>>>> think they have, but they are conservatively cautious.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As such, the default is to not use the SQL back end.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 3.  If so, How?  If not, what am I using?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When you first started GnuCash, it asked you in one of those
>>>>>> questions you probably didn't know what meant: what back end did you want
>>>>>> to use? XML was the default.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You are most likely using the XML backend.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The "XYZ.gnucash" file that it generates is a compressed XML file.
>>>>>> You can use a decompression utility (I'm not sure of the appropriate one on
>>>>>> Windows) to decompress it and look at the raw XML if you wish.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 4.  In Quicken you can backup your data file to external drive. A few
>>>>>>> moments ago I opened my Gnu folder, copied the largest file to my
>>>>>>> desk top,
>>>>>>> opened it to verify it is the correct most current file.  Then I
>>>>>>> deleted the
>>>>>>> 147 files in my Documents > Gnucash > DavidAnn file.  Then I cut the
>>>>>>> file
>>>>>>> off desktop and pasted it back into the now empty folder, verified
>>>>>>> it worked
>>>>>>> and was correct, closed it down and then copied it onto a thumb
>>>>>>> drive and my
>>>>>>> external hard drove in appropriate folder.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Is there an easier way to back up a data file to external drive?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I would have just copied the data file, and not bothered with moving
>>>>>> it to the desktop, deleting all the backups/logs, etc.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What you are seeing in the 148 files in that directory are:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> One file named "DavidAnn.gnucash"
>>>>>> A slew of files named "DavidAnn.gnucash.2014092825408.gnucash" or
>>>>>> similar
>>>>>> A slew of files named "DavidAnn.gnucash.2014092825909.log" or similar
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The short file name is your actual data file. The long file names
>>>>>> ending in ".gnucash" are timestamped backups. The number is the timestamp,
>>>>>> and reflects the year, month, day, and second the backup was automatically
>>>>>> made. The long files ending in ".log" are a record of transactions posted
>>>>>> since the previous log file. It is not intended for day-to-day usage.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While it is probably the case that the actual data file is larger
>>>>>> than the backups, it is not guaranteed: it may have more transactions, but
>>>>>> compress better, for instance. As such, look for the timestamp-less file
>>>>>> name to back up.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's possible that you don't have a "DavidAnn.gnucash", but have
>>>>>> (now) a bunch of "DavidAnn.gnucash.2015010524312.gnucash.2015020452314.gnucash"
>>>>>> files, meaning that you opened and used a previous backup, and gnucash is
>>>>>> making more backups of changes you've made to that. So it's appended
>>>>>> another timestamp to the filename. This is probably not what you want.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thank you for reading and offering advice.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>> View this message in context: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabb
>>>>>>> le.com/Learning-need-clarification-tp4675966.html
>>>>>>> Sent from the GnuCash - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> gnucash-user mailing list
>>>>>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>>>>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>>>>>> -----
>>>>>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>>>>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>