Multi-user suggestion: an edit token

[Eric Siegerman]

On Tue, Nov 21, 2017 at 10:21:55PM -0600, Jeff Hobson wrote:
> [...] a true conflict would arise if both platforms were
> modifying the data at the same time. That caveat, understood is
> the real barrier to mutual and simultaneous access. 

Indeed!

If there will be multiple people involved, one way to keep these
collisions from happening by accident is to have a physical token
of some sort.  It can be anything -- a dollar-store trinket, a
lovingly carved wooden figurine, an oddly shaped rock from the
garden, whatever :-)  As long as it's distinctive.

The rule is that only the person with the token on their desk is
allowed to touch the file.  So:
  - If you want to do some GnuCash work, grab the token first

  - When you're done, return the token to some agreed neutral
    location where it lives while not in use

  - If you go to grab it and it's on someone else's desk, *check
    with them* before you take it
    
    No cheating on this one!  Maybe they left for the day and
    forgot to return it ... but maybe they're just taking a quick
    break in the middle of something long and intricate.  If Mary
    has the token, Mary *owns* that file until she says
    otherwise!

In theory this shouldn't be needed.  GnuCash is supposed to sort
all that out for you -- that's what the foo.gnucash.LCK file is
for.  But over some networks, that kind of locking can be iffy.
So if in practice you get these "John and Mary both changed it"
situations, the above physical-token scheme can be used as a
fallback.

  - Eric