Description:
It seems that the current version of libdbi (0.8.4-1) from community is buggy, something to do with large numbers. For me it results in an inability to use an SQLite backend for GnuCash (2.4.8-1), fortunately GnuCash catches it and simply refuses to work with SQL backends.

The GnuCash FAQ does a better job at explaining it :
The default way to compile [libdbi] doesn't agree with some compilers, resulting in its inability to work with large numbers... the large numbers that we use to store amounts. That means that you'll lose a lot of data if you try to use a SQL backend with the library in place. We've encountered several Linux distributions that have the buggy libdbi, so we inserted a test into Gnucash to catch it. You can read the bug report for technical details, but if this happens to you, you should file a bug report with your distribution. If you're able to build programs, you can build your own libdbi with different parameters to avoid the bug (again, details are in the bug report). Otherwise, you'll have to use the XML backend.
GnuCash FAQ : http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_I_tried_to_start_up_GnuCash_2.4.1_on_my_SQL_database_and_I_got_an_error_about_libdbi_and_large_numbers
Bug report : https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=611936


Additional info:
* community/libdbi 0.8.4-1


Steps to reproduce:
Open GnuCash and try to open an SQLite file and you'll get an error message:
The library "lidbi" installed on your system doesn't correctly store large numbers. This means GnuCash cannot use SQL databases correctly. Gnucash will not open or save to SQL databases until this is fixed by installing a different version of "libdbi". Please see https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=611936 for more information.