Re: [Gramps-users] Post-Gramps tactical planning?

[Ron J. <ron...@co...>]

IIRC, Gramps records are nothing but blobs which are Python pickles.

While I'm *sure* that a data forensics expert could get the data out, how 
many genealogists are going the pony up the thousands of dollars needed for 
that?  Hiring someone to do something with the xml file is *much *more 
convenient.

On 02/09/2016 03:11 PM, Tom Samstag wrote:
> but even that isn't true. The database, as of now, the database files used 
> by Gramps are Berkley DB format [1], a format whose roots go back to 1994 
> (22 years ago). db files from that long ago are likely still readable with 
> a bit of work, and the programs to read the files are themselves open 
> source providing the same longevity as Gramps.
>
> If you want to talk about data archaeology in the scale of 100 years, we 
> are so much better off with data created by today's tools than we were 20 
> years ago. We have redundant ways to store data maintaining integrity, and 
> we're using open source software written in languages that are much more 
> accessible.
>
> Don't underestimate the abilities of data forensics, and if this long-term 
> accessibility is a criteria for choosing a genealogy program, IMO your 
> priorities may be a bit off, but open source software that can export to 
> readable, intuitive, plain-text formats are your best bet.
>
> [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB
>
> On 2016-02-09 12:28, Ron Johnson wrote:
>> On 02/09/2016 01:49 PM, Peter Hewett wrote:
>> [snip]
>>> Hi Isaac
>>> A special feature of Gramps is that it is open source. This means that
>>> the file format is open and available for inspection by anyone, and
>>> hence they can write a converter to migrate the data to some other file
>>> format, if they wish.
>>
>> To be fair, though, the Gramps database *database* format is dense and
>> requires you to use Python.  In 100 years, it'll be impenetrable, even if
>> there's a BSDDB in a VM that can read something that old.
>>
>> It's the xml backup files (especially if decompressed) that will be
>> comprehensible "forever".
>>


-- 
"I compare what the data tells me.  I don't do things by votes or authority."
Lawrence Krauss