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GnuCash Portable 2.2.4 Development Test

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Shawn Faucher
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GnuCash Portable 2.2.4 Development Test

Note: GnuCash Portable 2.2.4 is now in Pre-Release.

GnuCash Portable has been updated to GnuCash version 2.2.4. This release is a Development Test to iron out any bugs that may come about with the change to the new version of GnuCash. Note that the latest release, 2.2.4 Development Test 1, has been released as a full installer due to new GnuCash 2.2.4 binaries.

GnuCash Portable is the open source finance software packaged with a PortableApps.com Launcher as a portable app, so you can take your financial data with you. It has all the same great features as GnuCash including double-entry accounting, QIF/OFX/HBCI import, online banking support, reports and graphs, scheduled transactions and more. More information at http://gnucashportable.sourceforge.net/.

Download at Sourceforge.

MD5 Sum: 85ab00b330565b035c5528f01c2d30c7

Change Log:

3/3/2008 - 2.2.4.0
- Updated Multi installer to 0.9.9.1.
- Updated GnuCash to 2.2.4.
- Changed portable version numbering to be based upon GnuCash version.

2/13/2008 - 0.2.5
- Changed access level request to user from admin (affects Vista only).
- Changed PortableAppName from 'GnuCash, Portable Edition' to 'GnuCash Portable'.
  The former is only necessary on Mozilla apps.
- Changed to 'Multi' installer which allows the choice to not install translation
  files.  This saves 40MB from the install, bringing it down below 100MB.

1/29/2008 - 0.2.4
- Changed check for still-running launcher to use a mutex instead of a lock file.
- Completely rewrote UPXGnc.cmd, the script for UPX compression of all exe and dll 
  files in the App folder.  This now verifies that the resultant compressed files can 
  be correctly decompressed and reverts them if not.
- GnuCash binaries are now compressed (using the above script).  It's been tested
  extensively and everything appears to work fine.  This shaves approximately 67MB
  from the installed footprint.
- Removed logging from launcher since bugs have been few and far between and the app
  is nearing release.
- appinfo.ico updated to include 24bit alpha versions.

1/17/2008 - 0.2.3
- Fixed a bug with history profile directory updating causing infinite loops if 
  DisableIntelligentStart was true.
- Removed newadvsplash splash screen.  Splash image is now injected directly into the 
  appropriate GnuCash directory to integrate with the GnuCash loading window (thanks
  ZGitRDun8705).
- Added splash image to settings directory and updated fixes check to add to existing
  Data directories on update for use during splash injection.
- Removed redundant DisableSplashScreen ini option.
- Added checks to clean up temporary registry entries potentially left around by 
  previous incomplete (process killed) launcher.
- Removed liborbit fix code in launcher, as well as files in DefaultData\Fixes\orbitfix.
  Updated installer and updater to remove from existing Data directories.
- Removed Fixes directory and moved remaining fixes to Settings directory.

1/14/2008 - 0.2.2
- Fixed bug with Profile write permissions test failing when it shouldn't.
- Fixed bug with RunLocally setting a bad profile path causing it to fail.
- Fixed bug with LauncherLog failing to write to $TEMP when GnuCashPortable directory 
  is not writeable.
- Added lock file for the launcher and a check to make sure the launcher is not still
  running from a previous launch (cleaning up).

1/9/2008 - 0.2.1
- Updated GnuCash to version 2.2.3.
- Changed newadvsplash::wait to newadvsplash::stop /WAIT for compatibility with newest
  plugin version.

12/21/2007 - 0.2.0
- Updated GnuCash to version 2.2.2.
- Commented out the liborbit fix.  GnuCash 2.2.2 uses a patched liborbit that is 
  intended to fix previous issues.  The liborbit fix will be removed completely in a 
  future release if this works as intended.
- History settings are now updated to reflect the current profile directory on startup.
  This fixes bugs with GnuCash not being able to locate and automatically open the last
  accounts file if the drive letter changed or the profile was moved.
- Updated source text, help file/images, appinfo.ini and splash screen to reflect 
  change in status to official PortableApps.com application (test-release).

