large databases - import/export merge files

[PureMoxie]

I suggested this a couple of years ago, and perhaps it's time to revisit.

I generally like having one big UR database, but as it grows, copying it around between the three machines I normally use becomes harder.

It would be great to be able to export a merge file of changed data that could then be imported into a copy of the database on another computer. For example, work at machine A, export merge file of new and changed data (merge file is smaller because all data does not change every day), import this file into database on machine B, etc.

For more than two computers, you'd actually have to have multiple merge files if going in an arbitrary direction between machines. "Checking in" or something at each machine, so that the current machine's database becomes the one you want to consider as having all the latest data may be a solution.

I see this as an "advanced advanced" feature, as someone said in another thread, and it doesn't matter to me if the onus is on the user to not screw things up. I already have to be very careful and consistent copying the database between machines; I just want the file transfer to not take very long.

I recently bought a portable 160GB USB-powered drive that's slightly larger than a deck of cards, so I think I'm pretty much set for the next couple of years - but if I ever wanted to sync via ftp or something, I'd pretty much be out of luck if I had a very large database.

Note: I'm not talking about a case where someone edits the text of an item in two copies of the database and then expects to be able to merge the divergent items together; I'm simply talking about overwriting any changed data (and adding new data) with the latest copy of the data.