Re: [GNC] Unable to open GnuCash file: "No suitable backend was found for ."
On 7/13/23 8:55 AM, john wrote:
On Jul 13, 2023, at 01:34, Tomer Altman wrote:
On 7/12/23 6:26 PM, john wrote:
On Jul 12, 2023, at 16:16, Tomer Altman wrote:
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 ."
(where "" 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!
If it's a SQLite file you can open it with sqlite3, provided by
macOS. Just open Terminal and run
sqlite3 /path/to/my/gnucash/file
You can use the `.tables` command to list the tables and `.schema
` to show the structure and compare it with
https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/SQL.
99% of the time when users report this problem it's because they're
trying to open a log file or a .gcm file instead of their actual book.
Regards,
John Ralls
Hi John,
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.
I've tried doing what you are suggesting. Let's say that my ""
name is "foo.gnucash". When I type the following:
sqlite3 foo.gnucash
> .tables
I get:
"Error: file is not a database"
I thought to myself, "Perhaps the SQLite3 file was corrupted?" So I
went to a TimeMachine backup of the directory from April (before any
issues with my laptop), and copied over foo.gnucash to a temporary
directory. This file would open successfully with GnuCash. Using the
command line, I see that 'file' correctly identifies it as a gzip
compressed file.
So it seems that this was an issue with the foo.gnucash file getting
corrupted, perhaps from the filesystem errors that I was
experiencing. Thanks for prompting me to debug this further. I'll
restore my file using the *.gnucash backup files, and by adding in
the relevant log files.
If I may be so bold as to suggest a UI improvement: Telling the user
"No suitable backend was found for " implies that the file is
fine, it's just that there's no back-end to support it. That
impression was bolstered by the mailing list discussion of missing
library paths. I'd suggest wording that makes it clear that the
*FILE* is the issue, as in it's either the wrong type, or it is
corrupted. Perhaps, " is not a recognized GnuCash formatted file."
Tomer,
Good that you sorted it. Note though that if it's gzip-compressed it's
an XML file, not a sqlite3 database. Does `file` on the apparently
corrupted gnucash file claim that it's a sqlite3 database?
Regards,
John Ralls
When I use the `file` command on the corrupted file, it just reports it
as "data". It's a binary file, but not recognized as being in Gzip format.
~T
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[GNC] Two Instances as opposed to two separate files
Question about a matter of setup. I use Windows 11 - so answers/information specific to that OS would be appreciated. First - can two instances of the program be loaded (exist in the system) such that one instance opens a personal file and one opens a business file? Second - if answer to question one is yes - is this a preference you can set and are there advantages to doing it? Third - if answer to question one is no - then is the only way to have two separate data files is to load the program and force load the specific file you want since the program always default opens to the last file you dealt with? Answers, opinions and other information welcomed. Thanks! -- Ken ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
[GNC] Yahoo Closed the Door on Finance API
Some of us suspected this would come, getting reports of the Yahoo URL https://query2.finance.yahoo.com/v11/finance/quoteSummary/AAPL?modules=price,summaryDetail,defaultKeyStatistics and https://query2.finance.yahoo.com/v10/finance/quoteSummary/AAPL?modules=price,summaryDetail,defaultKeyStatistics now returning a 404 (v11) or "Unauthorized" (v10). Sorry to say this, but more than likely the YahooJSON module (aka yahoo_json) is going to be removed from Finance::Quote in the next release. This is not to say that if someone can figure out a way to successfully access Yahoo's https://query2.finance.yahoo.com/v?... APIs, please pass on that info or better yet, have a go at reworking the current module. There is already an issue raised on F::Q's GitHub, https://github.com/finance-quote/finance-quote/issues/318. Please refrain from "me too" comments. Unfortunately as I said in the previous paragraph, this issue will likely be resolved by removing the module. Bruce S. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Equity Account "problem"
1) Gnucash account ledgers should be thought of as primarily just a place to enter and edit actual transactions. That's a SHORT CUT and available only when the transaction being entered has just a single debit and single credit. In a way a "special case" except probably true for 90+% of your transactions. Originally (in bookkeeping) transactions were first entered into a book called the "journal". They were then posted into another book called the "ledger". This was an error prone process. Gnucash is "autoposting" and does not require you to first enter into the journal << the journal in gnucash is virtual, you can run a report to see it >> BUT -- whenever the transaction has more than a single debit or single credit you enter hitting the "split" button and this will make the transaction appear in journal mode. In other words, you then finish entering the transaction as if you were making an entry in the journal. You can also ask gnucash to always have you entering in journal mode. Possibly this would be more familiar for new users coming to gnucash directly from old fashioned pen and ink on accounting paper bookkeeping. The computer will NOT make a "posting error" (copying a digit wrong, transposing digits, etc. ) Gnucash is letting you enter (most transactions) the way done in pen and paper days in what was called "cashbook accounting". With that, a small subset of all accounts in the "cashbook". Called that because one of these ultra popular always "cash". Like I said, 90+% transactions will only affect two accounts and one of those "cash". Michael D Novack ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Window/Mac Summary Box difference
