Thoughts about the stock quote database

[Tor-Øyvind Gundersen]

Dave Peticolas wrote:
> 
> As far as the database itself, it may make sense to eventually
> separate it from GnuCash. In the short term, we kind of need it
> asap, so it will probably be a part of GnuCash.

Starting out as a GnuCash component is fine with me, as long as the 
design allows it to be extended at a later point in time.


> Tor-Oyvind Gundersen writes:
> > 
> > Because of its fundamental usage, the quote database should only
> > include "official market prices", or else the results from, say,
> > a technical analysis program would be at least unreliable.
> 
> What if we annotated quotes with their source? Then quotes for
> particular transactions could be excluded from analysis.

That could work, yes. But I still fail to see why GnuCash would need 
to insert its own prices into a (possibly system-wide) quote repository.
Could you explain what the GnuCash' requirements are with respect 
to such a quote repository? Or give me a pointer to where I can find 
this information?


> > I hope this hasn't already been discussed to death, and I really
> > hope I presented some new points and not only stated established
> > facts.
> 
> Actually, we're just starting to talk about this, so please join in.

Thanks for the invitation :)

My basic idea, as indicated before, is to have a repository containing 
historical and current quotes for commodities, stocks, funds, bonds,
futures, and other financial instruments.

This repository should be accessible from all applications to avoid 
multiple downloading and duplicated storing of the data.

I have identified some features I would like to see implemented in 
such a repository, but implementing all those is probably an overkill 
with respect to GnuCash as they also include recording streaming 
transaction data.

On the other hand, I suspect that GnuCash' requirements is a perfect 
subset of mine, so by taking a little care when designing now would 
allow this GnuCash "quote-component" to be extended to a full-blown 
repository in the (hopefully near) future.

So again, can anyone point me to more documentation about the GnuCash 
requirements so I can include it in my perception of the world.


-- 
Tor-Øyvind Gundersen
tor@gundersen.nu