[GNC] GnuCash 5.11 FlatPak on Linux Mint 21: Software doesn't respect read-only gnucash file

[Paul Kroitor]

A read-only file should be protected by the OS regardless of whether or not the user tries to save or not. That said, in the case of Gnucash, saving is generally automatic and the user doesn’t actively cause it, so it’s not reasonable to blame the user!

IIRC Gnucash doesn’t actually overwrite the read-only file anyway — it writes a new file and then renames the previous file to be the backup and the new file to be current.

Not sure why this issue would be specific to FlatPak though.

Sent from my iPad

> On Jun 12, 2025, at 7:38 AM, kschneider bout-tyme.net <kschneider at bout-tyme.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On Jun 12, 2025, at 2:35 AM, James Thorpe <James at fusionsystems.co.za> wrote:
>> 
>> Bottom line - I'm trying to save a read-only copy of a file that I'm done with and just want for reporting/ reference purposes. How do I do that?
> 
> Why are you trying to “save” a read only file?
> 
> Read-only implies it can’t be changed therefore there are no changes to be saved.
> 
> If on the other hand you are trying to safe ‘changes’ to a new file name use “save as” instead.
> 
> Ken Schneider
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