[GNC] Changing account tree on large database

Cricket Onebit cricketbeautiful at gmail.com
Fri Apr 26 22:49:35 EDT 2019


On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 at 22:14, Tommy Trussell <tommy.trussell at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:49 PM Cricket Onebit <cricketbeautiful at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The speed thing is disappointing. I thought 3.5 fixed that, but maybe not
>> enough. I planned to save as XML to get going, since the docs say it's more
>> stable, then try SQLite.
>>
>
> The "standard" XML files are quick enough for me, though as time goes on
> it does take longer to load. I have never tried the database formats; the
> only upside (at the moment) is they give you some additional nerdy
> reporting options.
>

Don't tempt me. I've spent enough hours learning "just enough" of
half-a-dozen languages for various projects that never quite did what I
wanted.


> QIF files are just text files, right, and human-readable? So I can use a
>> text editor and search.
>>
>
> Yes, "human-readable," though not exactly comfortably readable. Export a
> small file and have a look. You MAY find that not every text editor can
> open the largest (multi-megabyte) files, though nowadays I suspect that's
> less a problem than it was back in the 20th century. ;-)
>

After Pascal variable typing, a few XML files, and FORTRAN formatting
statements (both input and output), how hard can QIF be? (Rhetorical
question.) Still, my first choice is do everything with a single program,
even if I start a new data file every few years.


> How easy is it to delete old transactions? (Or export recent ones to a new
>> file?) That way I could migrate 10 years worth, so they're all in GC format
>> rather than QIF, then use a smaller file going forward.
>>
>
> Unless it's been added in the last couple of releases, GnuCash itself
> doesn't have that facility. At best you can easily "prune" entire accounts,
> OR start from scratch. At this moment in your GnuCash history your best bet
> is to export date ranges from Quicken.
>
>>
That surprises me. It can't be uncommon for a file to get unwieldy. Pruning
an entire account would make a lot of ripples. Is there a feature request I
can vote on?

-- 
+++

Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need.
-- Rudyard Kipling


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