[GNC] GnuCash getting worse?

[David Cousens]

Richard,

Given the relatively small pool of active developers it is inevitable that there
will be occasions where major changes in external libraries, operating systems
as well as banking systems and technology and accounting practice can result in
a cascade of bugs in the program and the developers are going to face a period
of catchup to track them all down. The lack of a large pool of beta testers
means that bugs, particularly the more subtle ones, are not necessarily found
quickly. These days bugs are very rarely associated with the core engine of the
program and are mainly in the gui/presentation/reports  parts of the program so
the core accounting functionality is rarely affected. Keeping and expanding an
active pool of developers is an eternal problem in any sort of open source
project.  All we can do is contribute what and where we can and be grateful for
the hard work of those who made and make GnuCash possible. I had hoped to be
more involved after retiring but life had other plans and has imposed other
priorities.

David Cousens


On Wed, 2023-12-27 at 22:33 -0600, R Losey wrote:
> Let me start off by trying to avoid hateful responses...
> 
> I worked in the software industry, and the programs I supported have had
> their share of issues. I remember (with hung head) when we went through a
> patch in which we would claim to have fixed a problem, only to have it
> recur, and then fixed that and then had another problem occur. It was a
> really bad time, and we took a lot of heat for it.
> 
> I also know that GnuCash is free, thanks to the intense dedication of a
> relatively small number of people... for whom and to whom, I am very
> grateful.
> 
> However.
> 
> I started using GnuCash about 8 years ago, and I generally upgraded each
> quarter as the new versions came out. My own experience in software led me
> to delay doing the update for 7-10 days -- just in case there was a bug
> that necessitated a re-release (and it happened just enough to make me glad
> I waited from time to time).
> 
> I am still running 5.3 because (as has been documented here), the 5.4
> windows release had a bug that left a process running.  "No problem", I
> thought -- I'll just skip 5.4 and install 5.5 when it comes out.
> 
> Well, 5.5 is out, and it looks like the Scheduled Transactions no longer
> function properly, especially in regard to variable placeholders. This is a
> feature I used and cannot use GnuCash if this is broken. This makes 5.5
> also unusable for me. This is the first time I can remember when I could
> not download a new release - let alone two of them.
> 
> I don't know what the problem is or what the best solution is -- perhaps
> everyone on this list could contribute a few dollars to give
> the hardworking developers a chance to "re-charge", as it were? Perhaps
> a quarter needs to be spent only fixing bugs and ignoring adding new
> features? Perhaps the developers just need to take a break for a quarter?
> 
> I don't mean this at all in a harsh or critical way; I am just concerned
> that a program I really like seems to be slipping somehow.
>