Mike It is worth having some understanding of how the developers work particularly the sort of changes which are likely to occur in the minor release versions (.5->.6->.7 etc)and those which are more likely at a major version (4.->5.->6.release in making decisions about when to upgrade.
The core numerical engine of GnuCash is very stable and functions well and will not have changed appreciably since v2.6 when I first started using GnuCash around 2008-9. In most cases the minor releases are minor bug fixes, cosmetic changes and small changes in features which unless you are affected by the NNparticular bug or have a need for a specific feature often don't require an upgrade for the majority of users. Any changes of code affecting the core engine, display format etc usually occur with a major version upgrade. These are often forced by changes to the underlying libraries that GnuCash relies on or where developers change to a different library because it offers more flexible features for example. Changes to the data file format and user preference settings formats and locations usually occur if necessary at the major version updates. NN Upgrading from a middle minor verion to a middle version of the next major version upgrade likely makes sense for most users, e.g. 5.6-> 6.6 and not 5.6->6.0 where the risk of show stoppers, which if they occur will be in the first few versions of a major release is much higher. Major feature changes are also usually intorduced at the major version updates Staying more than one major release behind has some disadvantages. It will often mean that the advice offered in the mailing lists may not be applicable as the interface may have changed,older versions may not have specific features etc. and specific expertise for older versions will be harder to access. The mailing list still occasionally has people wanting to upgrade from V2 and V3 major releases and the upgrade sequence from these older versions is necessarily more complex. There are recommendations about how to do it in the FAQs and/or wiki. On Sat, 2026-01-03 at 12:17 -0500, Mike Brasler wrote: > Regarding Upgrades. > > I am on 5.5 Linux Mint Cinnamon System Package. GC is stable and I > love > it! I do not see any need to upgrade. Please correct me if I am > wrong. > My repositories do not have anything past 5.5 that I can see and I > can't > be bothered to do Betas as I have no hair left to pull out. (having > come > from CP/M days) > My only gripe is not a bug but a repeat of the header labelling on > the > budget report that still erroneously puts the date as 1st of the > period > instead of end of. Also I usually edit the HTML file to just the > current > month name. > > I think this could be an improvement but probably low priority. > > Here is my edited header. > <td class="centered-label-cell" rowspan="1" colspan="3">01/01/2025 to > 30/10/2025</td> > <td class="centered-label-cell" rowspan="1" colspan="3">NOVEMBER</td> > <td class="centered-label-cell" rowspan="1" colspan="3">Total > YTD</td> > > Happy new year to all users and especially the developers. Now, some > journalling to equity awaits ..... > _______________________________________________ > 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. -- David Cousens _______________________________________________ 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.
