Can't save gnucash files

Fred Bone Fred.Bone at dial.pipex.com
Tue May 31 12:35:45 EDT 2016


On 30 May 2016 at 13:30, Raven Long said:

> Followup:
> 
> When I closed google drive, the permission problem went away. Next time it
> happens, I'll try closing drive again.
> 
> Any other thoughts?

Sounds like a problem I used to have, except mine was caused by an 
"instant backup" program.

When you do a save, Gnucash will:
1. Write out your current data to a file with a temporary name;
2. Rename the original file to a backup name (with datetime included);
3. Rename the temporary file to the "proper" name.

Programs that expect to take copies of your files (copy to Drive in your 
case, instant backup in mine) may lock the temporary file while trying to 
copy it, and if this is still in progress when Gnucash tries to execute 
step 3 the OS says "no, file is locked". Gnucash then reverses step 2.

The giveaway is the temporary file, which gets left lying around. It will 
be the latest file in your folder and has a name based on the "proper" 
name, with a random component and "tmp" somewhere. (Can't remember 
exactly, it's been a while).



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