Previous changes were tracked in the old beta post: https://portableapps.com/node/10005.

Kim_Wood
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Works Well

Downloaded and installed - works fine, so far. A nice piece of work. Thanks rayven01.

Regards,

Kim

Kim

ErWagner
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Multible online Accounts

It works fine until I defined a SECOND online account.
Since that, no synchronization is more possible.

All non-on-line actions seem to function correctly.

Regards,

Erhard

Shawn Faucher
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Online banking

Have you tried this with a non-portable install of GnuCash? I can't think of how the portable version could be the root cause of this. Unfortunately my bank accounts charge a fee for online integration that I choose not to pay so I can't test this myself.

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Ryan McCue
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LH

Someone should let Lifehacker know Blum

Side-note: John, mention of TBP here. Add to the press page if you wish. Also, I'm waiting for an email Blum

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

babyhewy
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This does what?

Be nice if there was a discription of what GnuCash does. I like going through the beta testing list, but it sucks when I come across programs that don't have any descriptions!!! No offense.

Shawn Faucher
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RE: This does what?

The post has been updated. Sorry about that.

formerly rayven01

ReneL
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Torrent Download

Good work, I just uploaded a torrent, so all people can just download it, share their local copy and help spreading and testing the new version.
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1062925

Kim_Wood
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NSIS Script Question

I have used the latest nightly build (available at http://cyberbird.yi.org/gnucash/) of Gnucash to produce a "bleeding edge" version of Portable Gnucash using rayven01's NSIS script. If anyone else want to try it - it's quite simple to do, but remember the usual warnings about trusting your precious personal financial data to test software.

However, when compiling the NSIS script - it fails at the newadvsplash::wait command found in the last couple of lines of the NSIS code. If I comment it out, the script compiles happily, and Gnucash Portable will run successfully. I am compiling on a HP Compaq nc2400 notebook running XP - but without admin privileges. I have looked at the NSIS forum, but see no comments about newadvsplash plugin errors.

The actual NSIS error message is --> Invalid command: newadvsplash::wait

Rayven01 - any ideas? Apologies if this is not the best place to ask this question. I can take it to the NSIS forum. I am pretty certain that this is not a Gnucash problem. The newadvsplash command syntax is simple, and I am sure that I have the latest NSIS plugin - which leads me to think that the error may be an odd bug related to compiling the NSIS script without admin privileges???

Finally, is there any downside in commenting out that final offending newadvsplash::wait line?

Kim

Simeon
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Yep

The downside of commenting it out is that the splash screen will be left on the PC you use it on.
If newadvsplash::wait makes an error, is it possible that you don't have the newadvsplash plugin installed?
You can get it here.

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

Shawn Faucher
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RE: NSIS Script Question

That means you're missing the newadvsplash plugin, or the version of it you have is old (latest version here). All the required plugins are listed in the readme.txt file. Though, technically you shouldn't have to recompile at all. If you just copy the gnucash folder from the new binary package to GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash it will use whatever version you put there. As long as they haven't made drastic changes like renaming executables it should work fine.

Edit: I took a look at the link you provided to the nightly builds and I'm skeptical about its usefulness. His releases still reflect version 2.2.1, which means he almost certainly hasn't updated his other packages to the current releases. All he is doing is recompiling the GnuCash source every night and building a binary package. A true GnuCash release also may include updates to the many included packages (gnome, gconf, etc) which may or may not be required for GnuCash to function correctly. That's not even counting the fact that nightly builds are inherently unsafe since there's no QA.. it's pretty much guaranteed that you will eventually experience catastrophic failure if you're trying to actually work with nightly builds. Unless you're having problems with 2.2.2 or they introduce some must-have feature (unlikely since they are currently still in bugfix mode for 2.2) I would highly recommend against using them.

