[GNC-dev] GnuCash 3 on Linux

[Wm]

On 08/03/2019 14:49, Derek Atkins wrote:
> Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> writes:
> 
>> Separating preferences for reports is, I suspect, more useful to a
>> multi-user environment, which GnuCash does not support, but can be
>> useful for a single user who keeps books for multiple entities that
>> are all in the same jurisdiction and might well even use the same
>> CPA. (and certainly have to file the same tax forms) They might even
>> all follow a July-June fiscal year, for example.
> 
> The whole options subsystem needs to be re-evaluated.  I feel there are
> multiple categories:
> 
> * Per-User
> * Per-User Per-Book
> * Per-Book

I agree.  Further, we are able to do this and have done it before, those 
with long memories may recall some things were moved (in a user sense) from
   Edit / Preferences (where they didn't belong)
to
   File / Properties (where they sat more naturally)

It might be useful for people to consider
   what belongs to the file?
   what belongs to me?
   is gnc an extension of me as a person?
   or is it a record of fact?

I've said this before but gnc has a screwed up view of ownership when 
the prices.db (which is by definition impersonal) is included in the 
book but reports (which are intrinsic to the book, as in they contain 
actual id's that don't make sense anywhere else) are left all over the 
place.

> This includes things like the display features that you mentioned (which
> I snipped off).  You're right, I feel that the column settings, and even
> whether to display placeholder and/or zero-balance accounts is probably
> a Per-User setting.

Column settings I think of as per user.

Placeholder ticks should be per book as gnc "does things wrong" if you 
enter tx at the placeholder level by accident and the account structure 
includes a mixture of commodities, currencies or anything else not the 
same.  If all of the accounts below the placeholder are the same as the 
the placeholder account it works OK in my experience, but only in that case.

I think of zero balance account display as a report setting.

> I think it would behoove us to go through every option, every
> preference, and every report option and decide which bucket they belong
> to.  Indeed, many of the report options may need to be split into
> different categories, but I'm not exactly sure how to do that properly.

I would be prepared to help with this as I would like to contribute and 
it seems like it will be years before my database and reporting skills 
will be utilised.

> I'm not convinced it's all about multi-user -- although part of it is.
> And for the record, GnuCash DOES support multiple sequential users.  It
> just does not support multiple simultaneous users.

Agreed. I think the multi-user argument is a red herring.  The current 
structure is failing on all of

   same-user same-computer different-login
   same-user same-login different-computer
   same-book same-user different-login
   same-book same-user different-computer

I could go on about all the combinations the 3.x structure simply does 
  not support, hopefully those are enough for ordinary people to 
understand that what we have is fucked.

multi-user isn't the problem to be solved, people understand if you say 
to them "gnc is like a spreadsheet, it doesn't work well if more than 
one person is changing it at once", it is damn hard to explain to them 
you don't know where their reports are!  saying "gnc did it" doesn't 
work in my world view.

>> I started a project to map out report preferences as part of a revamp
>> of the tab content and I didn’t finish it. Perhaps completing that
>> project will offer more insight. (and very likely allow me to discover
>> that the present situation is optimal)
> 
> I think this would still be a useful project, to map out all the various
> preferences and settings throughout the application.

+1

I think we might need some people to change their ideas about what 
belongs to what before we can really progress.  There isn't any point in 
defining stuff if it isn't going to be listened to or understood.

-- 
Wm