[GNC] Idiots guide to building GNC 4.9 on Ubuntu 20.04LTS

Sun Jan 9 03:56:44 EST 2022

On Sun, 2022-01-09 at 01:56 -0600, Jeff wrote:
> On 1/8/22 4:24 PM, davidcousens49 at gmail.com wrote:
> > On Sat, 2022-01-08 at 02:44 -0600, Jeff wrote:
> > > On 1/8/22 1:42 AM, david whiting wrote:
> > > > On Sat, 8 Jan 2022 at 07:33, Jeff <beastmaster126 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > > [...]
> > > > 
> > > > > Not sure if any of this is related or not to unsuccessful
> > > > > builds.  Side
> > > > > note: your shell runs and completes but; now I'll be flipped if I can
> > > > > find
> > > > > where it puts the executable now. Directory /opt is empty.
> > > > If it built and you used the defaults in the script, then it will be
> > > > in ~/Documents/gnucash/build/bin. Change to that directory and try
> > > > running it from there:
> > > > 
> > > > cd ~/Documents/gnucash/build/bin
> > > > ./gnucash
> > > > 
> > > > If that works, but it isn't in /opt/ then change to the build
> > > > directory and run make install:
> > > > 
> > > > cd ~/Documents/gnucash/build/
> > > > sudo make install
> > > > 
> > > > David
> > > No joy.  Your first option gives me a list of errors longer than my leg
> > > before crashing.  The second ends with:
> > > 
> > > CMake Error at cmake_install.cmake:41 (file):
> > >     file INSTALL cannot set permissions on
> > >     "/opt/gnucash/share/doc/gnucash/AUTHORS": Operation not permitted.
> > > 
> > > If I run it (in opt), then I get a whole list of errors before it
> > > decides to run version 4.8, not 4.9.  And automatically opens a set of
> > > books that I have not updated for several months, and I am damn sure not
> > > going to let it touch it with all of the errors it is generating.
> > Jeff
> > You don't run the shell script in /opt.  That is a root directory and you
> > would
> > need root privileges to be able to run it. David Whiting's shell script
> > should
> > be run in your home user directory. It will create the directories it needs.
> > 
> > I can no longer find David Whiting's script in the Wiki. It was attached to
> > a
> > section that dealt with distribution specific issues which now appears to be
> > unlinked from the main build on linux page. I can't locate it anywhere. A
> > wiki
> > can be a pain if there are no backlinks. OK I found it
> > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Building_On_Ubuntu
> > and will link it back into the main wiki page. I haven't done a major re-
> > edit
> > on the Building on Linux page for a couple of years. I find it works best
> > when I
> > have installed a new OS version from scratch  and not used the upgrade
> > procedures as my system is not bare bones any more.
> > > Somewhere I am making a beginners mistake.  It cannot be this hard to
> > > make a working version.  Especially with all of the guidance you all
> > > have provided me.
> > It can be hard to diagnose remotely. The best way to generate output is to
> > redirect the command output to a text file and attach that to your posts.
> > Unfortunately that does not include the command you entered in the text
> > file.
> > You can copy and paste that from the terminal into the top of  outputtext
> > file
> > with the text editor (xed on Linux but I think gedit on Ubuntu)
> > e.g.
> > 
> > ./build_GnuCash.sh > GC_Build_OP.txt.
> > 
> > > At this time I think it would be wise for me to remove every GNC file I
> > > can find and start over.  But it is beginning to look like a clean start
> > > means waiting until tax season is over.  The IRS and the state
> > > department of revenue wait for no one without penalties.
> > If you do this, this will help
> > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Uninstall_Gnucash_Linux
> > > One way or another I am going to build a working version from source.  I
> > > love programming, and chasing down gremlins to much. Who knows, once I
> > > get the chance I might even offer some code of my own.  The QIF import
> > > needs a little tweaking for the novice, it doesn't differentiate debits
> > > from credits on import, makes it a problem on import.
> > > 
> > The QIF import code is AFAIK fairly old legacy code. It may benefit from a
> > bit
> > better documentation rather than changes to the code per se
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > .
> 
> Sorry, I built it from Home/Documents/GNC_build, I can move it to /Home 
> and see if anything changes.  If not then I will make a post with the 
> echoed output.  If possible I would like to move the build to a larger 
> platter drive, my ssd drive is filling up faster than I expected.

That location should be OK. David Whitings script will create subdirectories to
load the sources into and build it so there should be a
$HOME\Documments\gnucash\source directory and a $HOME\Documments\gnucash\build
directory created by the script where $HOME translates to /home/<username> on
your system

> 
> 
> I however; cannot find a new PPA or solution to, when doing sudo apt-get 
> update :
> 
> Err:1 http://Community-maintained free InRelease
>    Temporary failure resolving 'Community-maintained'
> 
> -----snip----
> 
> W: Failed to fetch http://Community-maintained/dists/free/InRelease  
> Temporary failure resolving 'Community-maintained'
> W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old 
> ones used instead.

It may be a good idea to make sure that the Software Sources are set to the
default locations. The last post in this thread has instructions for doing that
for 20.04 if they are not as listed in one of the entries in the post. 
https://askubuntu.com/questions/124017/how-do-i-restore-the-default-repositories
. The earlier post are not for focal but you may get useful info from them
anyway. This reference may also be useful 
https://www.linuxshelltips.com/restore-default-repositories-in-ubuntu/.

It may also pay to take note of the current settings or preferrably make a
backup of the current etc/apt/sources.list file  before making any changes in
case other software stops working/updating if you do make changes to it.

> 
> 
> As far as QIF being an old format, it is still better and more flexible 
> than the OFX variants.  But I am not here right now to argue for better 
> QIF support. I just want to figure out how to build my own current 
> working version of GNC.

Not if the OFX supplied by your bank is correctly formatted in accordance with
the specification (sometimes problems with the version but the OFX library
should support all versions. Some banks have problems doing that but will
usually correct it if the problem is pointed out to them with reference to the
standard docs). OFX is a standard whereas QIF is a proprietary format. You will
find in the mailing list archive some links to definitions of the QIF format
that Quicken made public at one stage.

David Cousens

> 
> 