Managing large files

[Ian Merrithew]

Hi all,

I've been a gnucash user for several years now, and I've got a data file that 
goes all the way back to 2002.  It's only now that I'm realizing just how 
much of a performance hit I'm taking - an income statement report now takes a 
full 60 seconds to open up.  It's getting quite aggravating.  From reading 
the archives, I understand it's a consequence of the XML format the data is 
being stored in, that the larger it gets, the worse the performance gets.

So my question is, is there anything I can do to mitigate this?  There's no 
functionality to export transactions.  There's no alternate file format.  I'm 
not about to delete old data.  I lack the expertise to develop some sort of 
XML parser that could pull out, say, this year's transactions and save them 
to a new file.  Even if I could, there are issues like opening balances and 
tracking investments that wouldn't be well-served by this approach.

And question #2 is: is there any plan in place for future releases to address 
this?  By changing the file format from flat XML to something like a SQL 
database?  Allowing exports of transactions, splitting of files?

I'm feeling a little trapped.  My data's in this application, this format, but 
how much longer can I continue until I reach a tipping point and it all 
crashes down, or just gets so slow I can't use it?

-- 
Ian Merrithew - ADM Systems Engineering
ian.merrithew at ieee.org

"If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will 
soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant 
repair."
Samuel Johnson
English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784)