hledger/NOTES

hledger project notes

"...simplicity of design was the most essential, guiding principle.
Clarity of concepts, economy of features, efficiency and reliability of
implementations were its consequences." --Niklaus Wirth

"The competent programmer is fully aware of the limited size of his own
skull. He therefore approaches his task with full humility, and avoids
clever tricks like the plague." --Edsger Dijkstra

* to do
** errors
** features
*** more ledger features
**** rename entry -> transaction, transaction -> posting
**** -U --uncleared
**** actual/effective entry & txn dates, for more accurate modelling & easier reconciliation
**** ~/.hledgerrc for setting defaults
**** support complete period syntax ?
    every N days     # N is any integer
    every N weeks
    every N months
    every N quarters
    every N years
    biweekly
    bimonthly
**** allow - before currency symbol ?
*** new features
**** a simpler timelog balance report format for clients
**** more date syntax: last nov, next friday, optional this, week of
**** allow comment lines immediately after or within an entry
**** accept multiple -f files
**** more reliable tidy layout from print
**** -Q quarterly interval option, for consistency/convenience ?
**** web gui
**** charts
**** easier data entry
**** parse more file formats - gnucash, qif, ofx, csv..
**** easier timelog format
**** i18n
*** speed
**** more optimisation
**** speed regression tests
** tests
*** test all esoteric ledger file features
*** test reading from stdin
*** easy ledger compatibility testing
**** --compare to compare (xml?) output with ledger with same args
** docs
*** hledgerisms in file format - that hledger can read but ledger can't
*** complete docs for smart dates, period expressions
*** funding
**** funding document 2009/01
=======
funding
=======

vision
======

     How to grow the hledger project ?

     I'm looking for ways to fund active and sustainable hledger
     development by me and others.

     A secondary goal is to develop new sustainable models and processes
     for funding free software developers and other community projects.

     This is sometimes the point in a free sw project's development where
     the project leader seemingly loses the plot, alienates contributors
     and destroys the community's good-will dynamic.  I've seen it many
     times, but a few have succeeded and I want to be one of them - so
     that I can eat, have a modicum of stability and do my best work in
     service to the community.  At worst, I'll look bad but the project
     will still be out there. At best I'll live more easily and joyfully
     while serving the cause of Financial Solvency!

     So I'm beginning by posting these notes and inviting your thoughts -
     as much or as little as folks want to give. How could we do this 
     so that all benefit ?
     
funding models
==============
     Brainstorming some possible funding models & processes.

     * grants

      How to find possible grant sources ?

      * con

       * getting grant funding is a whole new field to study
       * slow and time intensive, I imagine

     * donations

      Solicit donations.

      * pro

       * simple

      * con

       * often difficult
       * donators do not feel a direct benefit

     * shareware

      Release the project under a non-free license, requiring commercial
      users to pay the fee on an honour basis (eg).

      * pro

       * flexible, low administration, encourages trust

      * con

       * effectively closed-source ? would inhibit collaboration
       * benefit is still indirect, only a proportion will pay
       * enforcement/guilt may come into play

     * limited-time premium branch

      The funded version of hledger gets some desirable premium features
      before the free version and is closed-source.  Funders/customers pay
      a fixed price for immediate access to the funded version.  Yearly, a
      new funded version is released and the old funded version is merged
      into the free version.  (To gain experience it could be done on a
      smaller scale, eg monthly/quarterly.)

      * pro

       * all features reach community, predictably
       * customers are also community funders
       * customers receive direct benefit from paying

      * con

       * free sw developers compete/outshine the premium branch

     * bounties

      Some (or all) feature, bugfix, project management or other tasks are
      published with a bounty attached.  When the bounty is paid by one or
      more funders, the task is performed and delivered. Or, bounty is paid
      on completion of task (honour system).

      * pro

       * funders receive direct benefit

     * bounties using fundable.org (eg)

      A more organised form of the above, perhaps facilitating trust,
      co-funding and larger bounties.

      * pro

       * proven process developed by others

      * con

       * fundable takes a cut

     * hosted service

      Offer hosted and managed ledgers, perhaps with premium features, for
      a monthly fee

      * pro

       * proven model
       * clear benefit to customers, especially non-technies

      * con
 
       * success of free/self-installed version competes with hosting service
       * some will avoid web-hosting their financial data

     * customisation

      Offer per-user customisations, possibly to be merged in the trunk,
      for a fee

     * support

      Offer user/developer support for a fee

     * training

      Offer application and/or financial training for a fee

     * profit sharing/tithing

      Each period (quarter, half-year, year), donate 10% (eg) to project
      contributors and/or supporting projects

     * transparent funding

      Funding and usage of funds is published on the web as a ledger

     * opaque funding

      All funding and spending need not be made public

strengths
=========
     hledger has some aptitudes in this area:

    * hledger deals with money => hledger users will tend to have some money
    * hledger's purpose is to increase financial success => users will feel its value to their bottom line
    * hledger is a tool that can support project funding, eg by publishing community funding data

weaknesses
==========
    * hledger doesn't have a nice ui yet
    * hledger has a limited featureset
    * hledger requires work, eg data entry and chart of accounts maintenance
    * hledger is geeky
    * there is competition
    * hledger has no compelling market niche (aside from payment-averse free software users)

competitors/fellow niche inhabitants
====================================

    * web apps

     * netsuite
     * sql-ledger, ledgersmb
     * wesabe
     * ...

