[GNC] longtime user suddenly unable to open gnucash
Sherlock Holmes
sh025622 at gmail.com
Fri Sep 5 17:59:00 EDT 2025
Hi Jacob,
As I suggested on August 11 after you provided the trace file, you can
try restoring a backup of the GNC_CONFIG_HOME directory saved before you
experienced the issue. The trace file pointed at a problem with:
~/Library/Application\ Support/Gnucash/books/JAW.gnucash.gcm
within or just after the region identified as:
[Register d23062548121b108390e64b3ed86f79b+]
To determine what may have caused the issue, I suggest examining the
problematic .gcm file.
Regards,
Sherlock
On 9/5/25 2:31 PM, Jacob Wegelin wrote:
> Thank you! to all who helped. I renamed the Gnucash directory under
> ~/Library, deleted the JAW.gnucash.LCK file, doubleclicked Gnucash in
> the Applications directory, and then GnuCash opened. It appears that
> my data are all there.
>
> *Is there anything else I should be careful of as I start to use
> GnuCash again?* so as not to foul things up again?
>
> My layman's guess is that I copied and pasted some non-unicode character
> into the Memo field of a transaction and that this fouled up the code.
>
> Thank you again,
> Jacob Wegelin
>
> On 2025-09-01 Mon 16:59, Sherlock wrote:
>> Jacob,
>>
>> It appears you did not search for the Gnucash directory correctly.
>> If you want to use the find command, try:
>>
>> find -s $HOME/Library/Application\ Support -maxdepth 1 -iname '*gnu*'
>>
>> but you could just a easily confirm the directory's existence by
>> issuing:
>>
>> ls -d ~/Library/Application\ Support/Gnucash
>>
>> or you could use the Finder app.
>>
>>
>> The trace file you provided indicates the directory exists and there
>> appears to be a problem in the metadata file. Reinstalling will not
>> correct the metafile.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Sherlock
>>
>>
>> On 9/1/25 4:02 PM, Jacob Wegelin wrote:
>>> I do not find that directory. I do not find GnuCash under /Library,
>>> nor do I find it under $HOME/Library:
>>>
>>>> date
>>> Mon Sep 1 15:42:33 PDT 2025
>>>> find -s /Library/Application\ Support/ -maxdepth 1
>>> /Library/Application Support/
>>> /Library/Application Support/App Store
>>> /Library/Application Support/Apple
>>> /Library/Application Support/BTServer
>>> /Library/Application Support/Carbonite
>>> /Library/Application Support/com.apple.backgroundassets.user
>>> /Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd
>>> /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC
>>> /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TVIdleScreen
>>> /Library/Application Support/CrashReporter
>>> /Library/Application Support/GarageBand
>>> /Library/Application Support/iLifeMediaBrowser
>>> /Library/Application Support/livefsd
>>> /Library/Application Support/Logic
>>> /Library/Application Support/Malwarebytes
>>> /Library/Application Support/Mozilla
>>> /Library/Application Support/ProApps
>>> /Library/Application Support/Script Editor
>>>>
>>>> find -s $HOME/Library -maxdepth 1 -iname '*gnu*'
>>>>
>>>
>>> And in case it is elsewhere under /Library:
>>>
>>>> find -s /Library/ -iname '*gnuc*'
>>> find: /Library/Application Support/Apple/AssetCache/Data: Permission
>>> denied
>>> find: /Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/Users:
>>> Permission denied
>>> find: /Library/Application Support/Malwarebytes/MBAM/Settings/1:
>>> Permission denied
>>> find: /Library/Application Support/Malwarebytes/MBAM/Settings/501:
>>> Permission denied
>>> find: /Library/Caches/com.apple.amsengagementd.classicdatavault:
>>> Operation not permitted
>>> find: /Library/Caches/com.apple.aned: Operation not permitted
>>> find: /Library/Caches/com.apple.aneuserd: Operation not permitted
>>> find: /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store: Permission denied
>>> /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Library/PrivateFrameworks/
>>> LLDB.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Clang/include/__stdarg___gnuc_va_list.h
>>>
>>> /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/lib/clang/17/include/
>>> __stdarg___gnuc_va_list.h
>>> /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/lib/tapi/17/include/
>>> __stdarg___gnuc_va_list.h
>>>>
>>>
>>> I installed GnuCash on this brand-new computer in January 2025. I tried
>>> to use homebrew for this; could that have changed the directory?
>>> But "brew" objected:
>>>
>>> Error: It seems there is already an App at '/Applications/Gnucash.app'.
>>>
>>> At that point in the process, I found the file, and a popup stated:
>>>
>>> Chrome downloaded this file on January 25, 2025. Apple checked it
>>> for malicious software and none was detected.
>>>
>>> At any rate, I do not find the stated directory under /Library. Is
>>> there a further step I can take to try to fix this?
>>>
>>> Am I correct that deleting /Applications/Gnucash.app and
>>> reinstalling is not the way to go?
>>>
>>> Thank you for any insight.
>>>
>>> Jacob Wegelin
>>>
>>> On 2025-08-15 Fri 14:33, R Losey wrote:
>>>> No, it IS blank on my macOS. That's why he gave you the path to it
>>>> (~/ Library/Application\ Support/GnuCash). Rename the
>>>> directory, and then try launching GnuCash.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM Jacob Wegelin
>>>> <jacobwegelin at fastmail.fm> wrote:
>>>> When I do
>>>>
>>>> > echo $GNC_CONFIG_HOME
>>>>
>>>> I get a blank. Is this not supposed to be a system variable
>>>> in macos on
>>>> the command line?
>>>>
>>>> On 2025-08-11 Mon 13:12, Sherlock wrote:
>>>> > Jacob,
>>>> >
>>>> > I suspect there may be a configuration issue.
>>>> >
>>>> > A quick check is to rename the GNC_CONFIG_HOME directory
>>>> and the try
>>>> > launching GnuCash:
>>>> >
>>>> > mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/Gnucash
>>>> ~/Library/Application\
>>>> > Support/Gnucash.sav
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > If GnuCash able to launch successfully, you can try
>>>> restoring a backup of the
>>>> > GNC_CONFIG_HOME directory saved before you experienced the
>>>> issue.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > Regards,
>>>> >
>>>> > Sherlock
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On 8/11/25 11:48 AM, Jacob Wegelin wrote:
>>>> >> At
>>>> >>
>>>> >> https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ii1dswyfptx5gvz9bx6sl/
>>>> gnucash1.zip?
>>>> >> rlkey=a7f1y4v91ebztkurwspuiwegw&st=hfkg9pzz&dl=0
>>>> >>
>>>> >> are 2 files:
>>>> >> gnucash.trace
>>>> >> the stderr from the command line.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Thank you again
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Jacob Wegelin
>>>> >
>>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> _________________________________
>>>> Richard Losey
>>>> rlosey at gmail.com
>>>> Micah 6:8
>>>>
>>>>
>>
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