So I deleted those two transactions and Profits stayed at zero. Ended up quitting with saving. On startup again the Profit was back and correct. Stephen M Butler stephen.m.butle...@gmail.com kg...@arrl.net 253-350-0166 --- GnuPG Fingerprint: 8A25 9726 D439 758D D846 E5D4 282A 5477 0385 81D8 On 7/13/23 15:19, Stephen M. Butler wrote: Based on some experimentation, I suspect: 1. Grand Total should always be zero (blank). If ever non-zero it means you have an out-of-balance transaction (maybe more than one) somewhere. 2. Net Assets appears to be Assets - Liabilities + Income - Expenses. So, Total Equity including retained earnings/losses. 3. Profits appear to be Income - Expenses for the current year. Yes, I do Close the Books each year. So, I deleted the 2022 entries to see if that affected Profits. It did not. But it sure changed the retained earning on the Balance sheet! This does not explain why the figures are different on other boxes. I have a hard time thinking that the system date on those boxes isn't 2023!! That last statement caused me to try setting the Accounting Period Preference to an absolute date of 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2019. My Profit went to zero. The Net Assets is not the same as the Balance Sheet shows for 2019. It was low by $3,544.00. I changed the Accounting Period Preference to an absolute date of 1/1/2023 - 12/31/2023 and saw the same (correct) figures as when set for a relative period for start/end of current year. Finally, I closed the books for 2023 (no worries, only 2 transactions to delete to reverse that) and saw Profits going to zero. It left Net Assets alone. --Steve Stephen M Butler stephen.m.butle...@gmail.com kg...@arrl.net 253-350-0166 --- GnuPG Fingerprint: 8A25 9726 D439 758D D846 E5D4 282A 5477 0385 81D8 On 7/13/23 13:43, David H wrote: My Grand Total always just shows as "$, Grand Total:" - hasn't had an amount in it forever so I just ignore these figures anyway as they're quite meaningless to me :-) There's a dropdown arrow on the right hand side that you can use to expand the items on that line - shows entries for each currency etc. Click on the summary line once, sometimes twice (flaky), and it will also expand the summary row in situ. On mac os you can also double click the summary line and it opens part way up the screen - it's a bit flaky the way it does it tho - click somewhere else to close it again. Cheers David H. On Fri, 14 Jul 2023 at 01:10, David Carlson wrote: Neil, If you scroll down in the summary box you will see additional rows identified by the currencies and securities in that file, if any exist. Perhaps that would lead to an account and one or more transactions that contain an incomplete closing transaction where some asset or liability was exchanged without accounting for the loss or gain. I too have no idea how those numbers are calculated, so I cannot be more specific. On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 9:35 AM Adrien Monteleone < adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: I'm not sure exactly how those numbers are calculated and I've never relied on them. Perhaps a Balance Sheet would work better. You'd only need to know the headline numbers: Total Assets Total Liabilities Total Equity (perhaps, Retained Earnings/Losses, if you like, though that is part of the Equity section) Regards, Adrien On 7/13/23 6:33 AM, Neil Campbell wrote: I help a friend with their monthly accounting. She has GNUCash installed on a PC. I have GNUCash installed on a Mac mini M1 computer. She does the input. I do the month end transactions and check her input. So we send GNUCash data files backwards and forwards. The way I identify the file I have sent her is to give her the Summary Box values. She must agree this before starting her new month’s input. This worked well until, for no apparent reason, these figures don’t match any more. My Mac mini M1 shows: Net Assets £9,115.89 Profits £3,075.18 Using the same file that I emailed her, her PC Shows: Net Assets £9,115.89 Profits £0.00 So I realised that there must be a Preference not set by her. I downloaded and installed GNUCash on my wife’s PC to see how I could correct the error. I changed the Setting Accounting period dates to the correct ones. So, on my wife’s PC I have: Net Assets £9,115.89 Profits £8,803.24 It’s still not right and the Profit figure is now in red. I now have 3 different Profit Figures, but I cannot find any place on the Windows version to check why there are these differences, because I don’t know where this Profit figure comes from. The correct figures are the ones on my Mac mini M1 above. I must be missing something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists
Re: [GNC] Window/Mac Summary Box difference
