Re: [GNC] Logs and Backups

David,

Actually, I was more trying to remind Ken that he could just turn off 
AutoSave altogether by setting the Interval to zero.  That way he has 
complete *manual* control over how many saves are done, and when -- 
rather than being dependent on user activity or the calendar.  One thing 
that might have caused confusion is calling those save files "backups".

The reason I like having those saves is because it gives me the chance 
to go back in time in a granular way if I need to see what a certain 
action or transaction of mine might have done to possibly cause a 
problem.  But it's definitely not a recourse in the event of a 
catastrophic failure.  If the disk dies, those saves die right along 
with it.  I think we all realize that.  My backup program copies those 
90 some files off to a completely separate physical disk at the end of 
each day.  That other disk is the *actual* backup.

Tom


On 06/18/2026 11:21 PM, David T. wrote:
> ... And as most long time subscribers to this list will note, the 
> developers and the general user group have emphasized that it is the 
> user's responsibility to provide necessary backups using proper backup 
> tools.
>
> GnuCash's log files and backups provide a modicum of recourse in the 
> event of a catastrophic failure, but users should be in the habit of 
> creating reliable backups separately.
>
> Tom, you missed Ken's point about the creation of backup files, which 
> is that their creation is dependent on user activity (how and when the 
> user opens GnuCash), whereas the setting is strictly calendar based. 
> We could go on and on about how GnuCash manages these files, or we 
> could spend the time identifying a proper backup program that 
> preserves user data in the way we seek to have it preserved. I suggest 
> engaging in the latter.
>
> David T.
>
>
>
> On June 19, 2026 9:44:12 AM GMT+05:30, Tom Route36 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>     Hi Ken, The number of backups you have is dependent on your
>     Auto-Save Time Interval and how long GnuCash is open (and also
>     depends on if you're manually doing saves).  If you set the
>     Auto-Save Interval to zero, then you've disabled Auto-Save, and
>     the number of backups will be totally determined by you --
>     whenever you decide to do a save. BTW, I'm not sure that you need
>     to be concerned about limiting backups.  I have over 30 years
>     worth of data in my GnuCash data file; and it's only 11 MB in
>     size.  So disk space isn't really an issue.  I have my backup
>     retention time set to 21 days; and currently I have about 90
>     backups.  For me, having multiple backups is more reassuring than
>     a bother.  Just my opinion. Tom On 06/18/2026 07:48 PM, Ken Pyzik
>     wrote:
>
>         OK - I think I may have found the answer to my own question.
>         In the EDIT>>Preferences>>General, there is a setting to
>         Retain Logs/Backup files with three options - Never, For X
>         number of days or Forever. The default appears to be 30 days.
>         Now this is interesting. If this is true - which I believe it
>         is - this means that if you go into Gnucash every day, you can
>         end up with up to 30 or 31 logs and backup files. So, someone
>         could assume that they could just change it to 3 days and that
>         would be fine. However, if you do NOT open Gnucash everyday -
>         but instead open it up once a week, you would need keep the
>         logs for 21 days in order to have 3 backups. By the same
>         token, if you are someone who only opens Gnucash once a month
>         - or only once every couple of months, you would need to keep
>         the files for up to 60 or 90 days in order to get 3 full
>         backups. I am guessing that this is the behavior and that it
>         has probably been this way forever. I am also guessing that if
>         you only want 3 backups definitively - you have to adjust the
>         days accordingly to the way you use the system - i.e., how
>         often you open and work with the files. And if you go into the
>         system multiple times a day - you could end up with A LOT of
>         backups and logs files. Is this behavior correct? If yes,
>         would changing it to be a definitive number be difficult? I
>         assuming it is, otherwise I would have thought it would have
>         been changed by now. Ken
>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>         From:
>         gnucash-user<[email protected]>
>         on behalf of Ken Pyzik<[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June
>         18, 2026 6:05 PM To: Gnucash Users<[email protected]>
>         Subject: [GNC] Logs and Backups This may have been mentioned
>         in the past - and if so - sorry for the repeat. However, I
>         noticed today 10 ".log" and 10 ".<<date>>.gnucash" files. So,
>         I am assuming that gnucash is keeping 10 transaction and log
>         file backups. Is this correct? If so, is this the default and
>         if it is the default, can this be changed to only 2 or 3?
>         Thanks for the reply.
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