Julie,
Check David H's suggestion concerning the About dialog. I keep
forgetting that one. It takes the mystery out, thankfully!
Once you have a grasp of what files you want to preserve and which type
of installation you want to stick with, then you'll know where to place
them and move on.
Also take note of Tommy's answer above about creating a symbolic link
from the known good location to the other so you don't have to move
files around. Take special note too, that Tommy linked the GNC_DATA_HOME
folder itself, not individual files. That way, only one link is needed
and everything in it is visible to both types of installations.
With reference to the flatpak version of the Exec command, I have this
on an Nvidia machine and it works:
Exec=flatpak run --env=WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1
--env=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 org.gnucash.GnuCash
"/home/user_foo/.../my_book.gnucash"
Here's how that breaks down:
`flatpak run org.gnucash.GnuCash`
is the actual command, which executes 'flatpak' and tells it to 'run'
'org.gnucash.GnuCash' which is the official, full name of the flatpak
version of GnuCash, but inserted after "run" are:
'--env=WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1`
and,
`env=WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1`
which are the switches for 'run' that set environment variables to work
around the Nvidia problems. I already had the first one in there and
left it in just in case a future update for the Nvidia driver might
necessitate it again. There might be a cleaner way to do this, and
indeed, we can set the environment variables outside of this file rather
than having the command invoke it every time.
The last part within the "" is the direct path to the book file I want.
I think there is a variable that can be used here instead to open the
last used file. (which is the GnuCash default way of doing things) But
this installation is for a family member's business and they only have
the one file. I discovered however that I needed to specify the full
path including "/home/user_foo/" because the shortcut "~/" didn't work.
GnuCash kept telling me it couldn't find the file. Yet if I clicked File
> Open, it brought me right to it! (specifying the full path, just
works without File > Open)
In conversational English that translates to:
"Hey flatpak, run GnuCash, but do it in a special environment, and
please, tell GnuCash to open specific file for me when it starts up."
----
As for which version to use, that is mostly a personal preference with a
caveat:
At some point in the near future, (end of March 2027) 6.0 is planned to
be released. (though it may be held back and another 5.x released
depending on 6.x Roadmap progress)
It is generally not recommended to open books between two major versions
back and forth. (5.x and 6.x in this case) The last minor version is
usually okay, but still not a 'best practice'. (5.18? and 6.0) Thus, if
you keep one machine on flatpak it will eventually hit 6.0 and beyond,
while the other machine will be stuck on 5.5 until you upgrade the
underlying Operating System, and even then, you'll only get the newer
version of GnuCash that is in that new OS version's repository, which
could still be older than 6.0.
This is a good reason to use flatpaks. They allow you to stay more up to
date for specific applications, but keep the underlying operating system
on a long term support release cycle.
There's otherwise nothing inherently bad about staying on an older
version on both machines, save you won't benefit from any bug fixes from
newer versions until you update. You also get the benefit of perhaps
experiencing occasionally newly introduced bugs!
No path is perfect. There are always tradeoffs.
Whichever route you choose, I recommend doing the same on both machines
so they stay in-sync as long as you keep them otherwise equally up to date.
Regards,
Adrien
On 10/25/26 12:52 AM, Julie G wrote:
Fumes is right. This takes "it" out of me. But i do feel empowered when i
accomplish Stuff :-D
So i managed to change the "exec=" line in the environment version such
that my NVIDIA card no longer freezes my desktop. My laptop works (no
NVIDIA) and runs the flatpak version. I wouldn't mind running the flatpak
version on the desktop because it can find the reports wherever they are
already. While this might be great, it would only work if i managed to
successfully change the "Exec=" line.
Conversely, if i run the environment version, it 1) might not be possible
to use the company file on both (?) And 2) it would mean either copying the
saved reports file/s to the needed location or recreating them.
I've effectively identified what would be required of me with each
scenario. It comes down to which option would be the easiest, and the
version compatibility question. I don't actually work on the company file
all that often on the laptop, so that isn't a deal breaker. Conversely, if
i settle on the environment version, i could install that on the laptop
too, and that would solve that.
The remaining question is whether i can figure out where to copy the saved
reports file/s. If i can, i guess i'd go that route (environment on
both). Otherwise, i'd punt to plan b.
Is my logic sound?
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