Error messages

Why am I getting "Error: the file is already in use."?

To prevent unintended database corruption, scidCommunity adds a ".lock" file in the database directory when it opens a database. This prevents another instance of scidCommunity/Scid or the headless scidCommunity API from trying to modify the database at the same time. When you use scidCommunity normally and exit, the ".lock" file is deleted.

If you accidentally exit scidCommunity due to a power outage, or system reboot, the ".lock" file may not get deleted. Then the next time you try to run scidCommunity and open the database, you will receive the "Error: the file is already in use." message. Simply exit scidCommunity and go to the directory where your database is and manually delete the ".lock" file. Then you will be able to open your database again when you restart scidCommunity.