[GNC] GnuCash multi-user request

Geoff cleanoutmyshed at gmail.com
Wed Feb 23 04:19:30 EST 2022


Hi Andreas

Multiple user access is feasible, but probably not multiple simultaneous 
users.

The GnuCash data can be stored in a plain text XML file, an SQLite 
database file; or in a MySQL or PostgreSQL database application.  You 
can share the files using various replication mechanisms or network file 
systems; and the database applications (usually but not always hosted on 
a server) have their own network sharing solutions.

 From the FAQ:

https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ

Multiple Computers, Users, ...
Q: Can I use GnuCash with multiple users? Maybe via the SQL backend?
A: That depends on what you mean exactly. You can share your data file 
with others, for example by storing it on a network mounted drive. Note 
that this will enforce serialized, exclusive access to the data file and 
editing; there is no real support for simultaneous editing. File-locking 
is employed on this file, so it should be NFS-safe. SMB-safe locking is 
unknown.
Even the dbi (SQL) backend which comes with GnuCash 2.4 is currently not 
designed for true multi-user access. Trying to work with multiple users 
at the same time in the same database will be prevented by means of a 
locking mechanism. Circumventing that can cause data loss. You can 
however share the database with different users, provided you ensure 
serialized, exclusive access. In other words, only one user at the time 
should have GnuCash open with that database. Once this users closes 
their GnuCash session, another user can start GnuCash on this database.
Q: I'm running GnuCash under GNU/Linux. Can I give another user access 
to my GnuCash files?
A: Yes, as long as both of you do not access them at the same time. You 
do it the same way you'd share files of any type under Linux: put them 
in a folder that both of you have access to, and change the permissions 
so that you both can read from and write to the files. You really don't 
want more than one person to have them open for editing at the same 
time, however, as whoever saves last will overwrite the changes of 
whoever saves first.

If you can be more specific about your requirements, others may have 
some more specific suggestions.

Regards

Geoff
=====

On 23/02/2022 7:48 pm, Andreas van Rensburg wrote:
> Hi - is it possible to have multi-user access to a file and how does one
> set this up?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Andreas
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