Based on some experimentation, I suspect: 1. Grand Total should always be zero (blank). If ever non-zero it means you have an out-of-balance transaction (maybe more than one) somewhere. 2. Net Assets appears to be Assets - Liabilities + Income - Expenses. So, Total Equity including retained earnings/losses. 3. Profits appear to be Income - Expenses for the current year. Yes, I do Close the Books each year. So, I deleted the 2022 entries to see if that affected Profits. It did not. But it sure changed the retained earning on the Balance sheet! This does not explain why the figures are different on other boxes. I have a hard time thinking that the system date on those boxes isn't 2023!! That last statement caused me to try setting the Accounting Period Preference to an absolute date of 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2019. My Profit went to zero. The Net Assets is not the same as the Balance Sheet shows for 2019. It was low by $3,544.00. I changed the Accounting Period Preference to an absolute date of 1/1/2023 - 12/31/2023 and saw the same (correct) figures as when set for a relative period for start/end of current year. Finally, I closed the books for 2023 (no worries, only 2 transactions to delete to reverse that) and saw Profits going to zero. It left Net Assets alone. --Steve Stephen M Butler stephen.m.butle...@gmail.com kg...@arrl.net 253-350-0166 --- GnuPG Fingerprint: 8A25 9726 D439 758D D846 E5D4 282A 5477 0385 81D8 On 7/13/23 13:43, David H wrote: My Grand Total always just shows as "$, Grand Total:" - hasn't had an amount in it forever so I just ignore these figures anyway as they're quite meaningless to me :-) There's a dropdown arrow on the right hand side that you can use to expand the items on that line - shows entries for each currency etc. Click on the summary line once, sometimes twice (flaky), and it will also expand the summary row in situ. On mac os you can also double click the summary line and it opens part way up the screen - it's a bit flaky the way it does it tho - click somewhere else to close it again. Cheers David H. On Fri, 14 Jul 2023 at 01:10, David Carlson wrote: Neil, If you scroll down in the summary box you will see additional rows identified by the currencies and securities in that file, if any exist. Perhaps that would lead to an account and one or more transactions that contain an incomplete closing transaction where some asset or liability was exchanged without accounting for the loss or gain. I too have no idea how those numbers are calculated, so I cannot be more specific. On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 9:35 AM Adrien Monteleone < adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: I'm not sure exactly how those numbers are calculated and I've never relied on them. Perhaps a Balance Sheet would work better. You'd only need to know the headline numbers: Total Assets Total Liabilities Total Equity (perhaps, Retained Earnings/Losses, if you like, though that is part of the Equity section) Regards, Adrien On 7/13/23 6:33 AM, Neil Campbell wrote: I help a friend with their monthly accounting. She has GNUCash installed on a PC. I have GNUCash installed on a Mac mini M1 computer. She does the input. I do the month end transactions and check her input. So we send GNUCash data files backwards and forwards. The way I identify the file I have sent her is to give her the Summary Box values. She must agree this before starting her new month’s input. This worked well until, for no apparent reason, these figures don’t match any more. My Mac mini M1 shows: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £3,075.18 Using the same file that I emailed her, her PC Shows: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £0.00 So I realised that there must be a Preference not set by her. I downloaded and installed GNUCash on my wife’s PC to see how I could correct the error. I changed the Setting Accounting period dates to the correct ones. So, on my wife’s PC I have: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £8,803.24 It’s still not right and the Profit figure is now in red. I now have 3 different Profit Figures, but I cannot find any place on the Windows version to check why there are these differences, because I don’t know where this Profit figure comes from. The correct figures are the ones on my Mac mini M1 above. I must be missing something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. -- David Carlson ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please
Re: [GNC] Equity Account "problem"
On Thu, 2023-07-13 at 10:25 -0400, Michael or Penny Novack wrote: > On 7/12/2023 8:18 PM, Default User wrote: > > On Wed, 2023-07-12 at 16:38 -0400, Michael or Penny Novack wrote: > > > On 7/11/2023 6:48 PM, Default User wrote: > > > > This is a case of not knowing the history (how bookkeeping changed > over > ~thousand year history) and never having kept books pen and ink on > paper > in modern bookkeeping (the last couple hundred years) > > > I will freely admit that I do not fully understand the formal > > definitions and usage of income and expense accounts. Indeed, I am > > not > > an accountant, or even a bookkeeper. But I do think I know enough > > to > > understand how closing the books includes transferring income and > > equity balances (or at least "income - expenses") to equity. > > The PROCESS of :close the books" in the old days of pen and ink on > paper > (how I learned) not only ended up with all income and expense > accounts > closed to equity but also produced the "Profit&Loss" report (aka > "Income > Statement, aka "Statement of Revenues and Expenses", etc.). The > income > and expense accounts were closed to equity INDIRECTLY. Only their net > was actually transferred to equity. > > There was ANOTHER temporary account of fundamental type equity called > "Profit and Loss". The income and expense accounts were closed to > this > account and then it closed by whatever amount would bring it into > balance. That would be labeled "net gain" or "net loss" depending on > what side it was on and the other side of that entry would be equity. > > > > So, "retained earnings" of "retained losses" would not be actual > > accounts, with actual transactions, but instead just calculated > > sums > > that appear in a Balance Sheet report? > Yes, but now you see where would be coming from, an entry in the > "P&L" > account (once was a real, if temporary account under equity). In > other > words, perhaps confused by temporary accounts once used in a process > but > that were zero balance before and after. The Balance Sheet report > assumes the books are closed when it is run << income and expense > accounts do not appear --- only their NET >> > > > > Perhaps that is similar to how I have always thought of equity - > > not as > > an actual account, but (very simplified, of course) the result of > > the > > calculated result of Assets - Liabilities. "Take what you own, > > subtract > > what you owe. What's left is your net worth (equity)". > > NOT a good idea to think that way because you are thinking only of > the > very special case of "sole". Equity is the ENTITY'S net wort, not > necessarily yours, and you had best think of real accounts as would > be > containing important information for joint ventures, partnerships, > co-operatives, corporations, etc. > > Michael D Novack > > > ___ > gnucash-user mailing list > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > - > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. Hi, Miichael! Thanks for the background information. Regarding: "Equity is the ENTITY'S net wort, not necessarily yours, and you had best think of real accounts as would be containing important information for joint ventures, partnerships, co-operatives, corporations, etc." Thankfully, I do not have to account for the finances of any of the above mentioned entities. I am just trying to keep track of my own finances, so I guess you could say that I am a "sole proprietor". Since I am not running or participating in a business, except for investments, I am spared most of the complexity. But I do want to know a little about accounting, so that I don't have to just give an accountant a load of boxes full of various financial papers, and say "You figure it out". a) That would be rude. b) The less I can explain to said accountant, the more likely that said accountant might have have to just resort to "best effort". c) The bill would make my eyes water! : ) For now I will just have to always keep in the back of my mind that: 1) Gnucash account ledgers should be thought of as primarily just a place to enter and edit actual transactions. 2) The Equity account should normally be considered to consist of Assets - Liabilities, (including opening balances, in Equity:Opening Balances), but not including (Income - Expenses), unless there have been no transactions affecting Income or Expense accounts since either the date the books were originally created or the most recent date the books were closed. I think! (Sorry for the run-on sentence!) 3) If I want a current "real" equity amount, I will just create a Balance Sheet Report. Have a good day! ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To up
Re: [GNC] Window/Mac Summary Box difference
On a Mac here (Monterey) and I can't get it to do anything via double-click. It just shows the other currency options same as the drop down arrow. None of my Summary numbers make any sense either, and my "$, Grand Total:" shows nothing like yours. Regards, Adrien On 7/13/23 3:43 PM, David H wrote: My Grand Total always just shows as "$, Grand Total:" - hasn't had an amount in it forever so I just ignore these figures anyway as they're quite meaningless to me :-) There's a dropdown arrow on the right hand side that you can use to expand the items on that line - shows entries for each currency etc. Click on the summary line once, sometimes twice (flaky), and it will also expand the summary row in situ. On mac os you can also double click the summary line and it opens part way up the screen - it's a bit flaky the way it does it tho - click somewhere else to close it again. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Window/Mac Summary Box difference
My Grand Total always just shows as "$, Grand Total:" - hasn't had an amount in it forever so I just ignore these figures anyway as they're quite meaningless to me :-) There's a dropdown arrow on the right hand side that you can use to expand the items on that line - shows entries for each currency etc. Click on the summary line once, sometimes twice (flaky), and it will also expand the summary row in situ. On mac os you can also double click the summary line and it opens part way up the screen - it's a bit flaky the way it does it tho - click somewhere else to close it again. Cheers David H. On Fri, 14 Jul 2023 at 01:10, David Carlson wrote: > Neil, > > If you scroll down in the summary box you will see additional rows > identified by the currencies and securities in that file, if any exist. > Perhaps that would lead to an account and one or more transactions that > contain an incomplete closing transaction where some asset or liability was > exchanged without accounting for the loss or gain. I too have no idea how > those numbers are calculated, so I cannot be more specific. > > On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 9:35 AM Adrien Monteleone < > adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > > > I'm not sure exactly how those numbers are calculated and I've never > > relied on them. > > > > Perhaps a Balance Sheet would work better. You'd only need to know the > > headline numbers: > > > > Total Assets > > Total Liabilities > > Total Equity > > > > (perhaps, Retained Earnings/Losses, if you like, though that is part of > > the Equity