[GNC] Unable to open GnuCash file: "No suitable backend was found for <FILE>."

[Tomer Altman]

Hi everyone,

Due to filesystem errors, I had to reinstall MacOS on my 2015 Macbook 
Air (current OS version: Monterey 12.6.7). After doing so, and restoring 
my files from a TimeMachine backup using Migration Assistant, I started 
getting this error when trying to open my accounting file:

"No suitable  backend was found for <FILE>."

(where "<FILE>" is a stand-in for the actual file name)

I was at the time using a version of GnuCash from December 2022. I then 
reinstalled using the installer available from gnucash.org (current 
version: "5.3+(2023-06-26)" ). Unfortunately, the error persists.

Looking at this error message in the mailing list archives, it seems 
like this has something to do with using the SQLite back-end. I looked 
at the 'environment' text file, and it is implementing already the 
environment variable recommended as a fix:

GNC_DBD_DIR={SYS_LIB}/dbd

It seems like my install is still unable to find the libraries that it 
needs, though.

It's unclear to me how to diagnose which version of the back-end my file 
is using, since I cannot open it. Using 'file' and 'head' shows that it 
is not XML, and I am unable to decompress the file using Gzip. I'm also 
unable to open it using the sqlite3 command line tool.

So, two questions:

1. What's the correct way to verify the back-end type using something 
other than GnuCash itself?

2. What is wrong with my fresh install that is preventing me from 
opening up the file?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice and assistance!

Best regards,

~Tomer



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