[GNC] Lightweight multi-user enhancement suggestion

[David Carlson]

I think that this would open up the program to another way to corrupt the
data.  The developers are already working toward a goal of making the
program truly fit in a multi-user database format.  I would prefer trying
to accelerate progress to that goal.

On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 3:47 PM David G. Pickett via gnucash-user <
gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:

>  The check is just based on a boolean variable set when the lock file is
> removed.  If set, check for a lock file of another user and then check if
> the primary file is now different.  Checking a boolean is the cost of a 1
> byte fetch.
>
> Other users arriving can set a lock file and create a new version as
> usual, but of course will set the boolean and remove that lock file after
> creating a new primary version with a save.
>
> I suppose that the next modifier of the data should write a new version,
> as now, not rewrite the primary version, even if they authored the current
> primary version with a save.  We don't want to get into a race condition.
> There might need to more checking of the lock file, moving that check to
> where a modification has occurred.
>
> The general idea is that, with timed auto save, the file is quiescent a
> lot of the time, and the lock file is not necessary.  If you reboot without
> giving gnucash a normal termination, you will generally have to accept that
> the lock file is irrelevant, although for no-timed-save people, it may
> indicate a loss of some transactions.  Maybe timed save should be
> mandatory, and only the duration configured?
>     On Thursday, July 16, 2026 at 03:49:35 PM EDT, Jim Passmore <
> jim at passmore4.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 15, 2026 at 11:34 AM 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
>
> Mulling it over...* How often should it check for the presence of the lock
> file?  Seems like checking the file system before every action could drag
> down responsiveness.  (And if too infrequently, and you'll make a change
> not knowing the lock file has been created.)* When checking file "age" I
> assume it would use a time stamp?  What happens if the different computers
> don't have their clocks synchronized?  I've even had time stamp craziness
> on a single computer when dual-booting 2 OS's...one assumes the time on the
> BIOS clock was local, and the other assumes BIOS is UTC, so they were hours
> off.
> -- Jim
>
>
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-- 
David Carlson