[GNC] Is there a way to handle same-named GnuCash files sensibly?

[Chris Green]

On Tue, May 03, 2022 at 12:01:47PM -0500, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
> So you've chosen an organization method that creates the problem but then
> ask for how to avoid it? The answer seems pretty obvious to me:
> 
It's the organisation that I use for just about everything else and
it's the way many other people work.  From my point of view GnuCash is
a latecomer to an existing set up.


> Don't start a new file each year.
> 
Auditors prefer it that way, plus it means that I don't have to change
report options when I want 'this year' rather than 'last year'.  Yes,
I know this (never closing the data file) is the normal way of doing
it in GnuCash but it really doesn't fit in well with the rest of my
existing system organisation and I was hoping GnuCash would be
flexible enough to work the way I'd prefer.


> But before that, to your original question, what files exactly in
> ~/.local/... are you concerned about? One rarely needs to mess with them.
> 
I'm not messing with them directly.


> Concerning the configuration settings, particularly reporting period, that
> problem too goes away with a single file rather than one for each year.
> 
No it doesn't! :-)  If I set the reporting period to, for example,
01/01/2020 to 31/12/2020 then every report is for that period.  If I
then want a report for 2021 I have to go and change the reporting
period.  If I have a data file that is for 2020 only then I never have
to change the reporting period.

Yes, I could save the reports but then one would end up with a huge
number of them after a few years.

> 
> What is an example of what you'd expect/like to see instead?
> 
Keep the information like reporting period in the data file to which
it relates.


> And is something like 'building20.gnucash' really that clumsy?
> 
> How about 'building_20.gnucash' or 'building-20.gnucash'?
> 
> Are 2 or 3 characters really that much longer? (4 or 5 if whole year is
> used)
> 
> How is adding the year to the name 'redundant'—because it is already in a
> directory name? How often do you look at directory/file lists anyway?
> 
My organisation depends on directory structure. 

For example I store documentation in a directory called (surprise!)
doc, it has sub-directories:-

    apexLodge   dia          family  houseHome  maxCovid    pcc          shareCertificates
    boating     diy          garden  hsbc       maxmum      photography  telecoms
    car         doors        gov     labels     motorcycle  plumbing     travel
    chrisCovid  electrical   health  letters    nationwide  postEtc.
    computer    electronics  hmrc    materials  paypal      recipes

There are further sub-directories to sum of these.  It makes it very easy for me
find documents such as instruction manuals, copies of passports, bank details, etc.
The documents can be in all sorts of formats, text, PDF, word processor, etc.

> This isn't a 'GnuCash' problem. You could encounter this with *any* file
> type and app.
> 
Tell me *any* other program that stores information about a file in
the way that GnuCash does.  To store information about a file in a
generic directory the way that GnuCash does is very rare.  Storing
universal settings like this makes sense, it provides defaults for the
way one wants an application to work, but settings like the dates
applying to a particular file should be stored with (or in) that file.

-- 
Chris Green