[GNC] Updating from v 2.6.16.

[Geert Janssens]

That's a good guide.

I'll just nitpick on your description of our version number semantics. The versioning scheme 
you describe was only used up until gnucash 2.6.x and was copied from the versioning 
scheme used by gnome*. As of 3.x we have moved to a simplified scheme consisting of only 
two levels (major.minor). Minor numbers less than 900 now signify stable releases, numbers 
900 and up are unstable releases. We no longer user micro numbers, though they could be 
helpful if we have to do emergency/hotfix releases.

Note that installers or prebuilt packages (MacOS installer, Windows installer, Flatpak installer, 
rpm packages, deb packages,...) can have an extra qualifier:

major.minor-package

This 'package' qualifier denotes the same version of gnucash (major.minor) has been 
repackaged for other reasons. This can vary from updates to related packages (new version 
of aqbanking, gtk,...) to fixing bugs related to packaging. The 'package' qualifier can differ 
per platform. For example on MacOS we currently have 4.8-2 as the stable release while on 
Flathub the current gnucash is 4.8-1. The changes required in the MacOS package to warrant 
a '-2' have nothing to do with the changes required in the flathub package to warrant a '-1' 
there. While both ship gnucash 4.8, the both needed (different) tweaks to be able to package 
it in a way it works correctly on their respective platforms.

Regards,

Geert


* And even gnome has dropped this old scheme now.

Op donderdag 4 november 2021 23:52:17 CET schreef davidcousens49 at gmail.com:
> Mike,
> 
> There are three major issues associated with upgrading:
> 
> Upgrading the data file format;
> Relocation of user preference data/config data (changes of storage location
> and methodology;
> Preserving any saved reports/config changes;
> 
> The first two generally take place, if at all at the major version
> transitions 2->3->4.
> 
> Release numbers are major.minor.micro
> 
> The major component of the release number usually flags incompatible
> architecture changes, changes to database schema and the API. Minor version
> numberssignify stable releases if even and unstable releases if odd. These
> are primarily bug fixes and minor feature releases. The micro numbers are
> sequential for each release
> 
> GnuCash generally includes an inbuilt, run once only procedure to update the
> data file format and usually to relocate any config and reports to the new
> locations from the last minor release.
> 
> Since you ar on Windows, you won't need to build your files the programs.
> You can find copies of all releases of GnuCash on SourceForge at this
> location
> https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucash/files/gnucash%20%28stable%29/.
> 
> Before starting it is a very good idea to make backup copies of your data
> files,user data, config etc. File locations in GNuCash are discussed on the
> wikipage https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations but this is a
> fairly complex document as it covers all operating systems and GC versions.
> 
> Your data files are located in your user directory where you have chosen to
> locate them.
> 
> The migration of user preferences, saved reports and online Banking data is
> discussed in the wiki at
> https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v4/C/gnucash-guide/basics-migrate-settings.html
> .