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Bug 681620 - Cannot save preferences and settings
Cannot save preferences and settings
Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE
Product: GnuCash
Classification: Other
Component: General
2.4.x
Other Windows
: Normal major
: ---
Assigned To: Christian Stimming
Geert Janssens
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2012-08-10 18:08 UTC by M Licina
Modified: 2018-06-29 23:10 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---


Attachments
most recent trace (276 bytes, text/plain)
2012-09-18 16:27 UTC, M Licina
Details
older trace file but a lot more error lines (16.39 KB, text/plain)
2012-09-18 16:28 UTC, M Licina
Details
Trace from 11/26/12 (2.17 KB, text/plain)
2012-12-15 16:11 UTC, M Licina
Details
Trace 12/16/12 (549.29 KB, text/plain)
2012-12-16 21:37 UTC, M Licina
Details

Description M Licina 2012-08-10 18:08:21 UTC
I've just downloaded 2.4.11 and I cannot save my preferences and settings.  For example, on the account register screen I cannot change which fields are displayed.  I cannot set any of the Edit>Preferences options.  Is there a way to edit a file to make these changes, or should I try to download and install Gnucash again?

FYI:  I used 2.4.10 with no problems, but had to wipe my hard drive and downloaded 2.4.11 to install after the wipe.
Comment 1 M Licina 2012-08-23 23:41:54 UTC
Update:  I have tried to download setup file again, but I am having the same issues.  Any suggestions?
Comment 2 Geert Janssens 2012-08-24 09:49:03 UTC
What else has changed on you PC after you wiped the hard drive ? Did you install another Windows version ? What version of Windows was on it before and what version of Windows did you re-install ?

Another try: have you tried to install GnuCash 2.4.10 again instead of 2.4.11, just to rule out issues with the new GnuCash version ?
Comment 3 M Licina 2012-08-24 13:09:07 UTC
I did not change versions of Windows (XP Pro both before and after wipe).  I will re-download 2.4.10 and let you know how that goes.
Comment 4 M Licina 2012-09-07 13:47:54 UTC
I just installed 2.4.10-1 and am having the same issues.

Though I had the same anti-virus software before the wipe, is it possible that there's a conflict there?  Any other ideas?
Comment 5 Geert Janssens 2012-09-12 17:18:11 UTC
What happens if you temporarily disable firewall and anti-virus (you may want to disconnect from any public network as well during that time) ? Can you then save preferences ?
Comment 6 M Licina 2012-09-12 19:48:55 UTC
No.  I've tried that, but the preferences don't stick.  Is there a file I can edit to force the preferences I want?
Comment 7 Geert Janssens 2012-09-12 20:11:14 UTC
Is there anything in the gnucash trace file after you try to change preferences ?

You can learn how to find the trace file here:
http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Windows#Error_messages.2C_Trace_file
Comment 8 Geert Janssens 2012-09-12 20:13:44 UTC
Is there anything in the gnucash trace file after you try to change preferences ?

You can learn how to find the trace file here:
http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Windows#Error_messages.2C_Trace_file

I don't know if there's a way to manually set the preferences.
Comment 9 Geert Janssens 2012-09-12 20:14:17 UTC
My browser got stuck, sorry for the double post.
Comment 10 M Licina 2012-09-18 16:27:29 UTC
Created attachment 224644 [details]
most recent trace
Comment 11 M Licina 2012-09-18 16:28:08 UTC
Created attachment 224645 [details]
older trace file but a lot more error lines
Comment 12 Edward Hardy 2012-09-27 17:53:51 UTC
I appear to have same issue. Running Windows 7 64-bit. Can't save any preferences.
Comment 13 Geert Janssens 2012-11-02 21:02:01 UTC
Sorry for the long silence. I have looked at the trace files. The problems seem to start when an internally used library tries to convert something from utf8 to utf16. The trace file doesn't give a hint to what that could be.

