Tax report bug

[Robert Graham Merkel]

> I was kind of afraid something like this might happen!  If every time
> where a null string used to be returned, we now get a #f, this could cause
> a lot of bugs in numerous places.  It would be better to fix the source
> of the problem, rather than the downstream problems it causes.

Richard, I've been working with Rob Browning on g-wrap quite a lot
lately, and perhaps I should explain the situation.

G-wrap is still a program in flux, as indicated by its < 1.0 version
number.  At the moment gnucash is the only widely-used program using
g-wrap, but we hope that that will change once we get past 1.0.  Once
that point is reached the API will have to be largely set in stone, so
any misfeatures will have to be faithfully retained.  

On this point, Rob is working hard to fix the API *now* rather than
later, and the change to the string behaviour is an example of this.  
Therefore, it's not a "problem" in the sense that the change was
unintended.  It's a "problem" in the sense that the change breaks code
dependent on the old behaviour, requiring somebody to fix it.  I don't
mind helping with that if you want.

g-wrap will continue to change substantially for the next little
while, before stabilising (I expect, but of course Rob B makes these
decisions) for a 1.0 release in the next few
months.

I'm sorry that it had to be you that got caught by this, but,
typically, we'd have to make twenty fixes to every one you'd have to
make :-/

If you think this particular API change, or the way we are managing
them, is inappropriate please feel free to discuss it with Rob B and I.

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Robert Merkel	                           rgmerk@mira.net

"We are excited and optimistic about its usage going 
forward and, yes, we can teach penguins the military 
close-order drill", Mark Norton, US Department of Defense. 
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