[GNC] File Format Documentation (Bug 777893)

Wed Aug 15 20:33:32 EDT 2018

Depends on the platform.
On Linux the sqlite dbd may not come installed.

-derek
Sent using my mobile device. Please excuse any typos.
On August 15, 2018 8:20:03 PM "David T." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 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 Here is a newer version of the table: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
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>> --
>>       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
>>       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
>>       Computer and Internet Security Consultant
>>