[GNC] File Format Documentation (Bug 777893)

David T. sunfish62 at yahoo.com
Wed Aug 15 20:35:28 EDT 2018 

Can a developer or linux user confirm this for me? I am neither.

> On Aug 15, 2018, at 5:33 PM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
> 
> 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 Here is a newer version of the table: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
>>> 
> 
> 
>

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