Setting up gnucash to use postgesql back end - close but no cigar ...

Sébastien de Menten sdementen at gmail.com
Tue Mar 10 05:04:35 EDT 2015


Is the backup point for the XML file related to the fact that one has to
explicitly "save" the file (and so a backup is done at each "save"
operation) while for all SQL backends, data is saved immediately after each
operation ?
If so, could it be worth to add a "save a backup" (replacing the "save"
button) for SQL backends ?
Kr
Sebastien

On Tuesday, March 10, 2015, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:
>
>> On Mar 9, 2015, at 10:01 PM, Maf. King <maf at chilwell.net> wrote:
>>
>> On Mon 9 March 15 05:28:33 YeOldHinnerk wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> now, this answer made me curious, for a couple of reasons:
>>>
>>> 1. At least the german GnuCash wiki FAQ does say that SQLite is
intended for
>>> home users:
>>>
http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/De/FAQ#F:_Gibt_es_eine_Datenbank-Anbindung.3F
>>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> SQLite is a file format - no external server is needed.  AFAIK, gnucash
with
>> SQLite or XML file storage results in the same logs and backups of the
file.
>>
>> MySQL or Postgres are external servers and backups are not automatic,
nor are
>> these data store methods tested as completely as the file store back
ends.
>>
>>
>>> 2. I have several applications on my NAS (and in the past for testing
>>> purposes also on my laptop), which use some SQL database like mysql.
>>> Usually, there is hardly any admin work involved. I think the
suggestion of
>>> having to hire a professional database admin is far over the top. For
many
>>> purposes, the use of a DB in the background is quite simple. So should I
>>> take this as a hint, that the integration of a DB in gnucash is not
very far
>>> yet and requires manual steps, which could be automated?
>>
>> Yeah, I think John's scenario seemed a bit "worst case" IMHO.  Point
taken
>> that this is financial data we're talking about, so more important to
keep a
>> properly secured and administered DB than the usual home LAMP stack for
>> storing Catz and so on, but even so , a full-time DBA?
>>
>
> Only XML does the versioned backup, because the whole file must be saved
as one piece. SQLite3 is a real SQL database that happens to use a local
file instead of a server and therefore requires no admin of the
non-existant server. It saves each transaction as it happens and therefore
there is no previous file to use as a backup. Consequently SQLite3 users
are on their own when it comes to making backups. This is a non-problem on
MacOS X as long as TimeMachine is enabled, but on other platforms it's up
to the user to arrange for backups.
>
> Hinnerk, those pre-configured database servers on Linux are there because
someone with the requisite experience did the setup and packaged it for the
NAS provider. There are similar installations used for various Linux
services. All of the cases that I'm aware of are nicely self-contained and
not especially critical for the casual user. I can't think of any that
wouldn't have been better done with SQLite3 since there's no need for
multiple users nor does the service generally span machines, but that's a
separate issue. Yes, it's possible on Linux to tell the package manager to
install MySQL or PostgresQL; one or the other might already be installed
for some other purpose. Those installations make no allowances for setting
up users, granting the requisite permissions, arranging for logging and
backups, etc. One has the choice of either learning to do all of that stuff
oneself or hiring someone to do it, and those with the requisite skills are
not cheap. One can always hire so!
>  meone without the requisite skills for substantially less money, but
that carries rather more risk than I'd be willing to advocate to the
general population.
>
> Regards,
> John Ralls
>
>
>
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