[GNC] File Format Documentation (Bug 777893)

David T. sunfish62 at yahoo.com
Wed Aug 15 20:19:49 EDT 2018


Derek,

I understand the point, but my intention on this is to indicate that a user must separately install libdbi libraries in order to use MySQL and PostgreSQL. As I understand it (and from personal experience) I do not have to perform any additional driver installations when I choose either XML or SQLite. Your note that SQLite is also available in Windows makes it a clean sweep for availability by default.

David

> On Aug 15, 2018, at 11:27 AM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
> 
> SQLite uses libdbi, too.
> 
> -derek
> 
> On Wed, August 15, 2018 1:49 pm, David T. via gnucash-user wrote:
>> Here is a newer version of the table:
>> 
>> Storage Comparison Table
>> 	XML	SQLite	MySQL	PostgreSQL
>> Installation	Default	Default	libdbi	libdbi
>> File extension	gnucash	gnucash	N/A	N/A
>> Additional software	None	None	MySQL	PostgreSQL
>> Additional expertise	None	None	DBMS	DBMS
>> Compression	Y	N	N	N
>> Save on command	Y	N	N	N
>> Save on commit	N	Y	Y	Y
>> Uses log files	Y	N	N	N
>> Multi-user	N	N	N	N
>> 
>> How does that seem?
>> 
>>> On Aug 15, 2018, at 10:34 AM, Adrien Monteleone
>>> <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Aug 15, 2018, at 12:11 PM, David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On Aug 15, 2018, at 10:02 AM, Adrien Monteleone
>>>>> <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> But it’s not a ‘plain file’ as it is XML formatted. Someone expecting
>>>>> plain text and trying to view it is going to be met with tag soup
>>>>> they’ve never seen before and might very well not know how to read it.
>>>> 
>>>> Not to mention that it’s compressed.
>>> 
>>> True, forgot about that. Certainly, they’ll see gibberish mostly.
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> It also carries an .xml extension. So specifying the format is very
>>>>> specific and informative, even for users who aren’t familiar with XML.
>>>>> They’ll see in their file manager the extension, and/or the OS’s
>>>>> interpretation of the file type itself. (in this case both XML)
>>>> 
>>>> However, the file extension used is “gnucash” and not “xml”
>>> 
>>> Facepalm. I forgot about that. (I honestly rarely even look at the
>>> location where it’s stored anyway) I’d suspect unless Win10 uses the
>>> file descriptor for file type instead of the extension as was the
>>> practice through at least Win7, then no, those users won’t see XML
>>> anywhere. (if the descriptor is set as XML that is)
>>> 
>>> So I just checked on both MacOS and Ubuntu, MacOS reports the ‘Kind’ as
>>> ‘Gnucash Document’ regardless if sqlite or xml, and at least with xml,
>>> Ubuntu reports the file type as ’spreadsheet’. (yes, it’s registered to
>>> open with GnuCash, but this was built from source, so perhaps the file
>>> type was not registered properly, repo versions may vary)
>>> 
>>> So I guess on that point I was way off.
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> Perhaps the save process needs to be refactored to identify clearly and
>>>> separately the name of the data file AND its format?
>>> 
>>> Since .gnucash is not really proprietary or somehow a special format
>>> from XML then I agree, the extension should be .xml.
>>> 
>>> Combine this with the fact that the sqlite version of the file ALSO uses
>>> the .gnucash extension can make for some confusion. At a glance, you
>>> can’t tell what the format is. You can’t even tell until you try to open
>>> it with something other than GnuCash. (or you notice that GnuCash
>>> doesn’t offer a Save option) The only reason I know which is which is I
>>> had to use filename.xml.gnucash to tell them apart. That’s a usability
>>> bug in my opinion. I don’t know how hard that is to change, but I’d
>>> support the move.
>>> 
>>> On that note, the documentation somewhere (I suppose in the ‘file >
>>> save/save as’ section) should document that the extension is currently
>>> ‘.gnucash’. A new user shouldn’t have to go to a wiki or website FAQ
>>> after reading the documentation for something this basic.
>>> 
>>> Would it be out of order to include in your table that both use this
>>> extension? If you expand the table to show MySQL and Postgres, I suppose
>>> that row would have some other note since their data stores are very
>>> different than single files. (though in this case they might store it
>>> that way, I haven’t used either to know)
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> Adrien
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Knowing this might very well help them find their file if they know
>>>>> the format they are looking for.
>>>>> 
>>>>> But I do agree, the documentation should cover where files are stored.
>>>>> Ideally, this should be made part of the Help or Guide in the Getting
>>>>> Started section. It is certainly a common enough issue on the list.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Adrien
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Aug 15, 2018, at 10:24 AM, Christoph R
>>>>>> <subscriptions+listen at rohland.net> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi David,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The default file storage format is XML
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I would not call this “XML" but "plain file”. From a user perspective
>>>>>> it is not important in which internal format it is stored. But it
>>>>>> makes a big difference if it is a simple file created by Gnucash or
>>>>>> if Gnucash needs to connect to a DBMS.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> And one of the biggest confusion for users on the mailing list is the
>>>>>> question: “Where is my data?”. Pointing out that all your accounts
>>>>>> and transactions are in a simple file might reduce that problem.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>> Christoph
>>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> gnucash-user mailing list
>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see
>>> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
>>> -----
>>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnucash-user mailing list
>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>> If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see
>> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information.
>> -----
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> 
> 
> -- 
>       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
>       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
>       Computer and Internet Security Consultant
> 



More information about the gnucash-user mailing list