Messed up file names

[Gerald Mathias]

My thanks to Derek Atkins for some good pointers (and thank you, too, Bert
Riding). I'm not sure whether I will finally be able to digest the
suggestions sufficiently.

Derek said, "On November 15 at 16:19 you made some changes to the file,
which generated the log file mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.log and a
backup file mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.gnucash  (which does not
appear in your listing, but must exist somewhere)."

Maybe somewhere, but as of today, not in /Finances/mygnucash. I did a
search and came up empty.

I always open gnucash by clicking its icon in Applications > Office >. I
use Ubuntu 16.04.) That icon has been there since I installed the program,
and I don't know yet how to control what it opens. Maybe when I do the
"Save to" bit, but you suggest I save that for after fixing everything else.

I have dozens of normal-name .log and .gnucash files from 16 Oct to 15 Nov,
then nine double-dates from 31 Dec to 09 Jan. After that, loads of files
"Date Modified" 14 Jan, single-dated from 20171229 to 20180111, but out of
order. Includes one simple mygnucash.gnucash. The last three on 14 Jan are
double-dates, and those 20171115s continue through 19 Jan (today, although
I haven't actually make any gnucash entries today).

I've been reading how to restore, including the references you provided,
but I won't try until I can see my way past a "warning" or two.

On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 4:19 PM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Thu, January 18, 2018 8:30 pm, Gerald Mathias wrote:
> > I guess I did something dumb. I wanted to move my GnuCash to a new
> > computer, so I copied over the mygnucash folder. Now the new files come
> > out
> > with these weird names:
> >
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171928.gnucash
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171929.log
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180116114841.log
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180116115105.gnucash
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180116115105.log
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.LCK
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.log
> > mygnucash.gnucash.20171229114235.log
> >
> > I guess November 15 is the date I did the copy. Is there any way to get
> > rid
> > of that part of the naming process?
>
> STOP RIGHT NOW.  YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
>
> Basically, you started with a file named mygnucash.gnucash -- your main
> data file.
>
> On November 15 at 16:19 you made some changes to the file, which generated
> the log file mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.log and a backup file
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.gnucash  (which does not appear in your
> listing, but must exist somewhere).
>
> Then on December 29 you made another change, which resulted in the log
> file mygnucash.gnucash.20171229114235.log.  There should have also been an
> equivalent backup file.
>
> THEN, on January 15 at 17:19, you made a mistake.  Instead of opening your
> main data file, mygnucash.gnucash, you opened the BACKUP FILE from
> November 15.  This resulted in the log file
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171929.log and backup
> file mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171928.gnucash.  The
> backup was clearly saved one second before the log.
>
> Then you used the SAME file again on Jan 16 at 11:51.
>
> This means you effectively forked your data.  Anything you entered between
> November 15 and January 15 was "lost" in the fork.  It's still out there,
> like the December 29 log file.
>
> But this all happened because you opened the wrong file -- you opened up a
> backup file instead of your main data file.
>
> > I had also considered starting over, from 2018-01-01 on the new computer.
> > Maybe that is the better option? Would simply erasing all the current
> > accounts and setting them up anew do the trick?
>
> While that is an option, there is no need to do that.
> First, you need to understand how gnucash stores logs and backup files.
> See
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_What_are_all_these_.
> gnucash_and_.log_files_filling_up_my_directory.3F
> and
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_Why_is_my_file_name_
> getting_longer_and_longer.3F
>
> Once you fix your data loss problem (most likely you could do this by
> replaying the log files) then you can just rename your file back to your
> main data file.  I recommend you just File -> Save As from within GnuCash.
>
> Good Luck!
>
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
> -derek
>
> --
>        Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
>        derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
>        Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>
>