there was an error parsing the file

[John Ralls]

> On Aug 9, 2016, at 7:20 PM, Kevin Hale Boyes <kcboyes at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm getting the above error in a dialog box when I try to open my gnucash
> file.
> I'm on a mac and I start Gnucash using the Spotlight Search.
> I've got 2.6.11 installed.
> 
> I've got a working backup so I'm not worried about that but I'd like to
> figure out what's wrong with my current file.
> 
> I was looking for the trace file but can't find it in /tmp or /var.
> 
> Using ps I can see gnucash is running as:
> /Applications/Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/Gnucash-bin --debug
> 
> So, I'm hoping someone can help me find the trace file.

When you try to open your file or when you start GnuCash? Are you using spotlight to find GnuCash itself or the file? On a Mac you must start GnuCash and open the file with File>Open or the history list; you can't select the file in Finder and double click, or select it from Spotlight. Well, you can, but GnuCash will open what it remembers as the last file you had open not the one you selected.

The tracefile is in /var/folders, but where exactly is different for each machine. That's why I recommend in http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/TraceFile that you use
  sudo find /var/folders -name gnucash.trace

Regards,
John Ralls