Sync with gnome releases

[Matthew Vanecek]

On 19 Jul 2001 12:34:32 -0500, Linas Vepstas wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 18, 2001 at 06:56:09PM -0700, Dave Peticolas was heard to remark:
> > 
> > Well, if GnuCash was an ldap server, 
> 
> Let me re-iterate, and answer cbbrowne's email indirectly.  The proposal
> was 'merely' to use the evolution GUI to manage addresses within GnuCash. 
> Nothing more, nothing less.  This was followed by the implication that the
> right way to do this was through LDAP.  Since Evolution is an LDAP client,
> I assumed that reciprocally, gnucash would have to provide ldap-server-like
> functions.  I envisioned a mini-crippled-function LDAP-serverish thing inside
> of gnucash, accessible *only* to evolution, and implemented with no more than
> a few hundred lines of code, and linked to some libldap.so.  Just enough
> function to be able to use the Evolution GUI component.  
> 
> Storing names and addresses so that gnucash can print them onto checks,
> bills and invoices shouldn't be rocket science.  It shouldn't require
> a massive infrastructure overhead. 
> 

Here's a thought:  make an LDAP client plugin.  Have an Evolution or
Gnome AB plugin, or both.  Have any other kind of plugin you want for
accessing 3rd-party address information.  Bring in your adrresses to
GNUCash at printing time, and display them for verification (and
possibly editing, depending on logistics) e.g., "Please verify that the
following addresses are correct before I send them to the printer", and
a "Do you want to save your changes to the <LDAP/Evolution/GNome>
address book?" question.
This 

        1) separates GNUCash from storing/being responsible for
non-financial data, and 
	2) allows users to access 3rd party data stores which are also
used by other applications
        3) prevents unnecesary duplication of data
        4) allows users to verify the validity of the address
           information *before* it is sent off to the printer.

If you don't have write access to the address data store, you should
contact whoever does to make needed changes, so that you don't have to
edit it every time.

Problem solved, case closed.  GNUCash doesn't have to store the data
internally, and worries about other people wrongly manipulating your
address data are alleviated.  I mean, if you don't pay attention to
where your money is being sent, shouldn't someone else be taking care of
it, anyhow? ;)


 
--
Matthew Vanecek
perl -e 'print
$i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
********************************************************************************
For 93 million miles, there is nothing between the sun and my shadow
except me.
I'm always getting in the way of something...