<appendix id="append-cmdline">
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User Manual for GRAMPS - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program
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<!-- =============== Appendices Subsection ================ -->
<title>Command line reference</title>
<para>This appendix provides the reference to the command line
capabilities available when launching &app; from the terminal. </para>
<note><para>&app; was designed to be an interactive
program. Therefore it uses graphical display and cannot run from the
true non-graphical console. It would take an enormous amount of effort
to enable it to run in a text-only terminal. This is why the set of
command line options does not aim to completely get rid of dependency
on the graphical display. Rather, it merely makes certain (typical) tasks
more convenient. It also allows one to execute these tasks from the scripts.
However, the graphical display must be accessible at all times!
</para></note>
<tip><para>To summarize, the use of the command line options provides
non-interactive behavior, but does not get rid of graphical display
dependency. Take it or leave it!
</para></tip>
<sect1 id="cmdline-options">
<title>Available options</title>
<para>This section provides the reference list of all command line
options available in &app;. If you want to know more than just
a list of options, see next sections: <xref linkend="cmdline-operation"/>
and <xref linkend="cmdline-examples"/>.
</para>
<sect2 id="cmdline-opt-format"><title>Format options</title>
<para> The format of any file destined for opening, importing,
or exporting can be specified with the
<command>-f <replaceable>format</replaceable></command>
option. The acceptable <replaceable>format</replaceable> values
are listed below.</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>grdb</term>
<listitem><para> &app; database. This format is available
for opening, import, and export. When not specified, it can be
guessed if the filename ends with .grdb
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>gramps-xml</term>
<listitem><para> &app; XML database. This format is available
for opening, import, and export. When not specified, it can be
guessed if the filename ends with .gramps
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>gedcom</term>
<listitem><para> GEDCOM file. This format is available
for opening, import, and export. When not specified, it can be
guessed if the filename ends with .ged
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>gramps-pkg</term>
<listitem><para> &app; package. This format is available
for import and export. When not specified, it can be
guessed if the filename ends with .gpkg
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>geneweb</term>
<listitem><para> GeneWen file This format is available
for import and export. When not specified, it can be
guessed if the filename ends with .gw
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>wft</term>
<listitem><para> Web Family Tree. This format is available
for export only. When not specified, it can be guessed
if the filename ends with .wft
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>iso</term>
<listitem><para> CD image. This format is available
for export only. It must always be specified explicitly.
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="cmdline-opt-open"><title>Opening options</title>
<para>There are two ways to give &app; the name of the file to
be opened: </para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>supply bare file name</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>use the
<command>-O <filename>filename</filename></command> or
<command>-open=<filename>filename</filename></command> option
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>If the filename is given without any option flag, the attempt
to open the file will be made, and then the interactive &app; session
will be launched.
</para>
<tip><para>If no option is given, just the file name, &app; will
ignore the rest of the command line arguments. Use the -O flag
to open the file and do something with the data.
</para></tip>
<para>The format can be specified with the
<command>-f <replaceable>format</replaceable></command> or
<command>--format=<replaceable>format</replaceable></command>
option, immediately following the <filename>filename</filename>.
If not specified, the guess will be attempted based on
the <filename>filename</filename>.
</para>
<tip><para>Only grdb, gramps-xml,
and gedcom formats can be opened directly.
For other formats, you will need to use the import option
which will set up the empty database and then import data into it.
</para></tip>
<tip><para>Only a single file can be opened. If you need to combine
data from several sources, you will need to use
the import option.</para></tip>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="cmdline-opt-import"><title>Import options</title>
<para> The files destined for import can be specified with the
<command>-i <filename>filename</filename></command>
or <command>--import=<filename>filename</filename></command>
option. The format can be specified with the
<command>-f <replaceable>format</replaceable></command> or
<command>--format=<replaceable>format</replaceable></command>
option, immediately following the <filename>filename</filename>.
If not specified, the guess will be attempted based on
the <filename>filename</filename>.
</para>
<tip><para>More than one file can be imported in one command.
If this is the case, &app; will incorporate the data from
the next file into the database available at the moment.
