[GNC] GnuCash v2.6.19-1 has started freezing on Ubuntu 18.04 after a recent system update

[Tommy Trussell]

On Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 10:14 PM Parke <parke.nexus at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 1:03 PM Tommy Trussell <tommy.trussell at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I haven't launched GnuCash today, but my Bionic 18.04 LTS
> > system with 3Gb RAM has not been freezing.
>
> The freeze does not affect the entire system.  Only the GnuCash
> process (and/or its X window) freezes.
>
>
I apologize; I was too terse. I have not had GnuCash 2.6.19 freeze on my
Ubuntu Bionic 18.04 system (fully updated). Yesterday I opened two of my
seven active GnuCash books without error.


> > Before going farther on the diagnostics, has the OP tried creating a new
> > data file?
>
> I have not created a new, fresh data file.
>
> I do not know how to quickly reproduce a freeze.  Unfortunately,
> therefore, I do not have the time to pursue investigating this issue.
>

Whatever you do, be sure to keep your file backups. You may need them!

I vaguely recall a bug from years ago that affected GnuCash files with some
particular exact byte sizes. I cannot find it so I presume it was PROBABLY
fixed well before 2.6.19. If that were the bug you were experiencing then
the upgrade would fix it.

All that said -- because this freeze is not being widely experienced I
would first suspect something in your PARTICULAR environment. Again this
MIGHT be fixed in an upgrade because whatever crufty files have accumulated
might get blown away in the upgrade.

If you have not yet done the upgrade, remember to get from 18.04 to 19.10
you are supposed to first upgrade to 18.10 and then 19.04 and then 19.10.
Alternatively you could do a "clean install" of 19.10 rather than an
upgrade. But whatever you do go back to my earlier point above -- keep your
current and previous data backups until you know things are working OK.

Good luck! I know on my old system it takes me many hours to finish an OS
upgrade because I have old hardware and I have to find the latest tricks to
get the old scanner and printer and etc. working. That's the main reason I
stick with LTS releases on it. At some point (soon?) I'll probably ditch
the old CPU because nowadays 3Gb doesn't go so far. But it still works...

That reminds me it's time to make a data backup and carry it to my off-site
lockbox.

P.S.: It's easy to get the latest GnuCash package to compile on Bionic.
Maybe I'll post it as a separate message.