Engine, Inventory, Payroll, etc

[Dave Peticolas]

Conrad Canterford writes:
> Dave Peticolas wrote:
> > No flaws, but one thing you might consider is implementing the
> > inventory and payroll functions largely in scheme and only loading
> > them if needed. That way, all the modules could be included in a
> > GnuCash distribution, but only loaded when actually used, hopefully
> > preventing the bloat you are trying to avoid.
> 
> The problem I see with this (from a conceptual viewpoint) is that it
> essentially ties people into using the modules that ship with GnuCash.
> This:
> - discourages people from making alternatives;
> - makes it tricky/potentially confusing for people to change between
> different modules;
> - means that the supplied modules either need to be very general, or
> very configurable (and therefore larger). This is particularly the case
> with payroll stuff - each country just about will need its own set of
> stuff.

I'm not sure I agree. I would think that providing, say, an inventory
module that is fairly general and useful but not necessarily the
complete solution for every user would help people to create their own
personalized modules by extending an existing base. And if the
'module' system is done with some forethought, I should think it
possible to completely substitute your own module for the one provided
with GnuCash.

Simply providing *a* solution doesn't prevent people from creating
their own. But I would think that even though there will be
differences between payroll systems between different countries,
surely there will be some common functionality that people shouldn't
have to continually rewrite?

dave