366 lines
15 KiB
XML
366 lines
15 KiB
XML
<appendix id="faq">
|
|
|
|
<!--
|
|
User Manual for Gramps - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Alexander Roitman
|
|
|
|
This document is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
|
|
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
|
|
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
|
|
(at your option) any later version.
|
|
|
|
This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
|
|
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
|
|
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
|
|
GNU General Public License for more details.
|
|
|
|
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
|
|
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
|
|
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
<!-- $Id$ -->
|
|
|
|
<title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
|
|
<para>This appendix contains the list of questions that frequently come
|
|
up in mailing list discussions and forums. This list is by no means
|
|
complete. If you would like to add questions/answers to this list,
|
|
please email your suggestions to <ulink url="mailto:gramps-devel@lists.sf.net"
|
|
type="mailto">gramps-devel@lists.sf.net</ulink>
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<variablelist>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>What is &app;?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para> &app; is the Genealogical Research and Analysis
|
|
Management Program System. In other words, it is a personal genealogy
|
|
program letting you store, edit, and research genealogical data using
|
|
the powers of your computer.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Where do I get it and how much does it cost?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
&app; can be downloaded from <ulink url="http://sf.net/projects/gramps"
|
|
type="http">http://sf.net/projects/gramps</ulink> at no charge.
|
|
&app; is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License.
|
|
You have full access to the source code and are allowed to distribute the
|
|
program and source code freely.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Does it work with Windows (tm)?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
No. &app; uses the GTK and GNOME libraries. While the GTK libraries
|
|
have been ported to Windows, the GNOME libraries have not.
|
|
This, however, may change in the future.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Does it work with the Mac?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
<ulink url="http://fink.sourceforge.net"
|
|
type="http">The Fink project</ulink> has ported
|
|
<ulink url="http://fink.sourceforge.net/pdb/package.php/gramps"
|
|
type="http">some older versions</ulink> of
|
|
&app; to OSX (tm). The Mac OSX port is not directly supported by
|
|
the &app; project, primarily because none of the &app; developers
|
|
have access to Mac OSX and because OSX is not Free Software.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>This version of &app; (&appversion;) does not appear to have been
|
|
ported by the Fink project. Please contact the Fink project for more
|
|
information.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Does it work with KDE?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Yes, as long as the required GNOME libraries are installed.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Do I really have to have GNOME installed?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para> Yes, but you do not have to be running the GNOME desktop.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>What version of GNOME do I need?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
This version of gramps requires GNOME 2.8.0 or higher.
|
|
Previous versions in 1.0.x series required GNOME 2.0.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Is &app; compatible with
|
|
other genealogical software (GenApps)?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
&app; makes every effort to maintain compatibility with GEDCOM, the general
|
|
standard of recording genealogical information. We have import and export
|
|
filters that enable &app; to read and write GEDCOM files. </para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
It is important to understand that the GEDCOM standard is poorly implemented --
|
|
virtually every genealogical software has its own "flavor" of GEDCOM. As we
|
|
learn about new flavor, the import/export filters can be created very quickly.
|
|
However, finding out about the unknown flavors requires user feedback.
|
|
Please feel free to inform us about any GEDCOM flavor not supported by &app;,
|
|
and we will do our best to support it!
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Can &app; read files created by GenApp X?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para> See above.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Can &app; write files readable by GenApp X?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para> See above.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Can &app; print a genealogical tree for my family?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Yes. Different people have different ideas of what a genealogical tree is.
