Limits of gnucash

Securenym.net wroberts at securenym.net
Tue Jan 10 14:02:39 EST 2017 

I don’t use encryption on at the Application level, on the Macs or on FreeBSD.  I use it at the system level, and the apps haven’t a clue that it’s happening. My main point, not knowing how gnucash handles compression, which you’ve explained, thank you, is that compressed files may report differently, based on the actual data characteristics being compressed and the algorithm being used.  Similar but different data may give vastly different compression efficiencies, even with the same algorithm.

=====
If anyone is interested, here are my thoughts on encryption, but are off topic for gnucash and the question at hand.

On FreeBSD with the ZFS file manager when you create the pools, you can tell it to compress and encrypt. On the FreeBSD I use just encryption when I create the ZFS pools and don’t use compression.  The  Macs are a little different, but the concept is the same.  All macs that leave the premises or can be connected to the internet are encrypted using file vault.  Apple uses HFS+ which does support compression but only recommends using for system files.  It can be used, but it gets a bit tricky, and I don’t like trickiness with production data, so the macs are not compressed.  

I don’t know what the operating systems report concerning disk usage with compressed disks/files:  actual space used or uncompressed space equivalent.  That’s a function of the OS which I’ve never dug into.  With gzip, etc, the system reports the actual compressed file sizes, the physical space the compressed image using.  If anyone is interested, I can create an uncompressed pool with identical files and see how it’s reported.

Final thought:  Why do I encrypt at the OS/filesystem level?  If I were to lose a computer on the road, and someone found it, they would need the keys to get into it beyond the user/pw authentication.  On most OS, there are ways to bypass authentication and read the disk, if you have physical possession of the disk.  Once that disk is encrypted, without the key, it can be read, but it could take months or longer to do it.  On the internet side, some of my systems are accessible to the real world, and the logs show the Chinese, Russians, Vietnamese,Australians, Nigerians and Americans try to break into my systems with regularity.   Have they succeeded?  I don’t think so, but one never knows for sure.   Besides the OS level encryption key files are additionally encrypted, but these files cannot be used by their respective applications without decrypting first.  


> On Jan 10, 2017, at 10:53 AM, David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> Per the wiki:
> 
> "Beginning with version 1.6, the primary GnuCash storage mechanism is an XML file. The file is optionally compressed with gzip (“Edit” menu → “Preferences” → “General” → “Use file compression”).”
> 
> GnuCash doesn’t handle encryption; there is a long history behind this, and you are encouraged to search the list archives for past discussions about it.
> 
> David
> 
> 
>> On Jan 10, 2017, at 8:05 PM, Securenym.net <wroberts at 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 <%20listgnucash-user at gnucash.orghtt>ps://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.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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