Aw: Re: sequential use of Gnucash on multiple computers

[Les]

On 05/20/2013 05:16 AM, Peter von Kaehne wrote:
>    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.
>    _______________________________________________
>    gnucash-user mailing list
>    gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>    [1]https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>    -----
>    Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>    You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>
> References
>
>    1. https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
I have been following this thread for a while and have yet to hear any
mention of rsync.  It seems to me that it would be a very simple
solution:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rsync>http://en.wikipedia.org/rsync. 

Perhaps I am missing something?

Regards,
Les