section) > > > > Regards, > > Adrien > > > > On 7/13/23 6:33 AM, Neil Campbell wrote: > > > I help a friend with their monthly accounting. She has GNUCash > installed > > on a PC. I have GNUCash installed on a Mac mini M1 computer. She does the > > input. I do the month end transactions and check her input. So we send > > GNUCash data files backwards and forwards. The way I identify the file I > > have sent her is to give her the Summary Box values. She must agree this > > before starting her new month’s input. > > > > > > This worked well until, for no apparent reason, these figures don’t > > match any more. > > > My Mac mini M1 shows: > > > Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £3,075.18 > > > Using the same file that I emailed her, her PC Shows: > > > Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £0.00 > > > > > > So I realised that there must be a Preference not set by her. > > > > > > I downloaded and installed GNUCash on my wife’s PC to see how I could > > correct the error. I changed the Setting Accounting period dates to the > > correct ones. So, on my wife’s PC I have: > > > Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £8,803.24 > > > It’s still not right and the Profit figure is now in red. > > > > > > I now have 3 different Profit Figures, but I cannot find any place on > > the Windows version to check why there are these differences, because I > > don’t know where this Profit figure comes from. The correct figures are > the > > ones on my Mac mini M1 above. > > > > > > I must be missing something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. > > > > ___ > > gnucash-user mailing list > > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > > - > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > > > > -- > David Carlson > ___ > gnucash-user mailing list > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > - > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
[GNC] Message-ID:
If you scroll down in the summary box you will see additional rows identified by the currencies and securities in that file, if any exist. Perhaps that would lead to an account and one or more transactions that contain an incomplete closing transaction where some asset or liability was exchanged without accounting for the loss or gain. I too have no idea how those numbers are calculated, so I cannot be more specific. Thanks David. That doesn’t work for me. I don’t have any different currencies or securities. Mine is really just a pure Bookkeeping exercise and both PC and Mac have balanced books with no incomplete transactions. As long as I know (and I don’t at present) that the Profit figures on the Summary Box are of no real significance, then Adrien’s solution is just fine. Strangely, the Mac figure ties up exactly with the profit to date this financial year, but the PC figure is way way out. Regards and thanks for your help. Neil neilcam...@gmail.com ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
[GNC] Message-ID:
Perhaps a Balance Sheet would work better. You'd only need to know the headline numbers: Total Assets Total Liabilities Total Equity (perhaps, Retained Earnings/Losses, if you like, though that is part of the Equity section) Goo point Adrian. I was thinking that too, just as long as the figures in the Summary Box really don’t mean anything. Thanks for your help Neil neilcam...@gmail.com ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Unable to open GnuCash file: "No suitable backend was found for ."
Tomer, Good that you sorted it. Note though that if it's gzip-compressed it's an XML file, not a sqlite3 database. Does `file` on the apparently corrupted gnucash file claim that it's a sqlite3 database? Regards, John Ralls You can just add ".tar" to the filename and then unzip it. At least you can on Linux. Kind regards, Paul Feakins ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Unable to open GnuCash file: "No suitable backend was found for ."
> On Jul 13, 2023, at 01:34, Tomer Altman wrote:
>
> On 7/12/23 6:26 PM, john wrote:
>>
>>
>>> On Jul 12, 2023, at 16:16, Tomer Altman wrote:
>>>
>>> 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 ."
>>>
>>> (where "" 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!
>>
>> If it's a SQLite file you can open it with sqlite3, provided by macOS. Just
>> open Terminal and run
>>sqlite3 /path/to/my/gnucash/file
>> You can use the `.tables` command to list the tables and `.schema
>> ` to show the structure and compare it with
>> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/SQL.
>>
>> 99% of the time when users report this problem it's because they're trying
>> to open a log file or a .gcm file instead of their actual book.
>>
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>>
> Hi John,
>
> Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.
>
> I've tried doing what you are suggesting. Let's say that my "" name is
> "foo.gnucash". When I type the following:
>
> sqlite3 foo.gnucash
>
> > .tables
>
> I get:
>
> "Error: file is not a database"
>
> I thought to myself, "Perhaps the SQLite3 file was corrupted?" So I went to a
> TimeMachine backup of the directory from April (before any issues with my
> laptop), and copied over foo.gnucash to a temporary directory. This file
> would open successfully with GnuCash. Using the command line, I see that
> 'file' correctly identifies it as a gzip compressed file.
>
> So it seems that this was an issue with the foo.gnucash file getting
> corrupted, perhaps from the filesystem errors that I was experiencing. Thanks
> for prompting me to debug this further. I'll restore my file using the
> *.gnucash backup files, and by adding in the relevant log files.
