[GNC] Lightweight multi-user enhancement suggestion

[David G. Pickett]

 No, it would be invisible, but once the timed auto save aor a manual save occurred, which would temporarily remove the lock file, you could work on any computer, allowing other computers in.  Also, if a computer or gnucash app crashed after a save, either auto by timeout or manual, there is no lock file to block the next session.

There might be a small reload delay if the current session ended on a different save file, less than at an app startup, since all the code is loaded.
    On Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 08:31:14 PM EDT, Liz <edodd at billiau.net> wrote:   

 On Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:33:31 +0000 (UTC)
"David G. Pickett via gnucash-user" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:

> It occurred to me that, once a save has been completed, gnucash could
> delete the lock file.  This would allow either another user of
> networked files or a botch run for finance quotes to update the file.
>  If the running original gnucash goes to modify his memory or display
> a new page or report, a flag can tell it that it deleted the lock,
> and so check the age of the file and reload if necessary before
> creating a new lock file.  This is a lot of functionality and not a
> lot of code to get file sharing.

Because I started with Gnucash long before autosave, my save habits are
frequent.
I complete a set of tasks, eg reconcile some accounts, and then I save.
I'm not stopping using the books, I consider I have reached a point
where redoing my work is an unpleasant thought, and then I save. 

The next complication is that my books reside on my nextcloud instance.
I work on one of two computers. While I keep the data synced where
possible, I have chosen not to sync the lock files with the data on
nextcloud.

I find that my use of the lock file would be adversely
affected by such a proposal.


Liz