formerly rayven01

Kim_Wood
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NSIS Script Problem

Thanks for the replies. I do have the latest newadvsplash plugin. Checked & re-checked! I still believe that it is an obscure bug related to lack of admin privileges on the computer used to compile the script. Anyone else tried it? My script processes the earlier fade/display newadvsplash command - and will also handle a newadvsplash::stop. Just can't get it to handle the ::wait command! Anyway, advice re the Gnucash nightly builds is noted. I agree that you wouldn't want to bet the farm on them, but it's fun to try them out. I don't know much about NSIS yet, and wonder about the usefulness of a ::stop versus a ::wait for the final newadvspash in rayen01's script. Any comments?

Kim

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RE: NSIS Script Problem

Problem solved.. check out this post. Looks like the newest release of newadvsplash at the end of November got rid of the wait function and added a /WAIT to the stop command. I'll update the next release to use newadvsplash::stop /WAIT.

This problem is probably going to be common to nearly all PAF launchers. It looks like John is still using the old version as the latest releases still use wait.

formerly rayven01

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Excellent find!

That switch changing would have messed me up (and whole lot of other people I assume).

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Help control the rugrat population -- have yourself spayed or neutered!

muskrat
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Doesn't launch

I have tried to test this revised version but thus far haven't been able to launch the application beyond the splash screen. I'm including the 'launch log' below and I'm going to try another approach in the mean time.

SysSpecs:

Windows 2000 SP4
-ActiveDirectory log in as an administrator

[27/12/2007 13:06 17] NoINI: No INI file found, setting defaults
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] NoINI: EXE found in E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\bin\gnucash-bin.exe
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] FoundProgramEXE: Checking for another instance of gnucash-bin.exe, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CheckRegistry: Tested registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GNUCASH, returned -1
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CreateKeys: Aqbanking keys created, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CreateKeys: Gwenhywfar keys created, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CreateKeys: Created Aqbanking values, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CreateKeys: Created Gwenhywfar values, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CheckProfile: Checking for Profile
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] ProfileFound: Checking for settings directory
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SettingsFound: Checking for fixes directory
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CheckWrite: Checking RUNLOCALLY
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CheckWrite: RUNLOCALLY false, checking write access to profile directory E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\Data\Profile
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] WriteSuccessful: Write successful
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] DisplaySplash: Checking DISABLESPLASHSCREEN
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] DisplaySplash: DISABLESPLASHSCREEN false. Displaying splash screen.
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CompareProfilePath: Checking DISABLEINTELLIGENTSTART
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CompareProfilePath: DISABLEINTELLIGENTSTART false. Comparing last profile path, OS and version to determine whether to run fixes
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CompareProfilePath: Profile path 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\Data\Profile' same as last run.  Checking OS.
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CompareProfilePath: OS '2000' same as last run.  Checking version.
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] CompareProfilePath: Version 0.2.0.0 same as last run.  Skipping fixes.
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: Setting environment variables
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: PATH: 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\bin;E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\lib;E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\lib\gnucash;C:\Perl\bin'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED: 'no'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: GNC_MODULE_PATH: 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\lib\gnucash'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: GUILE_LOAD_PATH: 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\share\gnucash\guile-modules;E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\share\gnucash\scm;E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\share\guile\1.6'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH: 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\lib'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: QOF_LIB_DIR: 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\lib\gnucash'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: HOME: 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\Data\Profile'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: TMP: 'E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\Data\Profile\Temp'
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: Checking launch parameters
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] SetEnv: No launch parameters found
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] AdditionalParemeters: Adding additional parameters: ''
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] NoLog: No log file specified.  Pointing GnuCash log to .\NUL
[27/12/2007 13:06 17] WaitForProgram: Launching and waiting for GnuCash with EXECSTRING='"E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\gnucash\bin\gnucash-bin.exe"  --logto ".\NUL"'
[27/12/2007 13:06 18] WaitForProgram: GnuCash exited
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] WaitForGconfd: checking for gconfd-2.exe, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] CleanupAQReg: Checking source of Aqbanking key: GnuCashPortable
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] CleanupAQReg: Confirmed source and deleted Aqbanking reg key, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] CleanupGwenReg: Checking source of Gwenhywfar key: GnuCashPortable
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] CleanupGwenReg: Confirmed source and deleted Gwenhywfar reg key, returned 0
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] Cleanup: DELETETRANSACTIONLOG true, checking lock file.
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] Cleanup: No lock file, GnuCash exited cleanly.  Deleting transaction log(s)
[27/12/2007 13:06 20] TheEnd: Waiting for Splash screen
[27/12/2007 13:06 22] TheEnd: Exiting

