[GNC] stock spinoff and lots

[Michael Matz]

I've been using GnuCash for my personal finances for many years. I've 
not used the stock lot feature until recently and am working thought my 
old data and adding stock lots and capital gains transactions.

How do I add a transaction to a lot, which changes the cost basis but 
not the number of shares?

In the user guide, I found a section about return of capital, which says 
to enter a transaction in the stock account with 0 shares. However, that 
transaction is not in the "Splits free" list in the lot editor so I 
can't add it to the lot.

https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v5/C/gnucash-guide/invest-retofcap.html

My need is slightly different, a spin-off rather than return to capital, 
but it is essentially the same in that it changes the cost basis but not 
the number of shares. I found this post which gets me most of the way there:

https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2018-February/074963.html

Following this, I can create a lot and the correct capital gains 
transaction for the spin-off stock. However, the same issue exists with 
the 0 share transaction for the parent company - it can't be added to a 
lot so the cost basis for the parent stock is wrong.

Am I missing something or is there no way to add a transaction to a lot 
which changes the cost-basis but not the number of shares?

Thanks,

Michael

GnuCash 5.4, Ubuntu