Here is a newer version of the table:
Storage Comparison Table
XML SQLite MySQL PostgreSQL
Installation Default Default libdbi libdbi
File extension gnucash gnucash N/A N/A
Additional software None None MySQL PostgreSQL
Additional expertise None None DBMS DBMS
Compression Y N N N
Save on command Y N N N
Save on commit N Y Y Y
Uses log files Y N N N
Multi-user N N N N
How does that seem?
> On Aug 15, 2018, at 10:34 AM, Adrien Monteleone
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
>> On Aug 15, 2018, at 12:11 PM, David T. <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Aug 15, 2018, at 10:02 AM, Adrien Monteleone
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> But it’s not a ‘plain file’ as it is XML formatted. Someone expecting plain
>>> text and trying to view it is going to be met with tag soup they’ve never
>>> seen before and might very well not know how to read it.
>>
>> Not to mention that it’s compressed.
>
> True, forgot about that. Certainly, they’ll see gibberish mostly.
>
>>
>>>
>>> It also carries an .xml extension. So specifying the format is very
>>> specific and informative, even for users who aren’t familiar with XML.
>>> They’ll see in their file manager the extension, and/or the OS’s
>>> interpretation of the file type itself. (in this case both XML)
>>
>> However, the file extension used is “gnucash” and not “xml”
>
> Facepalm. I forgot about that. (I honestly rarely even look at the location
> where it’s stored anyway) I’d suspect unless Win10 uses the file descriptor
> for file type instead of the extension as was the practice through at least
> Win7, then no, those users won’t see XML anywhere. (if the descriptor is set
> as XML that is)
>
> So I just checked on both MacOS and Ubuntu, MacOS reports the ‘Kind’ as
> ‘Gnucash Document’ regardless if sqlite or xml, and at least with xml, Ubuntu
> reports the file type as ’spreadsheet’. (yes, it’s registered to open with
> GnuCash, but this was built from source, so perhaps the file type was not
> registered properly, repo versions may vary)
>
> So I guess on that point I was way off.
>
>
>> Perhaps the save process needs to be refactored to identify clearly and
>> separately the name of the data file AND its format?
>
> Since .gnucash is not really proprietary or somehow a special format from XML
> then I agree, the extension should be .xml.
>
> Combine this with the fact that the sqlite version of the file ALSO uses the
> .gnucash extension can make for some confusion. At a glance, you can’t tell
> what the format is. You can’t even tell until you try to open it with
> something other than GnuCash. (or you notice that GnuCash doesn’t offer a
> Save option) The only reason I know which is which is I had to use
> filename.xml.gnucash to tell them apart. That’s a usability bug in my
> opinion. I don’t know how hard that is to change, but I’d support the move.
>
> On that note, the documentation somewhere (I suppose in the ‘file > save/save
> as’ section) should document that the extension is currently ‘.gnucash’. A
> new user shouldn’t have to go to a wiki or website FAQ after reading the
> documentation for something this basic.
>
> Would it be out of order to include in your table that both use this
> extension? If you expand the table to show MySQL and Postgres, I suppose that
> row would have some other note since their data stores are very different
> than single files. (though in this case they might store it that way, I
> haven’t used either to know)
>
> Regards,
> Adrien
>
>
>>
>>>
>>> Knowing this might very well help them find their file if they know the
>>> format they are looking for.
>>>
>>> But I do agree, the documentation should cover where files are stored.
>>> Ideally, this should be made part of the Help or Guide in the Getting
>>> Started section. It is certainly a common enough issue on the list.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Adrien
>>>
>>>> On Aug 15, 2018, at 10:24 AM, Christoph R
>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi David,
>>>>
>>>>> The default file storage format is XML
>>>>
>>>> I would not call this “XML" but "plain file”. From a user perspective it
>>>> is not important in which internal format it is stored. But it makes a big
>>>> difference if it is a simple file created by Gnucash or if Gnucash needs
>>>> to connect to a DBMS.
>>>>
>>>> And one of the biggest confusion for users on the mailing list is the
>>>> question: “Where is my data?”. Pointing out that all your accounts and
>>>> transactions are in a simple file might reduce that problem.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Christoph
>>>>
>>
>>
>
>
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