[GNC] "Save Report Configuration" Crashes GnuCash and Truncates saved-reports-2.8

[D]

Adrien,

It's not merely a case of the OS reporting the wrong file size; the file was in fact truncated. Reports were gone. 

It's more likely that something in the particular report was causing Gnucash to discard the data before saving. I say this because Gnucash consistently put the original file into saved-reports-2.4-backup. All 182kb of it.

David

On January 17, 2019, at 2:07 AM, Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:

David,

I’ve seen that very strange issue happen on two other occasions, once with a mailbox file and once with an XML file. I can’t fathom why the OS reports less data than is really there as it shouldn’t care if the file is malformed or not to the filetype’s specifications when it reports total size on disk. I’ve seen this on both Linux and Mac. (I never tested those files on Windows to see if that OS would do the same) This might be some sort of bug related to how files are split up on disk, or if such file errors result in an errant change to the file table entry, (FAT, journal, etc.) I dunno.

Unfortunately, I no longer remember the exact issues, but certainly, correcting the text in the file in my cases, (I could load the entire file in a text editor) restored access to my data and got the OS to report the real file size.

Regards,
Adrien

> On Jan 16, 2019, at 10:54 AM, David T. via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
> Geert and others,
> 
> I would like to follow up on the issues I raised earlier. 
> 
> First off, the crashing upon saving the report has gone away. I have no idea why.
> 
> As for the saved-reports truncation issue, after a break from all of this, I returned to do some tinkering around. Repeated efforts to modify a few of my reports for the latest version of the Transaction Report yielded the same results: my saved-reports file was truncated at 32kb.
> 
> I began the process of trying to document all 56 saved reports in my file (including trying to remove outdated ones) so that I could wipe the slate clean and start over again. A third of the way through, I ran into a report that was embedded in a multicolumn report which was not yielding expected results. This report would only return a cryptic error message. My suspicions aroused, I removed the report from the multicolumn report, saved the multicolumn report, closed, and then reopened GnuCash. 
> 
> All my reports were still there, and further edits on saved reports did not truncate the saved-reports file.
> 
> I’m not certain, but I wonder whether there is an issue in the multicolumn report code—to wit, I see that the entries for each section appear to be based on other reports, and I wonder what would happen if I were to remove the stored report upon which that section is built?
> 
> Anyhow, it appears that the truncation issue had to do with this erroneous saved report. I have no idea what could have fixed the crasher.
> 
> Cheers,
> David
> 
>> On Dec 29, 2018, at 9:31 PM, Geert Janssens <geert.gnucash at kobaltwit.be> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi David,
>> 
>> A very disturbing situation to be in.
>> 
>> I think the first step is to narrow down the possible issues.
>> 
>> Op zaterdag 29 december 2018 16:18:43 CET schreef David T. via gnucash-user:
>>> Hello,
>>> 
>>> As the subject line notes, I am again encountering a crasher in GnuCash 3.3
>>> on MacOS Mojave when I try to save a report configuration for a report
>>> whose settings have changed. Upon restart, I find that the saved reports
>>> have been trashed, and the saved-reports-2.8 file is truncated at a
>>> fraction of its prior size.
>>> 
>>> Further specifics: I am opening a saved report which is intended to document
>>> a small subset of expense accounts. I have added a new subaccount to this
>>> set of expenses, and I wish to add this new subaccount to the existing
>>> saved report. I open the report (Reports->Saved Report Configurations) and
>>> then select the options for the report. I click to the Accounts tab, add
>>> the new account (CMD-Click) and click save. The new version of the report
>>> now displays. I click on the “Save Report Configuration” button, and
>>> GnuCash disappears. There is no further information displayed (i.e., I do
>>> not receive an Apple message about the program ending unexpectedly, etc.).
>>> Neither does it appear that there is a crash report; the only crash I can
>>> find regarding GnuCash dates from 12/18, and today is not 12/18.
>>> 
>> When this happens is there anything in the trace file ?
>> 
>>> More disturbingly, when I reopen GnuCash, I find that my Saved Report
>>> Configurations file has been truncated, resulting in a loss of most of my
>>> reports. (Because I’ve had similar troubles with GnuCash trashing my
>>> reports file, I have copies of saved-reports-2.8 stored in safe spots.) The
>>> saved-reports-2.8 file goes from 182 kb to 34 kb. Upon restart, I have only
>>> 7 saved reports.
>>> 
>> So some of them are still in there ? Is the last one that's still there 
>> completely stored in the saved reports file ? And what's the first report 
>> that's not saved ? Do you see anything particular about this one ?
>> 
>> What if you remove this first report that's not saved from your original saved 
>> reports file (after making a proper backup of course) and restore this 
>> manually edited file. Can you now save your new report correctly ?
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Geert
>> 
>> 
> 
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