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