>
> If I may be so bold as to suggest a UI improvement: Telling the user "No
> suitable backend was found for " implies that the file is fine, it's
> just that there's no back-end to support it. That impression was bolstered by
> the mailing list discussion of missing library paths. I'd suggest wording
> that makes it clear that the *FILE* is the issue, as in it's either the wrong
> type, or it is corrupted. Perhaps, " is not a recognized GnuCash
> formatted file."
>
Tomer,
Good that you sorted it. Note though that if it's gzip-compressed it's an XML
file, not a sqlite3 database. Does `file` on the apparently corrupted gnucash
file claim that it's a sqlite3 database?
Regards,
John Ralls
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Re: [GNC] Window/Mac Summary Box difference
Neil, If you scroll down in the summary box you will see additional rows identified by the currencies and securities in that file, if any exist. Perhaps that would lead to an account and one or more transactions that contain an incomplete closing transaction where some asset or liability was exchanged without accounting for the loss or gain. I too have no idea how those numbers are calculated, so I cannot be more specific. On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 9:35 AM Adrien Monteleone < adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > I'm not sure exactly how those numbers are calculated and I've never > relied on them. > > Perhaps a Balance Sheet would work better. You'd only need to know the > headline numbers: > > Total Assets > Total Liabilities > Total Equity > > (perhaps, Retained Earnings/Losses, if you like, though that is part of > the Equity section) > > Regards, > Adrien > > On 7/13/23 6:33 AM, Neil Campbell wrote: > > I help a friend with their monthly accounting. She has GNUCash installed > on a PC. I have GNUCash installed on a Mac mini M1 computer. She does the > input. I do the month end transactions and check her input. So we send > GNUCash data files backwards and forwards. The way I identify the file I > have sent her is to give her the Summary Box values. She must agree this > before starting her new month’s input. > > > > This worked well until, for no apparent reason, these figures don’t > match any more. > > My Mac mini M1 shows: > > Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £3,075.18 > > Using the same file that I emailed her, her PC Shows: > > Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £0.00 > > > > So I realised that there must be a Preference not set by her. > > > > I downloaded and installed GNUCash on my wife’s PC to see how I could > correct the error. I changed the Setting Accounting period dates to the > correct ones. So, on my wife’s PC I have: > > Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £8,803.24 > > It’s still not right and the Profit figure is now in red. > > > > I now have 3 different Profit Figures, but I cannot find any place on > the Windows version to check why there are these differences, because I > don’t know where this Profit figure comes from. The correct figures are the > ones on my Mac mini M1 above. > > > > I must be missing something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. > > ___ > gnucash-user mailing list > gnucash-user@gnucash.org > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > - > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > -- David Carlson ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Window/Mac Summary Box difference
I'm not sure exactly how those numbers are calculated and I've never relied on them. Perhaps a Balance Sheet would work better. You'd only need to know the headline numbers: Total Assets Total Liabilities Total Equity (perhaps, Retained Earnings/Losses, if you like, though that is part of the Equity section) Regards, Adrien On 7/13/23 6:33 AM, Neil Campbell wrote: I help a friend with their monthly accounting. She has GNUCash installed on a PC. I have GNUCash installed on a Mac mini M1 computer. She does the input. I do the month end transactions and check her input. So we send GNUCash data files backwards and forwards. The way I identify the file I have sent her is to give her the Summary Box values. She must agree this before starting her new month’s input. This worked well until, for no apparent reason, these figures don’t match any more. My Mac mini M1 shows: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £3,075.18 Using the same file that I emailed her, her PC Shows: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £0.00 So I realised that there must be a Preference not set by her. I downloaded and installed GNUCash on my wife’s PC to see how I could correct the error. I changed the Setting Accounting period dates to the correct ones. So, on my wife’s PC I have: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £8,803.24 It’s still not right and the Profit figure is now in red. I now have 3 different Profit Figures, but I cannot find any place on the Windows version to check why there are these differences, because I don’t know where this Profit figure comes from. The correct figures are the ones on my Mac mini M1 above. I must be missing something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Equity Account "problem"
