Database vs XML I've experimented with using a database and actually prefer XML. Since GnuCash operates on its datastore in memory, it loads the entire database at launch, which takes as long (or longer) as sucking in the XML. And I actually find 'revert' a handy feature when I screw something up. You can just drop back and start over afresh using XML, but your mistakes have been written immediately to the database. Also, there have been some rare occasions when I've found it expedient to edit the uncompressed XML. There are certainly things that can be accomplished using a database that would be awkward or impossible with XML, but I haven't so far found that necessary.
Data accretion I converted from Microsoft Office 12 years ago. I used it both for personal and business accounting. It had the best feature I've seen for purging old data, because it was smart enough to preserve investment history, and you could even keep track of expenditures such as home improvements for as long as necessary, while removing other data that was truly stale. Using GnuCash, I keep separate books for business and personal, but 12 years on I have not found file size to be problematic. The developers have done a great job of streamlining performance. Awhile back, the HDD on my desktop died and I replaced it with an SSD. That provided a performance kick, but I was okay with what I was experiencing with the HDD. I mostly handle accounting on a desktop, but do transition to a laptop when travelling. It's a fairly straightforward matter to port all the necessary files and configuration data. -----Original Message----- From: gnucash-user <[email protected]> On Behalf Of R Losey Sent: Monday, October 31, 2022 9:14 AM To: Gnucash Users <[email protected]> Subject: [GNC] XML or database? This question may have been asked before, but I'm relatively new to this mailing list. Is there any advantage to switching to the database format? Would it use less space? My ".gnucash" file is about 1.5M currently, and opening it takes mere seconds. Long ago in my Quicken days, I would generally keep about 3 years of data and then "archive" transactions older than that... I don't know if GnuCash has (or needs) any similar feature. -- _________________________________ Richard Losey [email protected] Micah 6:8 _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
