switching between 4.8.0 and 5.0.6

[Scott Lair]

On Tue, 21 Jan 2020 11:25:25 -0500
Jack <ostroffjh at users.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> On 2020.01.21 10:11, Scott Lair wrote:
> > I would like to use version 4.8.0 under linux and 5.0.6 under  
> > windows. Do you see any problem with that? I would be accessing
> > the files on a samba share in windows and linux. Opening files,
> > adding transactions, saving etc under each.  I have been using
> > 4.8.3 under windows for some time and would like to make the jump
> > to the new version under windows but keep the older linux version.
> > I've done some limited testing that was successful, but thought I'd
> > ask the experts before I go all in.  
> 
> Hello Scott,
> 
> In general, switching between versions is OK, but not always.  For  
> example, using 5.0.6 and 5.0.8 should be fine, since no changes were  
> made to the format of the data file.  Between 4.8 and 5.0, it is
> less certain.  If you make a backup of your file, you can certainly
> try it, and then go back to the backup if it doesn't work.  The one
> thing I can think of that is most likely to be different is something
> about the mapping of an account to an online account.  One of the
> internal parameters which says which type of online connection is
> used was changed.  If you switch between versions with different
> settings for that, then you simply wont be able to do an online
> update without unmapping and remapping the account - but you would
> then need to do that every time you switched versions.  I don't
> remember exactly when that change was introduce to the 4.8 series.
> 
> However, I'm curious why you want to stick with 4.8?  If 5.0.6 is  
> working for you under Windows, then why not use that version on
> both. I'm not even sure where you would get 4.8 for linux without
> compiling it yourself.  I would make an extra backup copy of your
> file before that switch, but I don't know of any likely problems.  In
> fact, you might just go to 5.0.8, which has a few more bug fixes.
> 
> Jack
> 

Hi Jack,

Thanks for the detailed response.  Maybe I should have started with the
reason I want to keep 4.8.0.  I made some changes to the code to
accommodate my needs regarding importing transactions.  Specifically, I
would like to match imported transactions to existing transactions
where the transaction number and amount agree and use the existing
number of days for the range that is already built into the system. I
also made a few changes to the reports, like adding the name at the top
and some changes to the html.  I was just hoping I wouldn't have to
re-implement them.

The main reason for wanting to go to the new version is that I noticed
a fairly dramatic increase in speed when working in the ledger
(filtering, editing, etc) on the newer version. So kudos to you
developers for that improvement. One file I have contains about 16,000
transactions presently.

thanks,

Scott