|
|
Some think of it as a chart going from the distant ancestor and listing
|
|
all his/her descendants and their families. Others think it should be a
|
|
chart going from the person back in time, listing the ancestors and their
|
|
families. Yet other people think of a table, text report, etc. </para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
&app; can produce any of the above, and many more different charts and
|
|
reports. Moreover, the plugin architechture enables users (you) to create
|
|
their own plugins which could be new reports, charts, or research tools.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>In what formats can &app; output its reports?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Text reports are available in HTML, PDF, AbiWord, KWord, LaTeX, RTF, and
|
|
OpenOffice formats. Graphical reports (charts and diagrams) are available in
|
|
PostScript, PDF, SVG, OpenOffice, and GraphViz formats.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Is &app; compatible with the Internet?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
&app; can store web addresses and direct your browser to them. It can import
|
|
data that you download from the Internet. It can export data that you could
|
|
send over the Internet. &app; is familiar with the standard file formats
|
|
widely used on the Internet (e.g. JPEG, PNG, and GIF images, MP3, OGG, and
|
|
WAV sound files, QuickTime, MPEG, and AVI movie files, etc). Other than that,
|
|
there is little that a genealogical program can do with the Internet.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Can I create custom reports/filters/whatever?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Yes. There are many levels of customization. One is creating or modifying
|
|
the templates used for the reports. This gives you some control over
|
|
the fonts, colors, and some layout of the reports. You can also use &app;
|
|
controls in the report dialogs to tell what contents should be used for a
|
|
particular report. In addition to this, you have an ability to create your
|
|
own filters -- this is useful in selecting people based on criteria set
|
|
by you. You can combine these filters to create new, more complex filters.
|
|
Finally, you have an option to create your own plugins. These may be new
|
|
reports, research tools, import/export filters, etc. This assumes some
|
|
knowledge of programming in Python.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>What standards does &app; support?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
The nice thing about the standards is that there never is a shortage of
|
|
them. &app; is tested to support the following flavors of GEDCOM:
|
|
GEDCOM5.5, Brother's Keeper, Family Origins, Familty Tree Maker, Ftree,
|
|
GeneWeb, Legacy, Personal Ancestral File, Pro-Gen, Reunion, and
|
|
Visual Genealogie.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>What is the maximum database
|
|
size (bytes) &app; can handle?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
&app; has no hard limits on the size of a database that it can handle.
|
|
Starting with this release, &app; no longer loads all data into memory,
|
|
which allows it to work with much larger database than before.
|
|
In reality, however, there are practical limits. The main limiting factors
|
|
are the available memory on the system and the cache size used for BSDDB
|
|
database access. With common memory sizes these days, &app; should have
|
|
no problem using databases with tens of thousands of people.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>How many people can &app; database handle?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
We have found that on a typical system, &app; tends to bog down after the
|
|
database has around 150,000 people. Again, this is dependent on how much
|
|
memory you have.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Why is &app; running so slowly?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para> It does not anymore! Just try out the current
|
|
version, &appversion;.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>My database is really big.
|
|
Is there a way around loading all the data into memory?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Starting with this release, &app; no longer loads all data into memory,
|
|
which allows it to work with much larger database than before.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>I want to rerun the Startup dialog (druid).
|
|
How do I do this?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
&app; keeps a flag in the GNOME configuration database to indicate
|
|
that the startup dialog has been run. To cause &app; to rerun this,
|
|
the flag needs to be reset. This can be done with the following
|
|
command: </para>
|
|
|
|
<para><command>gconftool-2 -u /apps/gramps/behavior/startup</command>
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Why are non-latin characters displayed
|
|
as garbage in PDF/PS reports?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para> This is a limitation of the builtin fonts of PS
|
|
and PDF formats. To print non-latin text, use the Print...
|
|
in the format selection menu of the report dialog. This will use
|
|
the gnome-print backend, which supports PS and PDF creation,
|
|
as well as direct printing.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>If you only have latin text, the PDF option will produce
|
|
a smalled PDF compared to that created by gnome-print, simply because
|
|
no font information will be embedded.
