Method Budget 0.8.0

Method Budget 0.8.0

Shared budgets are signed: every change carries its author's signature, and nobody can
write one in someone else's name. You can invite people with a link, and a department
editor can ask for access to what they can't change.

Every change signed

• Changes are signed. From the owner's first role on, each person's computer signs
  what they change with a key kept on that computer. Every computer checks each change,
  and a change whose signature doesn't match is left out and listed with the reason.
• Remove someone. Remove takes a person out of a shared budget from a point in time.
  What they change after it is left out on every computer; giving them a role again
  brings them back.
• The owner's key is remembered. Each computer remembers the first owner key it sees
  and keeps out changes signed with any other. If the owner moves to a new computer,
  Trust the New Key… accepts its key.
• Start Again. If a key in the owner's name turns up before the owner's own computer
  put one there, the owner can make a new shared budget from the budget as it stands,
  with everyone's roles, signed with the owner's real key. The old history is kept aside
  in the folder, and each person reopens the budget to join.
• The command line and agents sign too. They sign with the key of the person on that
  computer, within that person's role.

Invite with a link

• Invite someone. In the Share dialog, pick a role, the categories for someone who
  edits some categories only, and how long the link lasts: 1, 7 or 30 days. The link is
  shown once to copy and send privately; no computer keeps it.
• Join from Link. The newcomer picks File > Join from Link…, pastes the link and
  picks the budget in their copy of the shared folder. Each link works once, stops
  working on its date, and Cancel Invite stops it early.

Asking for access

• Locked cells look locked. A department editor sees the categories and accounts
  outside their role muted, with a lock. Typing in one says so and offers to ask the
  owner for access.
• Requests come to whoever can say yes. The request travels through the shared folder,
  nothing is sent anywhere else, and shows on the toolbar and in the sharing panel for
  whoever may give that role. Allow it, allow those categories only, or decline.

Fixed

• Update checks. The secure connection the app uses to check for updates is on the
  latest fixed version.

Good to know

• Everyone sharing a budget needs 0.8.0. Method Budget 0.7.0 and older refuse a
  shared budget once its owner's key is in, which the first role brings, and again after
  its first invite. They say the shared changes are newer than they read. Update every
  computer before you set a role or send an invite.
• Signing guards the shared history, not the folder. It stops changes written in
  someone else's name. Someone who can delete files in the shared folder can still
  delete them, so keep backups as before.
• Mac builds are universal. Windows and Linux builds are included but not yet tested
  by hand.