/s/ When life turns your dreams to dust, vacuum Wink

Shawn Faucher
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RE: Doesn't launch

Everything looks fine in that log, it sounds to me like GnuCash itself has an issue with your system.. If you don't mind it leaving some files in your profile, try launching it by running GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash\bin\gnucash.bat just to see if it will work. That will bypass the launcher and run it non-portably.

formerly rayven01

muskrat
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Tried, but no...

This is the message I get when trying to bypass the launcher.


Application popup: gnucash-bin.exe - Unable To Locate DLL :
The dynamic link library libgncmod-engine.dll could not be found in the specified path
E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash\bin;.;
C:\WINNT\system32;
C:\WINNT\system;
C:\WINNT;
C:\Program Files\gnucash\bin;
C:\Program Files\gnucash\lib;
C:\Program Files\gnucash\lib\gnucash;
C:\WINNT\system32;
C:\WINNT;
C:\WINNT\System32\Wbem;
C:\Program Files\IBM\Personal Communications\;
C:\Program Files\IBM\Trace Facility\;
C:\winnt\options\cabs\i386;
C:\Program Files\PC-Doctor for Windows\services;
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel;
C:\LOTAPPS\CCMAIL;.

/s/ When life turns your dreams to dust, vacuum Wink

Shawn Faucher
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RE: Tried...

Are you sure you ran gnucash.bat? That sounds like the error you get when you run gnucash-bin.exe directly. The bat file is needed to set up the right environment variables.

formerly rayven01

muskrat
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yep.

I followed your mapping scheme to get there.

But it did behave differently than before, this time I got the Windows PopUp error message whereas before I didn't.

/s/ When life turns your dreams to dust, vacuum Wink

Shawn Faucher
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RE: gnucash.bat

My bad, you'll need to edit gnucash.bat and change the paths in all the variables from C:\Program Files\... to E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\...

The batch file has standard paths from a non-portable install to the C drive by default.

formerly rayven01

muskrat
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Still no good

Contents of gnucash.bat

chcp 1252
set PATH=e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\bin;e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib;e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib\gnucash;%PATH%
set GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED=no
set GNC_MODULE_PATH=e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib\gnucash
set GUILE_LOAD_PATH=e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\share\gnucash\guile-modules;e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\share\gnucash\scm;e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\share\guile\1.6;%GUILE_LOAD_PATH%
set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH=e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib
set QOF_LIB_DIR=e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib\gnucash
start gnucash-bin %*

Result from running batch file.


Application popup: gnucash-bin.exe
Unable To Locate DLL : The dynamic link library libgncmod-engine.dll could not be found in the specified path
E:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash\bin;
.;
C:\WINNT\system32;
C:\WINNT\system;
C:\WINNT;
e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\bin;
e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib;
e:\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib\gnucash;
C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;C:\WINNT\System32\Wbem;
C:\Program Files\IBM\Personal Communications\;
C:\Program Files\IBM\Trace Facility\;
C:\winnt\options\cabs\i386;
C:\Program Files\PC-Doctor for Windows\services;
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel;
C:\LOTAPPS\CCMAIL;.