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>Why can I not add/remove/edit columns to the lists
|
|
in People View and Family View?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para> Now you can! Just try out the current
|
|
version, &appversion;.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>I would like to contribute to &app; by writing
|
|
my favorite report. How do I do that?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
The easiest way to contribute to reports, filters, tools, etc. is to copy
|
|
an existing &app; report, filter, or tool. If you can create what you want
|
|
by modifying existing code -- great! If your idea does not fit into the logic
|
|
of any existing &app; tool, the <ulink
|
|
url="http://gramps.sourceforge.net/phpwiki/index.php/GrampsDevelopersPage"
|
|
type="http">following page</ulink> may provide some help in writing your
|
|
own plugin from scratch.
|
|
|
|
If you need more help or would like to discuss your idea with us,
|
|
please do not hesitate to contact us at <ulink
|
|
url="mailto:gramps-devel@lists.sf.net"
|
|
type="mailto">gramps-devel@lists.sf.net</ulink>
|
|
</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
To test your work in progress, you may save your plugin under
|
|
<replaceable>$HOME/.gramps/plugins</replaceable> directory and it should
|
|
be found and imported on startup.
|
|
The correctly written plugin will register itself with &app;, create menu
|
|
item, and so on.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
If you are happy with your plugin and would like to contribute your code
|
|
back to the &app; project, you are very welcome to do so by contacting us
|
|
at <ulink url="mailto:gramps-devel@lists.sf.net"
|
|
type="mailto">gramps-devel@lists.sf.net</ulink>
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>I found a bug and I want it fixed right now!
|
|
What do I do?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
The best thing you can do is to fix the bug and send the patch to
|
|
<ulink url="mailto:gramps-devel@lists.sf.net"
|
|
type="mailto">gramps-devel@lists.sf.net</ulink> :-)</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>A good bug report would include: </para>
|
|
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
|
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Version of gramps you were using when you encountered the bug
|
|
(available through <menuchoice><guisubmenu>Help</guisubmenu>
|
|
<guimenuitem>About</guimenuitem></menuchoice> menu item).
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Language under which gramps was run
|
|
(available by executing </para>
|
|
<para><command>echo $LANG</command></para>
|
|
<para>in your terminal).
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Symptoms indicating that this is indeed a bug.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
Any Traceback messages, error messages, warnings, etc,
|
|
that showed up in your terminal or a in separate traceback window.
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
|
|
<para>Most problems can be fixed quickly provided there is enough information.
|
|
To ensure this, please follow up on your bug reports. In particular, if you
|
|
file a bug report with sf.net bug tracker, PLEASE log in to sf.net before
|
|
filing
|
|
(register your free account if you don't have one). Then we will have a way
|
|
of contacting you should we need more information. If you choose to file your
|
|
report anonymously, at least check every so often whether your report page
|
|
has something new posted, as it probably would.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>If the above explanations seem vague, please follow
|
|
<ulink url="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html"
|
|
type="http">this link.</ulink>
|
|
|
|
</para></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry><term>It is obvious that &app; absolutely needs to
|
|
become a (client-server/web-based/PHP/weblog/Javascript/C++/distributed/KDE/Motif/Tcl/Win32/C#/You-name-it)
|
|
application. When is this going to happen?</term>
|
|
<listitem><para>
|
|
The surest way to see it happen is to get it done by yourself. Since
|
|
&app; is free/open source, nobody prevents you from taking all of the
|
|
code and continuing its development in whatever direction you see fit.
|
|
In doing so, you may consider giving your new project another name to
|
|
avoid confusion with the continuing &app; development. If you would
|
|
like the &app; project to provide advice, expertise, filters, etc.,
|
|
we will gladly cooperate with your new project, to ensure compatibility
|
|
or import/export options to your new format of a project.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>
|
|
If, however, you would like the &app; project to to adopt your strategy,
|
|
you would need to convince &app; developers that your strategy is good
|
|
for &app; and superior to the present development strategy.</para>
|
|
|
|
<tip><para>
|
|
If &app; developers are still not convinced after about three
|
|
messages sent to gramps-devel, maybe you are better off on your own
|
|
rather than with a company of retards who can't fully realize the
|
|
potential of your great idea :-)
|
|
|
|
</para></tip></listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
</variablelist>
|
|
|
|
</appendix>
|