Re: [Gramps-devel] gramps and NFS (and future database directions)

[Don A. <don...@co...>]

Actually, GRAMPS should work on an NFS system. You may need to make sure
you have locking enabled (running lockd). Under Ubuntu and Debian, this
is in the nfs-common package. I have an NFS system, and GRAMPS does work
properly on this. And on one of the systems, the /home directory is NFS
mounted.

The biggest issue with GRAMPS portability lies with 'transactions'. With
GRAMPS 2.2, we added support for atomic transactions to protect data.
With atomic transactions, multiple changes are committed as a single
unit. Either all the changes make it, or none of the changes make it.
You are never left in a situation with a partial set of changes. A side
benefit of using transactions is that database access (reads and writes)
are faster.

The problem with transactions (at least using BSDDB) is that it does not
allow all the data to be stored in a single file. Logging files are
needed to keep track of things. These logging files are kept in a DB
Environment directory. We need a separate directory for each file,
otherwise the log files can interfere with each other.=20

In 2.2, we keep the log files under the ~/.gramps/<path> directory,
creating a unique directory for each database. The problem is that your
GRDB file needs the log files, which are in a different directory.
Copying the GRDB file is only copying a portion of the database.

In the next major revision, we have decided to take a different approach
to the problem. There will be no "visible" grdb file. Instead, you will
open, edit, close, rename, and delete databases using a symbolic name.
For example, you can create a "Richard's Family Tree", instead of
opening a file browser and looking for .grdb files. You can see an
example of the new Family Tree Manager at
http://gramps-project.org/download/dbmanager.png

The way this will be implemented is that we will create a unique
directory under ~/.gramps/grampsdb for each database. This will be a
directory, instead of a file. This directory will hold database files,
log files, and support files for your database. Since everything will be
in a single directory, the advanced user will be able to backup the
directory from one system to another, keeping the db intact. For the
beginning user, we will still recommend transferring data using
export/import.

We are also dropping the "Database" terminology for a more user friendly
"Family Tree". So instead of opening a Database, you will be opening a
Family Tree.

Don

On Sat, 2007-04-07 at 18:20 +0200, Richard Bos wrote:
> a question about the use of gramps in combination with NFS.  This does no=
t=20
> seem to be possible, why is it?  Is the reason that gramps is not portabl=
e=20
> between different systems?  If so, is that being addressed in the next ma=
jor=20
> release (2.3/4)?
>=20
> /me just curious why it is not possible to move a database (file) from on=
e=20
> system to another?
>=20