David, Oh! Thanks for that... Now i'm getting fuzzy in the brain but to try to articulate... i found the saved reports file for the flatpak version in that ~/.local/share folder. Wouldn't I just copy and paste them into the folder that the environment uses? What default path would that be? Under /home/julie/.var/app/org.gnucash.GnuCash, I have several folder options. WAG, I could copy and paste my saved-reports file/s into /home/julie/.var/app/org.gnucash.GnuCash/config/gnucash and see if that accidentally works. i have these options: cache, config, data, .ld.so, .local I tried putting them in: /home/julie/.var/app/org.gnucash.GnuCash/data/gnucash but when i opened the program and tried to access saved reports it still said i don't have any... am i way off base?
Julie On Sat, Oct 24, 2026 at 8:19 PM David T. <[email protected]> wrote: > Julie, > > USER_DATA_HOME is a variable, intended to indicate that this location > varies by operating system. > > On Linux, this is ~/.local/share > > David > > P.S. I don't know why that wiki page is as complicated as it is; very few > people understand it without extensive training. > > > On October 25, 2026 8:13:19 AM GMT+05:30, Julie G <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Adrien et al., >> >> Outlining the circumstances first: >> the laptop has gnucash flatpak 5.17 >> saved reports are available in that version >> >> the desktop has gnucash the environment, version 5.5 >> It has no saved reports, as i just installed it to replace what I think was >> the same gnucash flatpak 5.17. >> >> i went to the wiki and am endeavoring to get very familiar with it. First >> thing i hoped to do was find and locate the saved reports folder/files. >> Following the wiki, i did find this: >> /home/julie/.var/app/org.gnucash.GnuCash/data/gnucash >> in this folder, i see: "saved-reports-2.8" >> >> I suspect these are my saved reports from the old flatpak version i >> uninstalled. >> >> next i hoped to find and locate the folder that saved files *would* be in, >> ...in the environment version. I thought maybe i could just copy and paste >> the file, voila? But alas, i don't see where the wiki tells me where linux >> saves these data files. It says that linux pristine will have data in the >> subdirectory "USER_DATA_HOME". i haven't been able to find that path. >> Mine starts with home/user... and i see no "data" folder... i can find >> home/user/.local/share/applications and then gnucash. >> i tried stabbing in the dark and copied the saved-reports-2.8 from the >> flatpak installation location, >> /home/julie/.var/app/org.gnucash.GnuCash/data/gnucash >> to the environment location: /home/julie/.local/share/applications >> *...that didn't work. * >> i am fresh out of ideas, and thinking in the end how many saved reports >> have i? 12? maybe it would be faster to recreate them, expecially since >> i can refer to the laptop version to recreate them on the desktop version. >> ...then maybe i can find the file by searching for it and THAT's where i >> could copy the saved-reports-2.8. ??? >> am i simply a danger to myself and software? :-) >> >> please do advise, if you're so inclined. tonight i will dabble with >> recreating one report, but i can't/won't do them all tonight. if by some >> stroke of empathy can get Prime Directive from here soon enough, i may be >> able to save myself from myself and learn something in the meantime. >> >> We shall see... >> >> TIA! >> >> >> On Thu, Oct 22, 2026 at 10:56 AM Adrien Monteleone < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> On 10/21/26 22:00, Julie G wrote: >>> >>>> I DID IT! Thanking the people over at bugs.gnucash SO much. I copied >>>> >>> the >>> >>>> gnucash.desktop file from home to .local, opened it in a text editor, and >>>> changed line EXEC= from whatever it said to Exec=/usr/bin/env >>>> WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 gnucash %f >>>> and then i made good notes about what I did, for future reference :-) >>>> when I now click on the icon for gnucash it works. >>>> >>> >>> Great! >>> >>> Thanks for reporting back so we know that worked. >>> >>> Teeny misteak though. Someone in a forum who was trying to help me with >>>> this suggested in uninstall the flatpak version and install the >>>> >>> ...regular? >>> >>>> version. I don't know what is PC to call this version, maybe the >>>> non-flatpak version? Anyway, of desperation I did this without realizing >>>> all my saved report configurations would be deleted along with the >>>> program. This is on my desktop computer. I have them on my laptop >>>> >>> version >>> >>>> of gnucash, which is a flatpak. My question is, how might I uninstall >>>> >>> the >>> >>>> version on my desktop and *replace* it with the very same program off of >>>> >>> my >>> >>>> laptop? Is that a possibility? Seems like it could be. And then all my >>>> saved reports would be back? >>>> >>> >>> The non-flatpak is the standard 'repo' version. ('Repository') Each >>> Linux distribution maintains its own repository of software you can >>> install. Those versions are usually tested and compiled, and perhaps >>> tweaked, to work with your specific Linux distribution. Apps from those >>> repositories come with various extensions, but the most common you'll >>> probably see is '.deb' or '.rpm'. The '.deb' extension is used by the >>> Debian Linux distribution and its derivatives such as Ubuntu and Mint. >>> (".rpm' is used by Fedora/RedHat and its derivatives) >>> >>> If you are running the flatpak on your laptop and want to do the same on >>> the dekstop, simply install the flatpak version on the desktop. Either >>> follow the instructions on the wiki, or you may find it in your Software >>> Center and you can install it from there. While you can have both the >>> .deb and flatpak version installed, you probably want to remove the .deb >>> version so you don't accidentally launch the wrong one down the road. >>> (user configuration files are also stored separately for each version, >>> so that can indeed lead to confusion if you are not very meticulous >>> about which one you use and when) >>> >>> It is possible your saved report configurations still exist on the >>> desktop computer. But they are where the flatpak used to look for them >>> and now you have the repo version which looks somewhere else. >>> >>> Get very familiar with the wiki section about Backups and Configuration >>> locations. It can take a few reads to get a good grasp of it, but after, >>> you'll be able to see where your file are stored and how to get to them. >>> (and what needs to be backed up!) >>> >>> >>> A teeny other detail...When replacing what it said on the EXEC= line, I >>>> couldn't tell you what it used to say before I changed it. I tried going >>>> to the laptop and looking for that particular file there. However, i can >>>> not find the path where the gnucash.desktop file is saved, so i can't >>>> >>> copy >>> >>>> it to the .local folder, which I also can't find. I did find it through >>>> >>> a >>> >>>> search; there is probably only one .local folder, and because I hadn't >>>> >>> put >>> >>>> a copy of gnucash.desktop in it in the past, there wasn't one there. >>>> >>> >>> It probably just didn't have the 'WEBKIT' part in it, but all the rest. >>> >>> See the gnucash wiki about Backup and Configuration locations. As noted >>> above, they are different for flatpak vs. a regular 'repo' installation. >>> >>> Don't bother with this until you get it straightened out which version >>> of the app you want to run on both machines. >>> >>> And finally, what is meant by gnucash.desktop? On my laptop would it be >>>> something different, or is this a different meaning of the word desktop? >>>> >>> >>> The file has the same name on both, but as noted above, they will be in >>> different locations depending on how the app was installed. >>> >>> Flatpaks are in their own 'sandbox' so they don't clobber or interfere >>> with other apps or important files. Their access to files on your drive >>> is limited to this sandbox. (unless you configure it otherwise) This is >>> why the configuration files are in one place with a flatpak installation >>> and a different place with a regular repo installation. >>> >>> Generically a '.desktop' file is used by Linux distributions as >>> 'launchers'. That is, when you click an icon to launch an app, what you >>> are really doing is opening the '.desktop' file for that app which then >>> triggers the Exec command line in that file, which is what launches the >>> app itself, sometimes with special parameters. (such as the WEBKIT >>> workaround) Other things can be specified in .desktop files such as the >>> icon to display for it, and what menu category to place it in. Without >>> this .desktop file, you would have to navigate every time to where the >>> binary copy of the app is stored and launch it from there, or use the >>> command line directly to do so. This is analogous somewhat to >>> 'shortcuts' in the Windows world. >>> >>> Every app that appears in your menu has a .desktop file, usually as >>> "name_of_app.desktop". >>> >>> Regards, >>> Adrien >>> ------------------------------ >>> gnucash-user mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> 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 [email protected] 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.
