Decisions

A partial list of notable development decisions / design choices..

2022

Replace "transaction price" terminology with "cost"

"Transaction price" never quite stuck. "Cost" is simpler, shorter, more intuitive, consistent with --cost and "cost reporting", and more distinct from "market price".

There is an (acceptable) ambiguity: "cost" could mean the @ UNITCOST price attached to the amount, or the total cost when the amount is converted (QUANTITY * UNITCOST).

Status: as of 2023Q1 this has been done in the manuals and is slowly ongoing in the code.

2023

Plugin types

We will document and support where feasible several distinct kinds of plugin, written in haskell or other languages, such as reader, processor, writer, formatter, command. See https://hledger.org/scripting.html#plugin-types.

2025

I think the keyword-first style for directives is right for us (open 2025-01-01 ..., not 2025-01-01 open ...). It avoids polluting/breaking transaction descriptions, it's similar to P, it keeps directives and transactions visually distinct, and consistently beginning with letters and numbers respectively.

Yes we should support declaring aliases with alias: tags on account directives.