    * desktop apps

     * quickbooks
     * quicken
     * ms money
     * grisbi
     * gnucash
     * excel
     * ledger!
     * ...

***** responses
***** albino
      have you considered talking to business who hate their financial sw and going from there
***** gwern
      most haskellers have never heard of hledger, sounds arrogant or hubristic to talk of charging for it
*** --version
*** --help
*** readme
**** keep in sync (automate)
***** README file
****** options list in Features should match Options.hs, generate from hledger --help ?
***** hledger.hs module description
***** hledger.cabal description field (exclude home page link)
***** home page description (http://joyful.com/Hledger/editform)
***** mail list description (http://groups.google.com/groups/hledger -> edit welcome msg)
***** gmane description
***** darcsweb description
*** announcements
**** generate from README and NEWS
*** release notes
**** NEWS
*** implementation docs
*** api docs
*** developer intro
**** style tips
***** we aim to make reliable software:
****** fixes come before features
****** "bugs" get called "errors", as in "the programmer messed up"
****** we test continuously and thoroughly (code, doc & speed tests on each checkin)
****** less is more
*** user manual
*** other differences not noted in README
**** ledger shows description comments as part of description
**** ledger seems to get amounts' x-position wrong more than hledger
**** ledger can't parse full smart dates in display expressions
**** hledger print puts a blank line after the entry, not before it
**** ledger can get timelog entry balance wrong, see mail list
**** ledger reports timelog sessions as virtual transactions
** packaging, web presence, etc.
*** make installation easier
**** on all platforms
***** via cabal install
***** via downloading packages from hackage
**** on linux
***** on debian
***** on ubuntu
***** on redhat
***** on arch
***** via binaries
**** on mac
***** via ports
***** via binaries
**** on windows
***** via binaries
*** reduce dependencies
**** split packages ?
*** set up binary publishing
*** clarify bugtracking process
* misc
** things I want to know
*** time
where have I been spending my time in recent weeks ?
where have I spent my time today ?
what is my status wrt spending plan for this week/month/year ?
what is my current status wrt time spending goals ?
*** money
where have I been spending my money ?
what is my status wrt spending plan for this week/month/year ?
what is my current status wrt spending/savings goals ?
what are all my current balances ?
what does my balance history look like ?
what does my balance future look like ?
are there any cashflow, tax, budgetary problems looming ?
*** charts
[1:27pm] <sm> I have decided I am not getting enough visible day-to-day value out of my ledger, I need more of that to stay motivated
[1:27pm] <Nafai> What do you think will help in that?
[1:27pm] <sm> I think some simple self-updating charts, or even good reports in a visible place
[1:28pm] <sm> something I don't have to spend an hour fiddling with to get answers
[1:38pm] <sm> Nafai: identifying/designing some useful reports/charts seems to be blocking me
[1:39pm] <sm> there are probably some standard ones I should use
[1:40pm] <sm> a graph of daily net worth is probably one of the simplest
[1:58pm] <sm> what else.. a chart of weekly expenses in key categories
[1:58pm] <sm> ditto, monthly
[1:58pm] <sm> a chart of monthly income
[1:59pm] <sm> those three should help me be more clear about cashflow status
[2:00pm] <sm> also I'd like something that shows me how much I am on top of financial tracking - how current my numbers are, when last reconciled etc - at a glance
[2:01pm] <sm> another simple one: current balances in all accounts
[2:01pm] <sm> those would be a great start
[2:04pm] <sm> daily net worth, weekly expense, monthly expense, monthly income, confidence/currentness report, and balance report
[2:05pm] <sm> let's see, which of those 6 would give most payoff right now
[2:05pm] <sm> probably 5
[2:06pm] <sm> how could I measure that ?
[2:06pm] <sm> number of days since last ledger entry..
[2:06pm] <sm> number of ledger entries in last 30 days (compared to average)
[2:07pm] <sm> number of days since last cleared checking entry (indicating an online reconcile)
[2:08pm] <sm> those would be a good start. How do I make those visual
[2:09pm] <sm> well I guess the first step is a script to print them

** data representation
*** http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0327/
*** http://www.n-heptane.com/nhlab/repos/Decimal/
*** http://www.n-heptane.com/nhlab/repos/Decimal/Money.hs
*** http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/
** snippets
-- trace a MixedAmount
matrace :: MixedAmount -> MixedAmount
matrace a@(Mixed as) = trace (show as) a

-- normalise and trace a MixedAmount
nmatrace :: MixedAmount -> MixedAmount
nmatrace a = trace (show as) a where (Mixed as) = normaliseMixedAmount a

** http://lwn.net/Articles/314577/
** financial software
*** http://weberp.org
**** http://www.weberp.org/weberp/doc/Manual/ManualContents.php