WHY use anything other than an XML backend?

John Ralls jralls at ceridwen.us
Tue Apr 19 14:36:03 EDT 2011


On Apr 19, 2011, at 10:53 AM, Robert Heller wrote:

> At Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:14:58 -0400 Carpet Nailz <carpetnailz at researchintegration.org> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> I don't know about anyone else, but I've been frustrated for years by
>> the difficulty of flexibly developing reports in GnuCash. As a
>> "non-programmer," I'm totally dependent on their front-end options and
>> then having to manipulate the html report into usable spreadsheet
>> format.
>> 
>> I haven't gone to the alternate backend yet because I haven't invested
>> the time to make the move. But what I find promising is the opportunity
>> (if I've properly interpreted what I've heard) to access the backend
>> directly with some SQL to get the kind of reports I want.
> 
> The other thing about the SQL backend is that it makes a move to a
> multiple concurrent user usage model possible, since the RDBMS systems
> include the proper database locking, etc. needed for such a puspose.  I
> believe the long term planning for GnuCash is to provide for this sort
> of capability. 
> 
>> 
>> Furthermore, (again, if I've correctly interpreted what I've read), the
>> XML option will still be there, won't it?
>> 

We got a bit ahead of ourselves on the SQL backend: We should first have made the core fully transactional and normalized the data model. We're just beginning that now, and Gnucash won't be suitable for simultaneous multiuser use until then. It turns out that there is some data loss for a few features (mostly related to online banking) with the SQL backend that's related to the poor fit of the data model with a relational db.

Once that's done (and I expectit to take a couple of years), the SQL backend will afford much faster startup and guarantee "ACID" data safety. Until then, I'd say that almost all users are better off staying with the XML backend.

You'll find it challenging to extract anything but the most basic transaction and business data using SQL. Why will become clear in a couple of days when I get the ERD finished.

Regards,
John Ralls




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