/s/ When life turns your dreams to dust, vacuum Wink

Shawn Faucher
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RE: still no good

You forgot the portableapps directory.. should be:
set PATH=e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\bin;... etc.

formerly rayven01

muskrat
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Oopsi!, but still no good

Sorry, really silly typo there...

Anywho, changed the settings but got this windows error with no launch of the application.

Application popup: gnucash-bin.exe
Entry Point Not Found : The procedure entry point GetVolumePathNamesForVolumeNameW could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll.

Updated bat file

chcp 1252
set PATH=e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\bin;e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib;e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib\gnucash;%PATH%
set GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED=no
set GNC_MODULE_PATH=e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib\gnucash
set GUILE_LOAD_PATH=e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\share\gnucash\guile-modules;e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\share\gnucash\scm;e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\share\guile\1.6;%GUILE_LOAD_PATH%
set LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH=e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib
set QOF_LIB_DIR=e:\portableapps\gnucashportable\app\gnucash\lib\gnucash
start gnucash-bin %*

/s/ When life turns your dreams to dust, vacuum Wink

Shawn Faucher
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RE: Still no good

Ahh, but now we're at the root of the problem. This is a documented bug with Gnucash 2.2.2 and higher, see http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504261.

Appears to be an incompatibility with win2000 in one of the gnome libraries. It appears you can downgrade that particular library and it will work again.

formerly rayven01

muskrat
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Wu-WHO!!!!

Yeah! I can test it out now! Wink

I will let you know how it goes.

/s/ When life turns your dreams to dust, vacuum Wink

Shawn Faucher
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RE: Win2000

FYI this bug is not present in GnuCash 2.2.3 because they downgraded the affected gnome library until the gnome guys fix it.

formerly rayven01

Kim_Wood
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Final Post on NSIS Script

Thanks rayven01,

NSIS script problem solved. Good detective work. So much for my theory about admin privileges! The pitfalls of (probably unnecessary) command syntax changes breaking code.

Kim

paulf
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Conversion of CVS to QIF Format

While testing the latest version of GNUCash I encountered a problem, in that some of my accounts can only be downloaded as CVS (comma separated variable) files. Doing a little searching around I have come across a program to do the conversion.
The link is
http://xl2qif.chez-alice.fr/calc2qif_en.php

The program you download is a zip file that has the calc2qif macro inside. This is set up to be loaded into OpenOffice so I guess I'm going to do a dual beta test, i.e. does the macro load into Calc portable and does the converted file load into GNUCash.

I thought that there might be some other folks out there with the same problem and you might like the link above.

Kim_Wood
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Gnucash 2.2.3 Stable released

New stable Gnucash version 2.2.3 released - NSIS script builds fine with it. I assume a new portable version will be released sometime soon.

Kim

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RE: Gnucash 2.2.3 Stable released

Downloaded and testing now. Should have a release posted tonight.

Edit: Released posted. Get it here.

formerly rayven01

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GnuCash Portable Live does not work ......

GnuCash Portable Live does not work as described.

I have copied GNUCashPortable.ini to GNUCashPortable directory and I have set RunLocally=true.

But that is followed by an "error-Message":

'GnuCash, Portable Edition appears to be running from a location that is read-only. Would you like to temporarily copy it to the local hard drive an run it from there ?

Privacy Note: If you say Yes, your personal data within GnuCash, Portable Edition will be temporarily copied to a local drive. Although this copy of your data will be deleted when you close GnuCash, Portable Edition, it may be possible for someone else to access your data later.'

