account aliases (was "account grouping?")

[Pete Yadlowsky]

Jason Rennie wrote:
> 
> petey@uu.net said:
> > It'd be useful if "Insurance:Auto" and "Automotive:Insurance" could me
> > made to refer to the same account so you could access it on any of
> > several reasonable paths.

> Sounds useful.  I wouldn't mind seeing it (I'd use it), although I'm fine
> without it and if it adds unnecessary complication, I'd ditch the idea.

Ditto.

> Note that we'd probably want "hard" links so there is no distinction
> between the accounts.  If you allowed "soft" links, one account would
> carry the distinction of being the true account.  Removing the one true
> account would leave a dangling link and no account.

I thought about that. As I envision the account data structure, the
account itself would exist independently of the account names that refer
to it, but it would hold a registry of all of its names. "account" and
"account-link" become two distinct data objects; an account would have
no "true" link of its own. When you remove an account that has more than
one link, you're asked if you want to remove just the link, or the
account itself. Removing the account would remove all of its links as
well. No danglers. This is closest to a "hard" link except that it gives
you the option of deleting all the links (and the account) when you
delete one.

-- 
Pete Yadlowsky
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