Support for per-posting payee

[hieu-van]

There are often cases that we might want to record payee on a per-posting basis. For example:

2024-1-2 an absurd transaction
        a:b:c                          $1     ; payee: Mr A
        a:b:c                          $2     ; payee: Mr B
        a:b:c                          $3     ; payee: Mr C
        wallet                        -$6

AFAIK this is possible with Ledger, but not with hledger. To achieve this, we can use a custom tag for recording payee, but that does come with its own limitations.

[simonmichael]

My 2c: this seems like a niche use case. When I have multiple payees, I usually feel separate transactions models that best. I have separate relationships/obligations with each of them which shouldn't be complected.

[hieu-van]

You are right. We should hear about the others' opinion on this

[pwseo]

While I agree this would be a niche feature, it still seems like a good one because one can already do the same with the date: posting tag (it would feel more consistent if it were possible to do so with a payee: tag as well).
Ledger compatibility would also be a nice bonus.

[simonmichael]

Consistency is a nice quality, but as de facto implementor/maintainer, (and given the level of complexity/legacy already in place,) you can probably understand if I'm reluctant to add complexity just for that, without solving practical problems.

Ledger compatibility is also nice but I have experienced that you can take that too far, we will never achieve 100% compatibility, and it is probably becoming less important for us over time.

But as always, a PR increases the chance that at least a few of us would give it a try.

[simonmichael]

Something to ask ourselves: does this exist in double entry bookkeeping ? Is it something professional bookkeepers do ?

[pwseo]

Simon, I agree with you:

• it probably makes more sense to split the transactions / it solves a single rarely occurring problem
• adding complexity can harm hledger's ability to thrive
• Ledger compatibility is less and less important
• there are much more important things to do with your (maintainer) time

I was just providing additional reasoning that I didn't think was explicit in the comments above :)