My GNUCashPortable.ini looks like:

[GnucashPortable]
GnucashDirectory=App\Gnucash
ProfileDirectory=Data\Profile
SettingsDirectory=Data\Settings
FixesDirectory=Data\Fixes
GnucashExecutable=gnucash-bin.exe
LogFile=
AdditionalParameters=
WaitForGnucash=true
DisableSplashScreen=false
DeleteTransactionLog=false
DisableIntelligentStart=false
RunLocally=true
PerlPath=C:\Perl\bin

What is wrong ?

Shawn Faucher
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RE: GnuCash Portable Live

I'm unable to duplicate your problem. The message you are getting is bypassed completely when runlocally is detected as true. That seems to indicate that somehow your ini file is not being read correctly, so RunLocally is not being set. I'd be curious to see the LauncherLog.txt file in your original GnuCashPortable directory (or your temp directory if GnuCashPortable\ isn't writable) to confirm this.

In looking at this problem I did find a couple of other bugs with launching live, however, so even if you figure this out it won't work with the current version. I'll post an update with fixes ASAP.

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2.2.3 Revison 2 Update Released

GnuCash, Portable Edition 2.2.3 Revision 2 has been released as an update. This version fixes several bugs with running locally. This is an update-only release. First-time installers will need to first install the full release, then perform the update.

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peter_g
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I will try it ....

I will try it ....

peter_g
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Updater

The revison 2 Update is an 'updater' .....

Is there a full package including the update available as well ??

Kim_Wood
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Update

While it is probably more convenient to have a complete new build with every revision - the updater saves downloading the entire Gnucash binaries & portable stuff every time rayven01 makes a change. Just the modified files/new files are downloaded. It's a good thing! Think about it, a 400kb download versus 40Mb. Hey, it probably produces less greenhouse gas... It is simply a much more efficient way to deliver updates. For those of us on unlimited bandwidth, it just doesn't matter. For those of us on a bandwidth limit - it helps.

Kim

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RE: Updater

It's been my policy since I created the updater source not to release full installation releases unless the GnuCash source changes. This is mainly to save on sourceforge bandwidth. While they theoretically do not limit project bandwidth, they do ask that you be reasonable. At one point I was uploading a new version every couple of days with bug fixes & feature enhancements, so 400KB seemed much more reasonable than 40MB.

So far the update releases have been well received, so unless someone can convince me that it's too onerous to have to download two files for fresh installs I'll probably stick with this policy until PortableApps.com hosts the official app. At that point it'll probably be up to John how he wants to distribute it.

Also please note you can always download NSIS & the required plugins and compile the full installer yourself if you need it. Smile

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RE: Updater

Now that I say that I go and break my policy.. for good reason though! Wink There is now a full install release of 2.2.3 revision 2 as I needed to post one to get it added to https://portableapps.com/DevelopmentTest and ready for inclusion on the portableapps sourceforge site.

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Release ?

When will we see a "release version" ?

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RE: Release

I have one more significant update to finish to integrate the splash screen with the GnuCash loading screen. Once that's ready it's up to John when he thinks it's been tested enough and he has time to release it. I would guess probably not for a couple of weeks.

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GnuCash Portable Live does work now ......

the GnuCash Portable Live feature does work fine now !

Smile

Thanks !

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Looks great, works great,

Looks great, works great, has a lot of features. One comment, nothing wrong with the app itself, but you could do what John did with the GIMP splash screen and replace the default image used on program loading. to do this, convert the dev test splash screen to a png file, rename it to "gnucash_splash.png", then move that file to "GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash\share\gnucash\pixmaps"

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RE: splash screen

Unfortunately no. I looked into this but while GIMP pulls the splash image from disk at runtime, GnuCash has it compiled in. The only way to change it would be to a.) re-compile GnuCash with a different splash screen or b.) resource hack the GnuCash executable to change the image, neither of which is trivial nor really desirable.

One of the nice things about GnuCash Portable is you can slap the directory of a new version of GnuCash in App\GnuCash and be reasonably assured that it just works.. not something I'd like to change.

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That isnt true, i just did

That isnt true, i just did the process that i explained above and it replaced the splash screen.

