467 lines
16 KiB
XML
467 lines
16 KiB
XML
<!--
|
|
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
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
<!-- $Id$ -->
|
|
|
|
<appendix id="faq">
|
|
<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><para>
|
|
Some people have had success using the DarwinPorts instead of the
|
|
Fink project.
|
|
</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?</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 other genealogy programs?</term>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>See above.</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>Can &app; write files readable by other genealogy programs?</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 architecture
|
|
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 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, Family 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 a
|
|
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 a much larger
|
|
database than before.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term>I want to rerun the Startup dialog. 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.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
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>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
</variablelist>
|
|
</appendix>
|