</para></tip>
<para>When more than one input file is given, each has to be preceded
by <command>-i</command> flag. The files are imported in the
specified order, i.e. <command>
-i <filename>file1</filename>
-i <filename>file2</filename>
</command> and <command>
-i <filename>file2</filename>
-i <filename>file1</filename>
</command>
might produce different GRAMPS IDs in the resulting database.
</para></sect2>
<sect2 id="cmdline-opt-export"><title>Export options</title>
<para> The files destined for export can be specified with the
<command>-o <filename>filename</filename></command> or
<command>--output=<filename>filename</filename></command>
option. The format can be specified with the <command>-f</command>
option immediately following the <filename>filename</filename>.
If not specified, the guess will be attempted based on
the <filename>filename</filename>. For iso format,
the <filename>filename</filename>
is actually the name of directory the &app; database will be written
into. For grdb, gramps-xml, gedcom, wft, geneweb,
and gramps-pkg, the <filename>filename</filename>
is the name of the resulting file.
</para>
<tip><para>More than one file can be exported in one command.
If this is the case, &app; will attempt to write several files
using the data from the database available at the moment.
</para></tip>
<para> When more than one output file is given, each has to be
preceded by <command>-o</command> flag. The files are written one
by one, in the specified order.
</para></sect2>
<sect2 id="cmdline-opt-action"><title>Action options</title>
<para> The action to perform on the imported data can be
specified with the
<command>-a <replaceable>action</replaceable></command> or
<command>--action=<replaceable>action</replaceable></command>
option. This is done after all imports are successfully completed.
</para>
<para>Currently available actions are:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>summary</term>
<listitem><para>This action is the same as
<menuchoice><guimenu>Reports</guimenu><guisubmenu>View</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Summary</guimenuitem></menuchoice>
</para></listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>check</term>
<listitem><para>This action is the same as
<menuchoice><guimenu>Tools</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Database Processing</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Check and Repair</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.
</para> </listitem> </varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>report</term>
<listitem><para>This action allows producing reports
from the command line. As reports generally have many options
of their own, this action should be followed by the report option
string. The string is given using the
<command>-p <replaceable>option_string</replaceable></command> or
<command>--options=<replaceable>option_string</replaceable></command>
option.
</para>
<tip><para>
The report option string should satisfy the following conditions:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>It must not contain any spaces. If some arguments
need to include spaces, the string should be enclosed with
quotation marks.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Option string must list pairs of option names
and values.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Within a pair, option name and value must be
separated by the equal sign.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Different pairs must be separated by commas.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</tip>
<para>Most of the report options are specific for every report.
However, there some common options.
</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry><term>name=report_name</term>
<listitem> <para>
This mandatory option determines which report will be
generated. If the supplied report_name does not correspond
to any available report, the error message will be printed
followed by the list of available reports.
</para>
</listitem> </varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>show=all</term>
<listitem> <para>
This will produce the list of names for all options available for
a given report.
</para>
</listitem> </varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>show=option_name</term>
<listitem> <para>
This will print the description of the functionality supplied
by the option_name, as well as what are the acceptable types
and values for this option.
</para>
</listitem> </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>
Use the above options to find out everything about a given report.
</para>
<tip><para>
If an option is not supplied, the last used value will be used.
If this report has never been generated before, then the
value from last generated report will be used when applicable.
Otherwise, the default value will be used.
</para></tip>
</listitem> </varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>When more than one output action is given, each has to be
preceded by <command>-a</command> flag. The actions are performed
one by one, in the specified order.
</para></sect2>
</sect1>
&cmdplug;
<sect1 id="cmdline-operation">
<title>Operation</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>If the first argument on the command line does not start
with dash (i.e. no flag), &app; will attempt to open the file
with the name given by the first argument and start interactive
session, ignoring the rest of the command line arguments.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If the <command>-O</command> flag is given, then &app; will
try opening the
supplied file name and then work with that data, as instructed by
the further command line parameters.
</para>
<note><para>Only one file can be opened in a single invocation
of &app;. If you need to get data from multiple sources, use
the importing options by using <command>-i</command> flag.
</para></note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>With or without the <command>-O</command> flag, there could
be multiple imports, exports, and actions specified further on
the command line by using <command>-i</command>,
<command>-o</command>, and <command>-a</command> flags.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The order of <command>-i</command>, <command>-o</command>,
or <command>-a</command> options with respect to each does not matter.
The actual execution order always is: all imports (if any) -> all
exports (if any) -> all actions (if any).</para>
<note><para>But opening must always be first!</para></note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If no <command>-O</command> or <command>-i</command>
option is given, &app; will launch
its main window and start the usual interactive session with the empty
database, since there is no data to process, anyway.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>If no <command>-o</command> or <command>-a</command> options
are given, &app; will launch its main window and start the usual
interactive session with the database resulted from opening
and all imports (if any). This database resides in the
<filename>import_db.grdb</filename> file under the
<filename>~/.gramps/import/</filename> directory.
</para></listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Any errors encountered during import, export, or action, will
be either dumped to stdout (if these are exceptions handled by &app;)
or or to stderr (if these are not handled). Use usual shell redirections
of stdout and stderr to save messages and errors in files.
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="cmdline-examples">
<title>Examples</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>To import four databases (whose formats can be determined from
their names) and then check the resulting database for errors, one may
type:</term>
<listitem>
<para><command>gramps
-i<filename>file1.ged</filename>
-i <filename>file2.gpkg</filename>
-i <filename>~/db3.gramps</filename>
-i <filename>file4.wft</filename>
-a <filename>check</filename></command>
</para> </listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>To explicitly specify the formats in the above example, append
filenames with appropriate <command>-f</command> options:</term>
<listitem>
<para><command>gramps
-i <filename>file1.ged</filename>
-f <replaceable>gedcom</replaceable>
-i <filename>file2.gpkg</filename>
-f <replaceable>gramps-pkg</replaceable>
-i <filename>~/db3.gramps</filename>
-f <replaceable>gramps-xml</replaceable>
-i <filename>file4.wft</filename>
-f <replaceable>wft</replaceable>
-a <replaceable>check</replaceable></command>
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>To record the database resulting from all imports, supply
<command>-o</command> flag (use <command>-f</command>
if the filename does not allow &app; to guess the format):</term>
<listitem>
<para><command>gramps
-i <filename>file1.ged</filename>
-i <filename>file2.gpkg</filename>
-o <filename>~/new-package</filename>
-f <replaceable>gramps-pkg</replaceable></command>
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>To save any error messages of the above example into files
<filename>outfile</filename> and
<filename>errfile</filename>, run:</term>
<listitem>
<para><command>gramps
-i <filename>file1.ged</filename>
-i <filename>file2.dpkg</filename>
-o <filename>~/new-package</filename>
-f <replaceable>gramps-pkg</replaceable>
><filename>outfile</filename>
2><filename>errfile</filename> </command>
</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>To import three databases and start interactive &app;
session with the result:</term>
<listitem>
<para><command>gramps
-i <filename>file1.ged</filename>
-i <filename>file2.gpkg</filename>
-i <filename>~/db3.gramps</filename>
</command>
</para> </listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>To open a database and, based on that data, generate timeline
report in PDF format putting the output into the
<filename>my_timeline.pdf</filename> file:</term>
<listitem>
<para><command>gramps
-O <filename>file.grdb</filename>
-a <replaceable>report</replaceable>
-p <replaceable>name=timeline,off=pdf,of=my_timeline.pdf</replaceable>
</command>
</para>
<tip><para>Use the <replaceable>name=timeline,show=all</replaceable>
to find out about all available options for the timeline report. To
find out details of a particular option, use
<replaceable>show=option_name</replaceable>,
e.g. <replaceable>name=timeline,show=off</replaceable>
string.</para>
<para>To learn about available report names, use
<replaceable>name=show</replaceable> string.
</para>
</tip>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>Finally, to start normal interactive session type:</term>
<listitem><para> <command>gramps </command></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect1>
</appendix>