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RE: splash

Well I'll be damned.. I wonder if they changed that in 2.2.3, I swear I tried just that a month or so ago and it didn't work.

Thanks, I'll add that replacement into the launcher.

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lol no problem

lol no problem

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Development Test 2 Released

GnuCash Portable 2.2.3 Development Test 2 has been released. This release integrates the splash screen with the GnuCash loading window and moves fixes into the Settings folder.

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Status

From the lack of posts I'll assume the last release was bug-free. Smile I think I finally have UPX compression of the binaries stable so the next version will likely be significantly smaller (145MB vs 205 so far).

Once the language-specific launcher template is released we should be able to weed out the 40MB of locale files at install time as well and get down close to 100MB. In the mean-time if you use en-us you can safely delete all files in App\GnuCash\share\locale to save space.

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no bugs spotted here

Not found any bugs in it so far (well, one, but it is a gnucash one, and nothing to do with the portable version)

Can't wait for the compressed version... also for the language system, but that'll be done when it's done, I suppose Wink

Anyway, thanks for the good work packaging this... I'm off to delete those locale files - I'm down to about 400Mb free on my flash drive at the moment

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GnuCash Portable Development Test 3 Released

Development Test 3 has been released. Major changes include UPX compressed binaries (saving almost 70MB from the install footprint) and removal of launcher logging.

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Last stable version for awhile

FYI GnuCash 2.2.3 is slated to be the last stable bugfix release in the 2.2 line. Current work by the GnuCash developers is on the 2.3 unstable tree, working towards a future stable 2.4 new feature release.

As 2.3.x releases come out I'll probably release PAF versions for those that want to play with them, but consider the 2.2.3 release to be the last one to trust your data with for awhile.. the last gap between major stable versions (2.0.5 to 2.2.0) was about 5 months.

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finance::quote

I'm having difficulties installing fq into the portable version because of a lack of perl support in a windows environment. Could you post a distribution with fq already installed? (install fq mod bat file is in the bin directory)

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RE: Finance::Quote

Unfortunately Finance::Quote installs into the Perl installation, not into GnuCash so it's impossible to distribute with GnuCash Portable.

What you can do to get around this is:

  • Install ActivePerl 5.8 (not 5.10) on a computer where you have admin rights
  • Run install-fq-mod.bat from GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash to install Finance::Quote
  • Copy your C:\Perl directory to your portable drive (I would suggest under PortableApps\CommonFiles)
  • Copy the GnuCashPortable.ini file from GnuCashPortable\Other\Source to the GnuCashPortable folder
  • Change the PerlPath entry in the ini to point to the relative path of where you copied Perl to your drive (PerlPath=..\CommonFiles\Perl\bin for example if you put it where I suggested)

I'm going to work on creating a perl portablizer similar to the existing java portablizer used with OpenOffice. Edit: There's some debate right now on the future structure of the CommonFiles directory so I may hold off on this for a bit.

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2.2.4

GnuCash 2.4 is slated for a long development cycle (late '08 at the earliest) so fortunately the GnuCash developers are maintaining the 2.2 branch after all. 2.2.4 is currently slated for the first week of March and should include at least one new feature (book closing) as well as bug fixes.

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thanks

thanks for portablizing this app... and thanks for the updates on the release cycle.

It's still working great here! Biggrin

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Development Test 4 Released

The big change in this one is the use of the new 'Multi' installer allowing you to choose whether to install the GnuCash locale translation files, potentially saving 40MB on the installed footprint. Without locale files GnuCash Portable is just below 100MB installed.

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Works as Described

Rayven01,

I have installed the latest "multi" installer version. Works as it should - this is a great portable application. Good to see you active and supplying patches in the GNUcash Nabble forum. Keep pushing those GNUcash boundaries! Thank you.

Kim

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Bizarre behaviour on a fresh install

Hi,

I've just gone through the process of testing Dev Test 4, and found the following.

