[GNC] Locked out of gnucash

[David Carlson]

A comment about Stan Brown's suggestion.

I think a better and more accurate wording would be "The data file has not
been cleanly closed since it was last opened.  If you are sure that it was
not opened by another user, click 'Open Anyway'.  Otherwise click one of
the other options."

To me the important part is that the data file has not been cleanly closed,
which is the real reason that the lock file exists.  There may be better
words to use as long as this idea is incorporated.

David Carlson

On Sun, Nov 17, 2019 at 4:35 PM Frank H. Ellenberger <
frank.h.ellenberger at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Stan et al.
>
> I like the idea. A short grep delivers 5 occurrences of likewise texts: 4
> at
>
> https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash/blob/de09259f13e8e3d7f2e50f97a353bd22eb45a4b6/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-file.c#L276
> and one further below:
>
> https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash/blob/de09259f13e8e3d7f2e50f97a353bd22eb45a4b6/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-file.c#L768
> I am not totally sure if the change can be applied on aloof them.
>
> BTW. Splitting the first 4 strings like the last would reduce the
> burden for our translators.
>
> Regards
> Frank
>
> Am So., 17. Nov. 2019 um 08:22 Uhr schrieb Stan Brown
> <the_stan_brown at fastmail.fm>:
> >
> > In the two years I've been reading this list, I think the single most
> > common question has been about this "could not obtain the lock" message.
> > Seems like someone asks about it at least once a week.
> >
> > The text "that database may be in use by another user," while literally
> > true, isn't helpful because it points to a less common case and gives no
> > guidance for the more common case. It's like hearing hoofbeats and
> > hypothesizing "zebra" instead of "horse".
> >
> > I suggest that improving the message would be a huge boon to less
> > experienced GC users, and very little effort for the developers.
> >
> > Why not replace the present text
> >
> >         That database may be in use by another user, in which case you
> >         should not open the database. What would you like to do?
> >
> > with this:
> >
> >         If your previous session crashed, select Open Anyway. If this is
> >         a shared database, wait for other users to finish using it or
> >         select Open Read-Only. For more information, see (link to sec
> >         2.5.3 of Tutorial).
> >
> > "What would you like to do?" can be omitted, in my opinion. Seeing
> > buttons, users will know that they need to pick one. What they _do_ need
> > is text that is relevant to their situation.
> >
> > (I question the tutorial's advice to delete the lock files manually.
> > David Cousens reports:
> > >  My experience on Linux is that when you select Open
> > > Anyway, the previous .LNK and .LCK files will be deleted and new ones
> > > created which should then be deleted when GNucash is closed properly.
> > The same happens for me in Windows. Is there any OS where this desirable
> > behavior doesn't happen? If there is, the tutorial's advice should
> > mention those specific systems, or at least it should say that in
> > Windows and Linux GC will do this automatically when you reopen a data
> > file after the "could not obtain the lock" message.)
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> > Stan Brown
> > Tompkins County, New York, USA
> > https://BrownMath.com
> > http://OakRoadSystems.com
> >
> >
> > On 2019-11-16 20:27, David Cousens wrote:
> > > Kay
> > >
> > > If GnuCash is not closed properly,e.g. a crash the .LNK and .LCK files
> > > created in your data directory prevent you from opening GnuCash.
> Section
> > > 2.5.3 of the Tutorial guide covers them.
> > >
> > > .LCK file extensions.  My experience on Linux is that when you select
> Open
> > > Anyway, the previous .LNK and .LCK files will be deleted and new ones
> > > created which should then be deleted when GNucash is closed properly.
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-- 
David Carlson