On 7/12/2023 8:18 PM, Default User wrote: On Wed, 2023-07-12 at 16:38 -0400, Michael or Penny Novack wrote: On 7/11/2023 6:48 PM, Default User wrote: This is a case of not knowing the history (how bookkeeping changed over ~thousand year history) and never having kept books pen and ink on paper in modern bookkeeping (the last couple hundred years) I will freely admit that I do not fully understand the formal definitions and usage of income and expense accounts. Indeed, I am not an accountant, or even a bookkeeper. But I do think I know enough to understand how closing the books includes transferring income and equity balances (or at least "income - expenses") to equity. The PROCESS of :close the books" in the old days of pen and ink on paper (how I learned) not only ended up with all income and expense accounts closed to equity but also produced the "Profit&Loss" report (aka "Income Statement, aka "Statement of Revenues and Expenses", etc.). The income and expense accounts were closed to equity INDIRECTLY. Only their net was actually transferred to equity. There was ANOTHER temporary account of fundamental type equity called "Profit and Loss". The income and expense accounts were closed to this account and then it closed by whatever amount would bring it into balance. That would be labeled "net gain" or "net loss" depending on what side it was on and the other side of that entry would be equity. So, "retained earnings" of "retained losses" would not be actual accounts, with actual transactions, but instead just calculated sums that appear in a Balance Sheet report? Yes, but now you see where would be coming from, an entry in the "P&L" account (once was a real, if temporary account under equity). In other words, perhaps confused by temporary accounts once used in a process but that were zero balance before and after. The Balance Sheet report assumes the books are closed when it is run << income and expense accounts do not appear --- only their NET >> Perhaps that is similar to how I have always thought of equity - not as an actual account, but (very simplified, of course) the result of the calculated result of Assets - Liabilities. "Take what you own, subtract what you owe. What's left is your net worth (equity)". NOT a good idea to think that way because you are thinking only of the very special case of "sole". Equity is the ENTITY'S net wort, not necessarily yours, and you had best think of real accounts as would be containing important information for joint ventures, partnerships, co-operatives, corporations, etc. Michael D Novack ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] How to record 'balancing' trnsactions?
On 13/07/2023 10:22, ed...@billiau.net wrote: On Wed, 12 Jul 2023 21:14:51 +0100 Chris Green wrote: Nope, I replied to the list, gnucash-user@gnucash.org, as one should. Here's the headers:- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 14:25:33 +0100 From mairix@mairix Mon Jan 1 12:34:56 1970 From: Paul Feakins To: Chris Green Subject: Re: How to record 'balancing' trnsactions? X-source-folder: /home/chris/mail/In/inbox/cur/1689168337.M577883P1473824Q1.esprimo:2,S I think he "replied all". Liz Yes my initial reply was indeed back to the list, I can see it in my sent items. ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
[GNC] Window/Mac Summary Box difference
I help a friend with their monthly accounting. She has GNUCash installed on a PC. I have GNUCash installed on a Mac mini M1 computer. She does the input. I do the month end transactions and check her input. So we send GNUCash data files backwards and forwards. The way I identify the file I have sent her is to give her the Summary Box values. She must agree this before starting her new month’s input. This worked well until, for no apparent reason, these figures don’t match any more. My Mac mini M1 shows: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £3,075.18 Using the same file that I emailed her, her PC Shows: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £0.00 So I realised that there must be a Preference not set by her. I downloaded and installed GNUCash on my wife’s PC to see how I could correct the error. I changed the Setting Accounting period dates to the correct ones. So, on my wife’s PC I have: Net Assets £9,115.89Profits £8,803.24 It’s still not right and the Profit figure is now in red. I now have 3 different Profit Figures, but I cannot find any place on the Windows version to check why there are these differences, because I don’t know where this Profit figure comes from. The correct figures are the ones on my Mac mini M1 above. I must be missing something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Best regards Neil Campbell neilcam...@gmail.com ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] How to record 'balancing' trnsactions?
On Wed, 12 Jul 2023 21:14:51 +0100 Chris Green wrote: > > > > Nope, I replied to the list, gnucash-user@gnucash.org, as one > > should. > Here's the headers:- > > Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 14:25:33 +0100 > From mairix@mairix Mon Jan 1 12:34:56 1970 > From: Paul Feakins > To: Chris Green > Subject: Re: How to record 'balancing' trnsactions? > X-source-folder: > /home/chris/mail/In/inbox/cur/1689168337.M577883P1473824Q1.esprimo:2,S > I think he "replied all". Liz ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Unable to open GnuCash file: "No suitable backend was found for ."
On 7/12/23 6:26 PM, john wrote:
On Jul 12, 2023, at 16:16, Tomer Altman wrote:
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 ."
(where "" 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!
If it's a SQLite file you can open it with sqlite3, provided by macOS.
Just open Terminal and run
sqlite3 /path/to/my/gnucash/file
You can use the `.tables` command to list the tables and `.schema
` to show the structure and compare it with
https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/SQL.
99% of the time when users report this problem it's because they're
trying to open a log file or a .gcm file instead of their actual book.
Regards,
John Ralls
Hi John,
Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.
I've tried doing what you are suggesting. Let's say that my ""
name is "foo.gnucash". When I type the following:
sqlite3 foo.gnucash
> .tables
I get:
"Error: file is not a database"
I thought to myself, "Perhaps the SQLite3 file was corrupted?" So I went
to a TimeMachine backup of the directory from April (before any issues
with my laptop), and copied over foo.gnucash to a temporary directory.