  • I made a backup
  • I installed DevTest 4 over the top of my existing install
    It worked perfectly, and a diff showed that it had neatly removed the localisation stuff
  • I took a new backup of the updated version.
  • Next I deleted App, Other, and the launcher, just leaving the Data folder in place and fresh installed
    This one failed to start up, at all. Simply would not run
    A diff showed that the ONLY delta from the working backup was in two files
    GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash\share\guile\1.6\slibcat
    GnuCashPortable\App\GnuCash\share\guile\1.6\slibcat.old

Here's where it gets weird.

I usually run it from C:\Flash\Private\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable and the slibcat file is full of paths that reflect this.
For portability, I sync it (using unison) with my flash drive, to x:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable and when I run it from there it starts fine, and updates the slibcat to have paths reflecting that. When I sync it back, it starts up fine and updates this file.... no problems

Except...

The fresh install, left a copy of slibcat in there with F:\PortableApps\GnuCashPortable as the location, and for some reason, it would NOT start with this in place.

  • If I delete the file completely, it works fine.
  • If I start it from the flash drive, it updates it to v:\
  • If I then force a drive letter change and try again, it work and updates it to the new letter...
  • If I copy this slibcat back into c:\flash\.....\ with n:\PortableApps as the path, it also works fine, even once the flash drive (N) has gone away.

The only time it seems to fail is when the file in there is the one placed by the fresh install, and I checked, it isn't read-only or anything obvious like that.

I'm confused...

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Stale Settings

This is due to a stales settings ini (Data\Settings\GnuCashPortableSettings.ini). GnuCash Portable only re-runs portability fixes (such as updating slibcat) when the drive letter changes, when the OS changes or when the version changes. When you do tricky things like removing/replacing the App folder in place on the same version it doesn't know to re-run those fixes unless you delete the settings file.

There's a warning about this on the Support page, but it's listed under copying profiles since usually that's how this would happen.

I suppose I could make the installer delete the settings ini automatically... That would fix the issue in this one case, although profile copying or copying external GnuCash binaries manually would still cause it...

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Jimbo
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That makes sense

Thanks for the speedy response.

Well, the test proved that the upgrade-in-place did a perfect job of tidying up any old files that it needed to, so the situation that caused it is rather artificial, and shouldn't be hit by normal users, but I guess it wouldn't do any actual harm to force a re-configure on first run after an upgrade.

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Upgrade re-configure..

The version check normally does force a re-configure upon update.. this case was extreme in that you updated, then updated again to the same version. Smile

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That's the problem....

...with making software idiot-proof

We idiots are so damn creative! Wink

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GnuCash Portable 2.2.4 Development Test 1 Released

GnuCash Portable 2.2.4, Development Test 1 has been released, updating GnuCash to the latest 2.2.4 stable release.

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Jimbo
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Quick test

Looks good. Installer was fine, app functions perfectly, can't see anything left behind, still.

Thanks (again)

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GnuCash Portable 2.2.4 -- MD5 Hash?

-- I downloaded the latest version drilling down via the hyperlink to Sourceforge, but so far have been unable to seek out an MD5 hash anywhere to help validate that I got a good binary download. Any help in finding same (or posting it in this forum thread)?
-- I've been checking out the previous P-Apps version and found it a good app. Still evaluating GNUcash and hope to provide fuller feedback later.

---eom

Shawn Faucher
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RE: MD5

Sure, here you go: 85ab00b330565b035c5528f01c2d30c7

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Unable to complete on-line banking setup

I just installed GNUCash on my PortableApps drive and the program seems to run fine, except that I can't get the wizard to complete the on-line banking setup without crashing the program. Anyone have any suggestions on what to try? Thanks.

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Pre-Release

This is an old topic. Note that it says there is a new pre-release at the top. It's over here:
https://portableapps.com/node/12114

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