Limits of gnucash

Tue Jan 10 12:01:43 EST 2017

By default GnuCash uses zlib (gzip) compression.
You can determine the size of your data file (on Linux, and possibly on
Mac) using 'zcat <file> | grep ... | wc -l' to get a number.  E.g.:

zcat file.gnucash | grep 'gnc:account version' | wc -l
487
zcat file.gnucash | grep 'gnc:transaction version' | wc -l
14912
zcat file.gnucash | grep '<trn:split>' | wc -l
34527
ls -lh file.gnucash
-rw-rw-r-- 1 warlord warlord 1.8M Jan  9 13:53 file.gnucash

-derek

On Tue, January 10, 2017 10:05 am, Securenym.net wrote:
> What compression is being used?  I use Apple’s compression plus any
> intrinsic compression to software.  Different compression algorithms have
> differing efficiencies and trade offs.  Encryption also changes the
> relative efficiencies of the algorithms, depending on how the encryption
> is set up.
>
> Walt
>
>> On Jan 10, 2017, at 7:58 AM, Les <lelliott5 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Maybe I missed something, but how did you determine your number of
>> accounts, transactiona and splits?  I don't believe I have anywhere near
>> your totals, but my compressed GC file is 3.9 Mb.
>>
>> Les
>>
>>
>> On 01/10/2017 05:37 AM, David T. via gnucash-user wrote:
>>> A quick examination of my file yields the following:
>>>
>>> 10 years data
>>> Compressed XML: 3.4 Mb
>>>
>>> 805 Accounts
>>> 22079 Transactions
>>> 51006 Splits
>>>
>>> Macbook Pro Retina 2012, 16Gb RAM, 250Gb SSD
>>>
>>> Loads in 30 seconds.
>>>
>>> David C.’s data file is approximately 60% larger than mine by disk
>>> size, so that suggests:
>>>
>>> ~40,000 transactions
>>> ~85,000 splits
>>>
>>> HTH,
>>> David T.
>>>
>>>> On Jan 10, 2017, at 6:41 AM, David Carlson
>>>> <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I do not know how many transactions there are in my data file, but it
>>>> is
>>>> 5,700 KB compressed on a network server.  Part of the speed problem is
>>>> that
>>>> Windoze 7 takes a very long time to download and upload the file
>>>> through
>>>> Wi-Fi.  Then it doesn't split up well between the processors, it
>>>> mostly
>>>> single threads.  The older Linux machine is 100 Meg Ethernet connected
>>>> so
>>>> that helps a lot on top the fact that GnuCash just runs a lot faster
>>>> in
>>>> Linux.  I am still waiting for SSD prices to come down some more
>>>> before I
>>>> bite.
>>>>
>>>> David C
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 4:51 PM, Balazs Gaal <balazs at gaal.eu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks, David.
>>>>>
>>>>> It looks like I should be a bit more specific with my question J.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I am considering to move to a new accounting system from my old one
>>>>> and
>>>>> gnucash is one of the options I am evaluating.
>>>>>
>>>>> One of the reasons to move, among others, is that the old one (or,
>>>>> rather
>>>>> the ancient one, dating back to the 90-s J) has hit the 16bit limit
>>>>> with
>>>>> the number of transactions. (Not the first time). Of course, to roll
>>>>> up the
>>>>> old transactions and have an archive system is always an option but I
>>>>> would
>>>>> prefer to have everything in one place.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> That’s why I would like to know whether gnucash can tackle with let’s
>>>>> say
>>>>> one hundred thousand or one hundred and fifty thousand transactions.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> How many transactions do you have in your books when you say “I just
>>>>> purchased a new computer with 8Gig Ram and a I7 cpu ant it still
>>>>> cranks
>>>>> pretty slow on my data file in Windows 7”?  (Haven’t you considered
>>>>> to
>>>>> purchase an SSD? Sometimes it can make miracles J). Is gnucash able
>>>>> at
>>>>> all to use more than one core of the CPU simultaneously?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Balázs
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> *From:* david.carlson.417 at gmail.com
>>>>> [mailto:david.carlson.417 at gmail.com]
>>>>> *Sent:* Monday, January 9, 2017 11:10 PM
>>>>> *To:* Balazs Gaal <balazs at gaal.eu>; gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>>>> *Subject:* Re: Limits of gnucash
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> There is no simple measure of "limits".  Yes, GnuCash does keep the
>>>>> entire
>>>>> file in memory, but, as you know, your computer automatically swaps
>>>>> pages
>>>>> of memory between RAM and nonvolatile memory as needed.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I just purchased a new computer with 8Gig Ram and a I7 cpu ant it
>>>>> still
>>>>> cranks pretty slow on my data file in Windows 7.  On the other hand
>>>>> an
>>>>> 8year old Dell tower with only 2 G of Ram running Linux runs a lot
>>>>> faster.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> David C
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my LG G Pad 7.0 LTE, an AT&T 4G LTE tablet
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ------ Original message------
>>>>>
>>>>> *From: *Balazs Gaal
>>>>>
>>>>> *Date: *Mon, Jan 9, 2017 3:41 PM
>>>>>
>>>>> *To: *gnucash-user at gnucash.org;
>>>>>
>>>>> *Subject:*Limits of gnucash
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Can anybody let me know what the limits of gnucash are?I have read in
>>>>> an earlier post to this list that gnucash keeps the transactions in
>>>>> memory. Any guess, how many transactions can be handled on a
>>>>> windows-10 PC (64 bit) with 4GB memory?Any other practical limits
>>>>> e.g. due to icreased response time, etc?RegardsBalazs
>>>>> Gaal_______________________________________________gnucash-user
>>>>> mailing listgnucash-user at gnucash.orghtt
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>>>>>
>>>>>
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-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant