Select-> Valid HTML 4.01! Robert B. White
5 Aug 2005

What is GRAMPS?

From the on-line manual:

GRAMPS is a genealogical application. GRAMPS is an acronym for the Genealogical Research and Analysis Management Programming System. To put it shortly, it allows you to store, edit, and research genealogical data using your computer. Its functionality is somewhat common to other genealogical programs. However, GRAMPS offers some unique features.

These notes are based on GRAMPS version 1.0.11, and updated for 2.0.5. Installation techniques for SuSE Linux 9.2 have enabled installing versions 2.0.1, 2.0.3, 2.0.4, and 2.0.5, and these notes include some experience using these more recent versions. GRAMPS is an extremely dynamic development, with version releases several times per month.

Why would I want it?

  1. It runs on Linux.
  2. it is a tool that provides a way to input all your research into one place and do your analysis and correlation using the speed, power, and accuracy of your computer instead of pencils and unmanageable reams of paper.
  3. Has list of place names, from which you can find all events at that location.
  4. Generally, browse tables can be sorted in either direction on any column.
  5. Can try an alternate genealogy program.

Capabilities

  1. Imports & Exports GEDCOM files.
  2. Merges by importing into already open database.
  3. Exports GEDCOM and GRAMPS Package
  4. Exports Web pages.
  5. Can integrate external media- images, videos, etc.
  6. Starting with 2.0.x versions, database no longer resides in memory. Capacity should now be about 100,000 people.
  7. Starting with 2.0.4 accepts dates such as "21 Mar 1650/1".
  8. Can resize view windows.
  9. Produces 21 report types which can be printed, PostScript files, or OpenOffice files with option to preview in OpenOffice. NB:OpenOffice can export it's input as a .pdf file.
  10. Depending on report type, output can be PostScript, OpenOffice file, AbiWord, HTML, KWord. LaTeX, Plain Text, RTF, or printed.

Limitations

  1. It CAN lose databases! Despite saving every 10-30 minutes, I lost 2-3 hours of work when GRAMPS froze. I recommend periodically copying the working file to a different location.
    I believe I got into this situation by starting gramps with a command line like: gramps -i file_name &, which caused it to import file_name (presumably treating it as read only). I don't know why all the saves appeared to work...
  2. It can get confused! If you suddenly have a lot of duplication in the People view, DO NOT START A CLEANUP! Save the file and quit, then restart. Your swarm of duplicates will at least have diminished, and probably disappeared.
  3. It runs on Linux.
  4. It runs ONLY on Linux (or elsewhere if Gnome and GTK are implemented).
  5. It allegedly runs on MacIntosh.
  6. Internal file format is unique, and there are two:
    1. gzipped XML file, <filename>.gramps. To save in this format, use:
      File -> Save As... -> Select file type -> GRAMPS XML
      Remember to specify an extension for the resulting file name if you want one. It will NOT be supplied automatically!
    2. Database file (much larger because not compressed) <filename>.grdb. This will be the default on opening a new database.
  7. It is NOT a work-alike.
  8. Doesn't like dates such as "ca 1638", but accepts "abt 1638" or "about 1638".
  9. In Ahnentafel report, if no burial place is entered then death place repeats.
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How Compatible?

PAF 5 View GRAMPS View Remarks
Individual People Name list. GRAMPS can sort on any column, PAF sorts only RIN and Full Name. GRAMPS has alphabetic tabs at bottom of window.
Family Family View / edit immediate family, links to others. GRAMPS shows parents for individual and spouse, PAF shows only individual's.
Pedigree Pedigree In GRAMPS, double clicking connectors changes active person, use browser-style Back arrow to return. GRAMPS can set "Anchor" for generation numbering.
Edit -> Source List Sources GRAMPS appears to reach into items to get info.
No equivalent Places List of places as for People. From a place in this list can get to list of all events tied to the place.
Edit->Multimedia Media (No remarks)
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File Menu

PAF Menu PAF Menu Item GRAMPS Equivalent
File -> New... New
  Open Open...
  N.A. Open Recent
  Close Quit
  N.A. Abandon changes and quit
  Save As... Save As...
  Import Import
  Export Export
  Export for TempleReady for Windows N.A.
  Add TempleReady Update N.A.
  Properties N.A.
  Backup N.A.
  Restore N.A.
  Check/Repair Tools -> Database processing -> Check and repair database
  Delete... N.A.
  Print Reports... Reports Menu
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Edit Menu

PAF Menu PAF Menu Item GRAMPS Equivalent
Edit -> Individual Edit
  Notes Edit person, select Notes in person edit pop-up.
  Multimedia Select Media view, then edit.
  Unlink Individual (Don't know if this exists)
  Delete Individual Remove
  Marriage Click on spouse in Family View.
  Parents In Family View make parents current, then edit.
  Parents' Marriage In Family View make parents current, then edit.
  Order Spouses N.A.
  Order Children In Family View click on order column header.
  Source List Select Sources view, then edit; also available on person edit pop-up.
  Repository List ??
  Individual Event List Edit person, then select tab in pop-up.
  Marriage Event List Edit spouse, Marriage is a tab on the pop-up.
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Add Menu

PAF Menu    PAF Menu Item    GRAMPS Equivalent
Add -> Individual Edit->Add...
  Family (Icon in Family View)
  Spouse (Icon in Family View)
  Child (Icon in Family View)
  Father (Icon in Family View)
  Mother (Icon in Family View)
  Other Parents (Icon in Family View)
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View Menu

PAF Menu    PAF Menu Item    GRAMPS Equivalent
View -> Family Select Family Icon or Tab
  Pedigree Select Pedigree Icon or Tab
  Individual Select People Icon or Tab
  Toolbar Toolbar
  Status Bar (equivalent is on by default)
  N.A. Sidebar (switches View selection between icons at side and tabs at top)
  N.A. Filter
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Search Menu

PAF Menu    PAF Menu Item    GRAMPS Equivalent
Search -> Individual List Edit -> Find in appropriate View
  Marriage List No Equivalent
  Descendancy List Tools -> Analysis and exploration -> Interactive descendant browser...
  Find by RIN/MRIN (no exact equivalent, but right-click Back approximates this)
  Advanced Focus/Filter GRAMPS can apply a filter to "People" browser.
  Home Person In People view, select person, then:
Edit->Set Home Person...
  On FamilySearchInternet No Equivalent
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Tools Menu

PAF Menu PAF Menu Item    GRAMPS Equivalent
Tools -> Match/Merge Edit->Merge
  Merge Duplicate Sources and Citations No equivalent(?)
  Global search and Replace Edit->Find
Works globally for Persons in Family and Pedigree views.
In People view searches only context within which it was opened.
In Places view searches place names.
  Change Names to Mixed Case No automatic global change.
  Create Web Page... Reports->Web Page->Generate Web Site
  Notepad Use any editor on system. However, GRAMPS has internal capability to edit items in database so an external editor may not be needed.
  Relationship Calculator Tools->Utilities->Relationship calculator
Select first person before navigating to this menu. To find second person, calculator presents a pop-up showing Name, ID, and Birth Date, any of which can be sorted.
  Date Calculator No equivalent
  Soundex Calculator Tools->Utilities->Generate SoundEx codes
  FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service No equivalent
  Preferences Edit->Preferences
  N.A. Tools -> Analysis and exploration -> Compare individual events...
  N.A. Tools -> Analysis and exploration -> Interactive descendant browser...
  N.A. Tools -> Database processing -> Check and repair database...
  N.A. Tools -> Database processing -> Extract information from names...
  N.A. Tools -> Database processing -> Find possible duplicate people...
  N.A. Tools -> Database processing -> Fix capitalization of family names...
  N.A. Tools -> Database processing -> Rename personal event types...
  N.A. Tools -> Database processing -> Reorder gramps IDs...
  N.A. Tools -> Debug -> Python evaluation window...
  N.A. Tools -> Debug -> Reload plugins...
  N.A. Tools -> Debug -> Show uncollected objects...
  N.A. Tools -> Utilities -> Custom Filter Editor...
  N.A. Tools -> Utilities -> Generate SoundEx codes...
  N.A. Tools -> Utilities -> Relationship calculator...
  N.A. Tools -> Utilities -> Verify the database...
  N.A. Tools -> Utilities -> Custom Filter Editor...
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Window Menu

PAF Menu    PAF Menu Item    GRAMPS Equivalent
Window -> Cascade No equivalent. GRAMPS works with only one database at a time.
  Tile Horizontally No equivalent. GRAMPS works with only one database at a time.
  Tile Vertically No equivalent. GRAMPS works with only one database at a time.
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Help Menu

GRAMPS Help functions:

  1. User Manual
    Starts the KDE Help system. After this starts, navigate:
    Application Manuals -> GNOME -> Applications -> GRAMPS Manual
    I also recommend finding and book marking the help file gramps-manual-en.pdf. See Further Reading for where to get a copy.
  2. FAQ
    Starts the KDE Help system. On my system the FAQs do not appear to be available this way. Instead use "GRAMPS home page" from this menu. Then navigate under "Main Menu":
    GRAMPS Information -> FAQ
  3. GRAMPS home page
    Uses an existing window in your default browser or will start the browser if it isn't running. An iconified existing window will not be opened for you, you'll have to find it yourself.
  4. GRAMPS mailing lists
    Uses an existing window in your default browser or will start the browser if it isn't running. An iconified existing window will not be opened for you, you'll have to find it yourself.
  5. Report a bug
    Uses an existing window in your default browser or will start the browser if it isn't running. An iconified existing window will not be opened for you, you'll have to find it yourself.
  6. Show plugin status...
    Opens it's own pop-up. This, like the Tools -> Debug menu, is primarily for developer use.
  7. Open example database
    Immediately closes the current database, forcing a save, then opens the example database. The example database becomes the "existing" database for the next start of gramps, and you will have to navigate to return to your former database.
  8. About
    Displays version number.

PAF Menu    PAF Menu Item    GRAMPS Equivalent
Help -> Current Topic No equivalent. Bookmark gramps-manual-en.pdf.
  Help Topics See Table of Contents in help manual.
  Keyboard See Keybindings in help manual.
  Getting Started Guide See Getting Started in help manual.
  Lessons See Getting Started in help manual.
  Feedback and Frequently Asked Questions See the help manual.
  Find a Family History Center No equivalent
  Check for Software Updates See "Where to get GRAMPS" below.
  About the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints No equivalent
  About Personal Ancestral File Help->About

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Reports

PAF: File->Print Reports... GRAMPS: Reports-> (Select report type)
Individual Summary Text Reports->Complete Individual Report
This can be for 1 person, ancestors, descendants, or entire database.
Individual Summary Text Reports->Individual Summary
This is for 1 person with spouse and children.
No PAF Equivalent(?) Text Reports->Comprehensive Ancestors Report
Similar to Individual Report, but includes photos if available and more narrative style.
Scrapbook Text Reports->Comprehensive Ancestors Report
Probably closest to Scrapbook report
Custom
This is very flexible.		 No GRAMPS equivalent, "Detailed" Text Reports are closest.
Lists No GRAMPS equivalent, but may be able to approximate using filters.
Calendar No equivalent
Pedigree Graphical Reports->
Ancestor Chart is similar, but Pedigree has more information.
Family Group Text Reports->Family Group Report
Ancestry Graphical Reports->Ancestor Chart (Wall chart option)
Ancestry Text Reports->Detailed Ancestral Report
Like Ancestry chart with biographies included.
Descendants Text Reports->Descendant Report
No PAF Equivalent (?) Text Reports->FTM Style Ancestor Report
No PAF Equivalent (?) Text Reports->FTM Style Descendant Report
Descendants (?) Text Reports->Detailed Descendant Report
Like Descendant chart with biographies included.
No PAF Equivalent Graphical Reports->Descendant Graph
Effectively a reverse Pedigree Chart.
Books Books->Book Report
No PAF Equivalent Graphical Reports->Fan Chart
No PAF Equivalent Graphical Reports->Relationship Graph
Requires GraphViz to view. Get GraphViz
No PAF Equivalent Graphical Reports->Statistics Graph
Bar Charts by Title, Forename, Birth year, Death year, Birth month, Death month, Estimated Age at death, Gender
No PAF Equivalent Graphical Reports->Timeline Graph
(I thought PAF did this!) Text Reports->Ahnentafel Report
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Strategies

  1. Editing Marriages
    PAF can edit marriages directly from the Family view, calling (Edit -> Marriage), by double clicking the marriage box, or by selecting the marriage box and right-click -> Edit Marriage.
    GRAMPS can also edit a marriage directly, but how is not so obvious since there is no marriage box:
    in the Family view, double click the spouse to edit a marriage. (allowing the mouse to hover over the spouse window will bring up this tip).
    GRAMPS also has a right-click menu over the spouse box which includes Edit relationship and several other options, including the intriguing Set the selected spouse as the preferred spouse.
  2. Entering Sources
    Both PAF and GRAMPS can edit their sources. PAF has a convenient pop-up which can be called at any time (Edit -> Source List).
    GRAMPS does not have this option. It's Source editor is a separate view which does not co-exist with any other view. Though new source entries can be made while entering other data, completing a new source entry in the Source view before adding the entries which refer to it will help organize work flow and eliminate a distraction.
  3. Places
    Select the Places view, then click on a place of interest. (This list can be sorted on any heading.) Right-click -> Edit the selected place. In the resulting pop-up, click References tab. The tab shows all connections to this place.
  4. Researcher Reset
    From the FAQs, Page 88 of gramps-manual-en.pdf:
    GRAMPS keeps a flag in the GNOME configuration database to indicate that the startup dialog has been run. To cause GRAMPS to rerun this, the flag needs to be reset. This can be done with the following command:
    gconftool-2 -u /apps/gramps/startup
  5. Place Names
    epodunk.com has a handy index to cities in the USA which names counties and gives latitude and longitude.
    http://www.hometownlocator.com/ offers a similar service.
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Where to get GRAMPS

Linux

GRAMPS is a Share/Free Ware project whose home page is: http://gramps-project.org/
A link from there will take you to the download site on source forge, which may be:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=25770&MMN_position=27:27
There you will find .rpm files for Fedora and Mandrake.

If you use a different Linux distribution one of these may or may not work. You will also find a file with the source code. I do not recommend trying to install from source unless you want to work with the source code, which IS encouraged!

Versions for SuSE

SuSE Linux has different libraries than GRAMPS expects. Richard Bos maintains SuSE versions of GRAMPS. Please see SuSE Version below for how I got GRAMPS 2.0.5 run on SuSE 9.2.

Please note that GRAMPS development is very active, so package versions are likely to be superceded, and therefore file names will change. Be prepared to poke around these URLs to ensure you get the file you want.

Accessories

While you're at it, get a copy of OpenOffice from openoffice.org   GRAMPS can use OpenOffice to preview reports, and you can use OpenOffice to edit or embellish reports, or export them to .pdf files.

Some graphs require GraphViz to view. You can get this from: http://www.graphviz.org

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MAC

Get GRAMPS through the fink project at http://fink.sourceforge.net/

If you don't already have fink installed, install fink first, then tell fink to install GRAMPS.

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How to Install

Copy the appropriate .rpm package from the sourceforge URL above to your computer.

Short Version

On Mandrake or Fedora install (as root) with a command like: 

rpm -i -p gramps-2.0.5-1fdr3.noarch.rpm
(substituting, of course, your version of the .rpm package name).
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SuSE Version

SuSE Linux has different libraries than GRAMPS expects. Thanks to a lot of help from Alex Roitman and Richard Bos in May and June 2005 I have made GRAMPS 2.0.5 run a SuSE 9.2 system by doing the following. Thank you very much, Alex & Richard!

  1. Download the following python libraries
    1. From http://ftp4.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/suser-guru/rpm/9.2/RPMS/noarch/
      python-orbit-2.0.1-1.guru.suse92.noarch.rpm
    2. From http://ftp4.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/suser-guru/rpm/9.2/RPMS/i686/
      1. libglade2-2.4.2-3.guru.suse92.i686.rpm
      2. python-gnome-2.6.2-1.guru.suse92.i686.rpm
      3. python-gtk-2.4.1-1.guru.suse92.i686.rpm
    3. From http://ftp4.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/apt/SuSE/9.3-i386/RPMS.suser-rbos/
      gramps-2.0.5-0.suse093.rb0.i586.rpm

      There will now be many warning messages at startup and during use, apparently related to needing Glade 2.10.0, which as of 9 July 2005 is not available for SuSE 9.2.

      1. libglade-WARNING **: unknown property `ellipsize' for class `GtkLabel' (many)
      2. libglade-WARNING **: unknown property `add_tearoffs' for class `GtkComboBox'
      3. libglade-WARNING **: unknown property `focus_on_click' for class `GtkComboBox'
  2. Install the following two packages from your SuSE distribution disc(s) if they are not already:
    yelp
    scrollkeeper
    On my SuSE 9.2 system which had no previous GRAMPS installation installing these two packages caused 20 more to be automatically installed to satisfy dependencies.
  3. Install the one glade and three python libraries downloaded in a previous step. On my system yast added packages to resolve dependencies.
  4. Install the gramps package downloaded in a previous step. On my system yast added packages to resolve dependencies.
  5. Start gramps. On my fresh installation the only error message was, "Failed to import preferences from the 1.0.x version." which was entirely reasonable since there had been none installed.
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MAC Version

Apparently the drill is:

  1. Download and install a version of fink appropriate for your OS version. In the one success I've had this included FinkCommander, a GUI front end.
  2. See documentation at the Source Forge web site for what to do. Double-clicking the package icon seemed to complete fink's installation.
  3. Use fink to update itself and FinkCommander. In the one success I've had, following the instructions to update FinkCommander first deleted the existing FinkCommander, then downloaded a disk image file with no installer, leaving no usable FinkCommander. I used fink's command line interface to continue.
  4. Use the command fink list|grep gramps to verify that fink knows about gramps.
  5. Use the command fink install gramps to get and install.
See also http://finkmirrors.net/ for more information about fink.

This sounds suspiciously like apt-get, which failed to install GRAMPS on SuSE Linux.

MAC 10.4 Experience

As of 19 June 2005, fink had installed on a MAC OS 10.4 system, but both fink and the apt-get found on the same system had failed to install GRAMPS.

MAC 10.3 Experience

On 16 July 2005 I attempted to install GRAMPS on a MAC 10.3 system generously provided by a friend. Fink installation proceeded as described above, and then I started GRAMPS installation. Fink downloaded at least 130 MB of files including executables and libraries for gtk, libxml, gnome, atk, audiofile, bonobo, dbs, db4, esound, libglade, orbit, python, tcl, XFree86, etc. This appears to replicate the development environment. (Oh yes, GRAMPS was in this download, too!)

After all the downloads everything appeared to install correctly except for the puzzling XFree86 which downloaded 49.1 MB and announced, "after unpacking 0B will be used". On attempting to run GRAMPS (from a command line), 2 error messages were posted (which I didn't write down) and GRAMPS quit. The essence of the messages was that it couldn't find an Xwindow system (XFree86) to run in and was quitting.

I was extremely reluctant to attempt to start XFree86, expecting this would disable the system for Apple OS, so this was the end of the experiment.

Other URLs to try:

  1. Last Changes on Developer's wiki.
  2. Louis Kessler's Genealogy Software Links
  3. Generation X for MAC. GedCom file viewer and editor
  4. LifeLInes: need to look for this & check it out (Linux).

Please note that GRAMPS development is very active, so package versions are likely to be superceded, and therefore file names will change. Be prepared to poke around these URLs to ensure you get the file you want.

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Further Reading

The manual is available in HTML at: http://gramps-project.org/gramps-manual/gramps-manual-en/index.html
or in a "Tar-Gzip Package" or in PDF format at:
http://gramps-project.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=7&MMN_position=15:2

Additional information about GRAMPS internals is at the GRAMPS Developers' Wiki

A good review of GRAMPS: Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (then search for gramps) (sorry there's no exact link).

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