XML size (was: no subject)

[Rob Browning]

Derek Atkins <warlord@MIT.EDU> writes:

> I think finding an embedded sql system would be a great approach,
> provided the database is portable.  I think the overhead of setting
> up a SQL server is greater than many users want to have, but if we
> can get the benefits of a database by using an embedded system
> (which would hide from the user the fact that SQL is being used),
> that would be ideal.

Well I guess it won't help everywhere, but on most distributions you
can just install the postgres package.  And if you wanted to avoid
"sql admin issues" for the user, you can just have gnucash launch a
local postmaster, managing a local directory, say
/home/someone/your-gnucash-data, when it starts up.  Of course this
raises other issues, like what if the homedir is NFS mounted, etc. --
you'd have to be careful about whether you used an FS socket or a TCP
connection... but it would eliminate most of the DB admin issues.
FWIW I've actually tried a toy example, it seems to work fine -- you
just have to get the right args to the postmaster, and use the right
URL when trying to open the DB.

>  The user still sees a "file" but we're using SQL internally.

I wonder how many people would care if their data were in a
"directory" rather than a file as long as there were good to/from XML
export/import commands.

> So, any good pointers to embedded SQL systems?

Don't know.  I've heard a little about sqlite, but haven't used it
heavily myself yet.

-- 
Rob Browning
rlb @defaultvalue.org, @linuxdevel.com, and @debian.org
Previously @cs.utexas.edu
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