Can you create a file called log.conf in
c:\Documents and settings\<username>\.gnucas
with the following content
[levels
gnc=debug

This will generate a lot more information in the trace file the next time you run gnucash. Can you then attache part of the trace file again to this bug. I'm interested in the beginning of the file up until a few lines past the error
CRIT <GLib> g_utf8_to_utf16: assertion `str != NULL' failed


Edward, can you the same ? Just because you see the same symptom doesn't mean the cause is the same.
Comment 14 Geert Janssens 2012-12-08 14:12:03 UTC
For some reason the contents to put in the file didn't come through completely. I'll try again:

Can you create a file called log.conf in
c:\Documents and settings\<username>\.gnucash
with the following content
[levels]
gnc=debug
Comment 15 M Licina 2012-12-15 16:11:32 UTC
Created attachment 231623 [details]
Trace from 11/26/12
Comment 16 Geert Janssens 2012-12-15 16:53:12 UTC
I'm sorry, but you used my erroneous instructions. For some reason bugzilla cut some characters at the end of the line. As a result the log file only adds an error that log.conf is not valid. The good thing is we know now that you put log.conf in the proper place.

Can you use the content from comment 14 in log.conf and try again ?
Comment 17 M Licina 2012-12-16 02:32:38 UTC
My log.conf file reads thus:

[levels]
gnc=debug

That's all that came though on comment #14.  What else needs to go in the file?
Comment 18 Geert Janssens 2012-12-16 12:57:49 UTC
That is the correct contents of the log.conf file. However the trace file you attached in comment 15 suggests it was created with an erroneous log.conf file. The date you give in the comment is also from before my corrected instructions which would be another clue that the log.conf file originally was wrong.

Anyway, I'm not interested in the contents of the log.conf file per se. But with this file in place the trace file generated when you run gnucash should be much more detailed.

So with the proper log.conf in place, can you start GnuCash again and try to save some preferences. Then attach the newly generated trace file here.
Comment 19 M Licina 2012-12-16 21:37:25 UTC
Created attachment 231668 [details]
Trace 12/16/12
Comment 20 Geert Janssens 2012-12-17 12:17:18 UTC
Now I'm puzzled. The new trace file does effectively hold a lot more information, but the CRIT error that was in the previous ones is gone.

Did you try to change preferences in the session that generated this trace file ? It seems so from reading the log file. Were these settings saved ?

Rereading the report I noticed I forgot to answer your question whether there's a file that can be altered. Most settings are stored in gconf, which stores the preferences in xml files in subdirectories of
C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\.gconf
On Windows it's probably safe to alter these settings while GnuCash isn't running.
Comment 21 Geert Janssens 2012-12-17 12:19:52 UTC
I'm wondering by the way if there could be a write permission issue to this .gconf directory for some reason. That could cause this kind of problem.
Comment 22 M Licina 2012-12-18 03:13:48 UTC
Shouldn't be a wirte permission issue...I am an Administrator.  I will try to alter gconf files and let you know how that goes.

I checked to see if the preferences saved, and they did not.
Comment 23 M Licina 2012-12-21 04:08:03 UTC
There is no .gconf directory on my computer (there is a .gconfd, but it didn't have the files you mentioned.  I did find a file called %gconf-tree in a .gnucash/etc subfolder, but changing the preferences didn't stick.  In fact, some of the other preferences are now out of whack (perhaps I read the file wrong and changed the wrong settings).  I'll see if I can attach the last trace.
Comment 24 M Licina 2012-12-21 04:17:25 UTC
Last trace is too large to attach.  Even compressed, it's over 3000kb.  Is there a way I can send it to you directly?
Comment 25 Geert Janssens 2013-02-28 14:21:16 UTC
Sorry for the delay in replying. You can send me the log file directly using the e-mail address of my Bugzilla account (you can see it by hovering my name).

Other than that, can you try to create a .gconf directory manually, next to the .gconfd directory. And see if that fixes your problem ?
Comment 26 Christian Stimming 2013-05-18 20:42:54 UTC
Closing this bug report as no further information has been provided. Please feel free to reopen this bug if you can provide the information asked for.
Thanks!
Comment 27 John Ralls 2017-09-24 22:46:35 UTC
Reassign version to 2.4.x so that individual 2.4 versions can be retired.
Comment 28 John Ralls 2018-06-29 23:10:03 UTC
GnuCash bug tracking has moved to a new Bugzilla host. This bug has been copied to https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=681620. Please update any external references or bookmarks.