# The Road Ahead for database representations **URL:** \ **Category:** Development\ **Tags:** database\ **Created:** [November 1, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/the-road-ahead-for-database-representations/6363 "2024-11-01T16:09:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 8
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 3:16am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/the-road-ahead-for-database-representations/6363/8 "2024-11-02T03:16:38Z")
> [@SteveY](#): > > My reading of the code is that this is already implemented. Databases are converted the first time they are opened. The old “blob” representation is left intact and the new JSON representation is added. Gramps has 2 forms in which a person might inherit data and need to convert to a modern version: database files and an XML variant. And there have been several instances where users have had databases the current version of Gramps could not longer read. They had to figure out which database engine and file version, then find the right installer for the last version of Gramps that would read it so they could make a .gramps/.gpkg backup. See [convert older database](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/convert-older-db/5706/3) Recently, the support for BSDDB was removed. Then had to be restored for a capacity to upgrade old databases. So it will be important to think about the upgrade path. (At some point, it may become necessary to create a tool that is exclusively about identifying and recovering outdated Gramps formats… so that Gramps can be freed from constraints. BLOBs might become too onerous to carry conversion support forever.) Has anyone asked @DavidMStraub about making Gramps (for desktops) able to recognize Gramps Web database formats? --- _[View the full topic](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/the-road-ahead-for-database-representations/6363)._