Aw: Re: sequential use of Gnucash on multiple computers

[Peter von Kaehne]

   Sorry for top posting!

   Thanks to all, this is really helpful. Steven - I did not know about
   saving data uncomp[ressed. This makes indeed a huge difference in a
   variety of ways.

   Just to clarify - if two edits  happen on the same file and get merged
   - this does not cause any grief? This was the main concern I had. Are
   transactions numbered in any form?

   If so, and building on what you say, Steven I would do what you
   suggest, but with two changes:

   Not svn but git and additionally incron. Git allows use of hooks which
   are small scripts run before/during/after actions like committing etc.
   incron is a kernel based utility which supervises a certain file space
   and acts on stuff happening

   So opening, closing or writing to a file can then trigger a git commit
   and a push to a central server.

   This should make it essentially non-manual entirely but for network
   outages. And if it is irrelevant when two versions are merged then this
   becomes a non issue too as the merge will happen eventually. And it
   might be a better solution that a SQL solution to multiuser in a small
   business environment.

   I will experiment and come back with a HOWTO.

   Peter

   Gesendet: Montag, 20. Mai 2013 um 11:27 Uhr
   Von: Liz <edodd at billiau.net>
   An: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
   Betreff: Re: sequential use of Gnucash on multiple computers
   On Mon, 20 May 2013 09:14:45 +0000
   Steven Hale <email at stevenhale.co.uk> wrote:
   > > Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 08:47:40 +0100
   > > From: Peter von Kaehne <refdoc at gmx.net>
   > > Subject: sequential use of Gnucash on multiple computers
   > >
   > > All work is done by one user. Up to this point all work was only
   > > ever done on one computer. It would be better if we could use
   > > several computers - in sequence, not concurrently. There is no
   > > likelihood at all that there is even accidental concurrency - as it
   > > would be the same user on each computer.
   > >
   > > I am thinking of setting up something which automatically uploads
   > > and downloads onto a shared server, or maybe a dropbox account or
   > > something similar.
   >
   > Have a look at "subversion". It is a package intended for sharing
   > source code, but I find it just as useful for sharing my gnucash file
   > between different computers.
   >
   > I simply "checkout" my file on each computer I use. Then when I've
   > made changes I "commit" them back to the central repository, and run
   > "update" on any other PC.
   >
   > It's best to turn off file compression in gnucash so that it uses
   > plain ASCII text XML files. This way, subversion can see exactly what
   > has changed and only commit the differences. This reduces the
   > bandwidth required for each update over the network. Using subversion
   > also has other significant advantages. It's like an automatic backup
   > from one PC to another. Also, you can checkout old revisions, so if
   > you realise you've made a load of mistakes and want to go back to how
   > your file was a week ago, that is very easy to do.
   >
   > You will need a server somewhere to host your repository. I use my
   > home PC and simply run subversion over ssh.
   >
   > > Which files should shared? Just the account files or also some
   > > gnucash setup files (i.e. in .gnucash/?)
   >
   > You can share just your .xml file. That's fine. But I also add
   > .gnucash and .gconf/apps/gnucash to my repository so that it also
   > stores my preferences. For example, the account tabs I leave open
   > when closing gnucash also get propagated to each other PC.
   >
   > I create a subversion repository for pretty much everything I do. I
   > couldn't work without it.
   >
   > Steve.
   Steve could you write this up for the FAQs?
   It makes a lot more sense than a single file shared over the network /
   internet.
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