XML size (was: no subject)

[Jesse Becker]

--- Linas Vepstas <linas@linas.org> wrote:
> The binary format was dropped because once we had a working xml,
> everyone was too lazy to maintain two different formats.
> 
> I, for one, would support work to put a good binary file format back
> into gnucash.

One point about text-based formats:  you can edit them by hand.  I've had to
do this to my own data files when Gnucash wrote some bogus data.  I consider
this to be a very useful ability.  If you are worried about space, compress
the files (like XML lets you do); gzip averages something like 50-60%
compression on text.

This is not (easily) possible using a binary file format, and I'd consider
it a real loss.  I'll happily trade data recovery over loading speed any
day.

--Jesse

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