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svn: r2381
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Alex Roitman committed Nov 25, 2003
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Expand Up @@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ to [email protected]

7. What version of GNOME do I need?

8. Is GRAMPS compatible with other genealogical software?
8. Is GRAMPS compatible with other genealogical software (GenApps)?

9. Can GRAMPS read files created by GenApp X?

Expand All @@ -35,32 +35,33 @@ to [email protected]

13. Is GRAMPS compatible with the Internet?

14. What standards does GRAMPS support?
14. Can I create custom reports/filters/whatever?

15. What is the maximum database size (bytes) GRAMPS can handle?
15. What standards does GRAMPS support?

16. How many people can GRAMPS database handle?
16. What is the maximum database size (bytes) GRAMPS can handle?

17. My database is really big.
Is there a way around loading all the data into memory?
17. How many people can GRAMPS database handle?

18. Can I create custom reports/filters/whatever?
18. Why is GRAMPS running so slowly?

19. Why is GRAMPS running so slowly?
19. My database is really big.
Is there a way around loading all the data into memory?

20. Why are non-latin characters displayed as garbage in PDF/PS reports?

21. Why can I not add/remove/edit columns to the lists in People View
and Family View?

22. I found a bug and I want it fixed right now! What do I do?

*** Questions and answers ***


1. What is GRAMPS?

GRAMPS is the Genealogical Research and Analysis Management Program System.
In other words, it a personal genealogy program letting you store, edit,
In other words, it is a personal genealogy program letting you store, edit,
and research genealogical data using the powers of your computer.


Expand Down Expand Up @@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ The latest versions of gramps (0.9.0 and higher) require GNOME 2.0 or higher.
Previous versions required GNOME 1.X.


8. Is GRAMPS compatible with other genealogical software?
8. Is GRAMPS compatible with other genealogical software (GenApps)?

GRAMPS makes every effort to maintain compatibility with GEDCOM, the general
standard of recording genealogical information. We have import and export
Expand All @@ -121,9 +122,9 @@ filters that enable GRAMPS to read and write GEDCOM files.
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's feedback.
However, finding out about the unknown flavors requires user feedback.
Please feel free to inform us about any GEDCOM flavor not supported by GRAMPS,
and we will support it!
and we will do our best to support it!


9. Can GRAMPS read files created by GenApp X?
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -161,12 +162,26 @@ PostScript, PDF, SVG, OpenOffice and GraphViz formats.
GRAMPS 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. GRAMPS is familiar with the standard file formats
widely used on the Internet (e.g. JPEG 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 :-)
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 :-)


14. What standards does GRAMPS support?
14. Can I create custom reports/filters/whatever?

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 GRAMPS
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.


15. What standards does GRAMPS support?

The nice thing about the standards is that there never is a shortage of
them :-). GRAMPS is tested to support the following flavors of GEDCOM:
Expand All @@ -175,45 +190,22 @@ GeneWeb, Legacy, Personal Ancestral File, Pro-Gen, Reunion, and
Visual Genealogie.


15. What is the maximum database size (bytes) GRAMPS can handle?
16. What is the maximum database size (bytes) GRAMPS can handle?

GRAMPS has no hard limits on the size of a database that it can handle.
In reality, however, there are practical limits. Currently GRAMPS loads all
data into memory, so the limiting factor tends to be the available memory
on the system.


16. How many people can GRAMPS database handle?
17. How many people can GRAMPS database handle?

We have found that on a typical system, GRAMPS tends to bog down after the
database has around 15,000 people. Again, this is dependant on how much
memory you have.


17. My database is really big.
Is there a way around loading all the data into memory?

Currently, there is no way around it. However, this is our biggest priority
after releasing version 1.0. The real database backend will be incorporated
in the next stable release (1.2) which will dramatically improve performance
in both speed and memory usage.


18. Can I create custom reports/filters/whatever?

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 GRAMPS
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.


19. Why is GRAMPS running so slowly?
18. Why is GRAMPS running so slowly?

If GRAMPS seems too slow to you, it is most likely that you have a large
database. Currently, GRAMPS loads all the database into memory, therefore
Expand All @@ -227,6 +219,15 @@ with the implementation of the real database backend, please don't hesitate
to email us at [email protected]


19. My database is really big.
Is there a way around loading all the data into memory?

Currently, there is no way around it. However, this is our biggest priority
after releasing version 1.0. The real database backend will be incorporated
in the next stable release (1.2) which will dramatically improve performance
in both speed and memory usage.


20. Why are non-latin characters displayed as garbage in PDF/PS reports?

This is a known problem -- PS (and PDF) have builtin fonts which pretty much
Expand All @@ -235,7 +236,8 @@ but then it would have to be embedded in the file. This is problematic since
every system has different idea about fonts and their setup.

This should be resolved as we move to gnome-print. In the meantime, a useable
workaround is to generate reports in OOo format and the export to PDF from OOo.
workaround is to generate reports in OpenOffice.org format and then export
to PDF from the OpenOffice.org application.


21. Why can I not add/remove/edit columns to the lists in People View
Expand All @@ -246,6 +248,35 @@ see http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=125172 for the details.
Once the patch is committed and incorporated into pygtk, we will add the
ability to add/remove/edit sortable columns.


22. I found a bug and I want it fixed right now! What do I do?

The best thing you can do is to fix the bug and send the patch to
[email protected] :-)

The next best thing would be to submit a good bug report. This can be done in
one of the two ways: (1) send your report to [email protected]
or (2) file your report with the bug tracker system at
http://sf.net/tracker/?group_id=25770&atid=385137 (this function is also
available by selecting "Help->Report a bug" from gramps main menu).

A good bug report would include:
(1) Version of gramps you were using when you encountered the bug
(available through Help->About menu item)
(2) Language under which gramps was run
(available by executing "echo $LANG" in your terminal)
(3) Symptomps indicating that this is indeed a bug
(4) Any Traceback messages, error messages, warnings, etc, that showed up
in your terminal or a in separate traceback window

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 bug report with sf.net bug tracker, PLEASE log into 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.

*** End of GRAMPS Frequently Asked Questions ***

$Id$

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