This file would open successfully with GnuCash. Using the command line,
I see that 'file' correctly identifies it as a gzip compressed file.
So it seems that this was an issue with the foo.gnucash file getting
corrupted, perhaps from the filesystem errors that I was experiencing.
Thanks for prompting me to debug this further. I'll restore my file
using the *.gnucash backup files, and by adding in the relevant log files.
If I may be so bold as to suggest a UI improvement: Telling the user "No
suitable backend was found for " implies that the file is fine,
it's just that there's no back-end to support it. That impression was
bolstered by the mailing list discussion of missing library paths. I'd
suggest wording that makes it clear that the *FILE* is the issue, as in
it's either the wrong type, or it is corrupted. Perhaps, " is not
a recognized GnuCash formatted file."
Thanks again for your help!
Cheers,
~Tomer
--
Please do not send me sensitive information (e.g., passwords, personal details,
financial/health information) via email, as it is not secure.
Please contact me to determine the best way to transfer sensitive information
safely. Thank you!
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Re: [GNC] How to record 'balancing' trnsactions?
On 13 Jul 2023, at 08:01, Chris Green wrote: > > On Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 02:51:39PM -0700, Vincent Dawans wrote: >> Leaving aside the why you need 2 sets of books, I'll just focus on the how. >> >> First you need to decide if the money in and money out really needs to be >> classified as income and expenses in your first set if books (the main bank >> account) or can more simply be treated fully as pass-through. If fully >> pass-through, then the following... >> >> *For example we might have 'income' into the current account as* >> *follows:-* >> *Scarfe Trust for roof 750.00* >> *Talk and Tea collection 205.00* >> *Tea concert 410.00* >> *Carol singing35.00* >> >> Is not recorded as income in your main book but instead as a liability >> towards the building fund. So you create a building fund account under >> liability and when your receive money for the building fund you debit your >> bank account and credit that liability account. Then when you are ready to >> write a check for the building fund, you look at the balance in that little >> account and write the check for that amount. When the check is cashed it >> will come as a credit on your bank account and a debit on the liability >> account. That liability account becomes a sort of running ledger you can >> provide showing money collected then transferred to the building fund over >> time. >> >> On the building fund side, you can either book the money coming in as >> income directly on the date received from the main account, or if you want >> the detail of all the original transactions, then create a receivable >> account under assets with the same detailed transactions from the other >> side booked against income, then that gets zeroed when the check is >> deposited. >> >> The opposite movements then are made for payments from the building fund to >> the main accounts of needed. >> > Thank you Vincent, I think you have outlined an approach that will > work for me. I will start trying it out and see how things go. > > -- > Chris Green Morning, Chris, Have you considered setting up a current account for the Buildings account? This would allow you to separate the Church and Buildings accounts completely, the only extra work being to transfer funds between the current and savings accounts as the need arises, with a small balance kept in the (Buildings) current account to deal with (eg) small repairs and renewals, The Rotary Club for which I’m treasurer has two such account pairs for the running expenses of the Club itself, and for the associated Charity. The charity is, of course required to have its own bank account because of its charitable status. Regards Michael ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] How to record 'balancing' trnsactions?
On Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 02:51:39PM -0700, Vincent Dawans wrote: > Leaving aside the why you need 2 sets of books, I'll just focus on the how. > > First you need to decide if the money in and money out really needs to be > classified as income and expenses in your first set if books (the main bank > account) or can more simply be treated fully as pass-through. If fully > pass-through, then the following... > > *For example we might have 'income' into the current account as* > *follows:-* > *Scarfe Trust for roof 750.00* > *Talk and Tea collection 205.00* > *Tea concert 410.00* > *Carol singing35.00* > > Is not recorded as income in your main book but instead as a liability > towards the building fund. So you create a building fund account under > liability and when your receive money for the building fund you debit your > bank account and credit that liability account. Then when you are ready to > write a check for the building fund, you look at the balance in that little > account and write the check for that amount. When the check is cashed it > will come as a credit on your bank account and a debit on the liability > account. That liability account becomes a sort of running ledger you can > provide showing money collected then transferred to the building fund over > time. > > On the building fund side, you can either book the money coming in as > income directly on the date received from the main account, or if you want > the detail of all the original transactions, then create a receivable > account under assets with the same detailed transactions from the other > side booked against income, then that gets zeroed when the check is > deposited. > > The opposite movements then are made for payments from the building fund to > the main accounts of needed. > Thank you Vincent, I think you have outlined an approach that will work for me. I will start trying it out and see how things go. -- Chris Green ___ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user - Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
