Cross Platform, Cross Version

[David Carlson]

On 7/12/2015 4:03 PM, Robert Heller wrote:
> At Sun, 12 Jul 2015 11:52:02 -0500 sajan at noppix.com wrote:
>
>> I've just started a new business and want to use GnuCash for all 
>> accounting and do it myself, outsourcing my single employee payroll to 
>> someone else.  I'm primarily a Linux user and was thinking about syncing 
>> the company files to our file server and opening them up from different 
>> laptops and computers.  I'm wondering will I encounter any issues if one 
>> laptop opens up the company files with GNUCash version XXX, make some 
>> changes, save.  Then I open it up on a different computer with a 
>> slightly different version of GNUCash?
>>
>> Reason I ask is because I have a mix of laptops and computers, some 
>> running Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, some running Ubuntu 15.04.  Plus, I if I don't 
>> get my way, I might have a single Windows 7 computer as well.  All of 
>> these will have different versions of GNUCash, but will open the same 
>> set of files off the file server.
>>
>> Let me know if this is a giant disaster waiting to happen, or if I 
>> should be okay.
> The *easy* solution is to pick one single version of GNUCash, probably the 
> oldest of the set and then stick with it.  Since you are running fairly 
> 'modern' O/Ses, it should not be too hard to just pick something slightly less 
> than the bleeding edge version.  I suspect that the limiting factor will be 
> the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS system(s).  Just install the *same* version of GNUCash on 
> the Ubuntu 15.04 systems and then do the necessary config magic (somewhere in 
> /etc/apt/...) to pin the version to the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS version on the Ubuntu 
> 15.04 systems.  And then just install the corresponding mess-windows version 
> on the Windows 7 system.
>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Sajan Parikh
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>>                                                                                                                         

If you stay within the 2.4.x group of releases, they are all supposed to
work interchangeably on a given data file.  The 2.6 group made some
changes that are not backward compatible with the 2.4 group, but I think
the older releases can still read and write to the same file, but will
not have certain features such as some new scheduled transaction choices
and some differences with how memorized reports and program preferences
are stored.  A developer can elaborate on that if you are interested. 
Releases 2.6.1 through 2.6.5 had some defects in the Windows version
that makes them undesirable for many users, but I think the Linux
versions were ok.  I will let others comment on Apple versions.

I know about the file lock, but I consider it to be a necessary nuisance
because my various computers are not always in the same room or
sometimes even hibernating, out of town or turned off.  I have not
allowed cloud storage or access to my data files and I do not have other
users wanting simultaneous access.  Your experience will vary.

David C