| Gramps | |
|---|---|
![]() | |
Gramps 5.0.1 showing a fan chart and given-name cloud Gramplet | |
| Original author | Don Allingham[1][2] |
| Developer | The Gramps Team[3] |
| Initial release | 21 April 2001[4] |
| Stable release | 6.0.8
/ 9 April 2026[5] |
| Preview release | 6.1.0-beta1
/ 21 April 2026[6] |
| Written in | Python |
| Operating system | Linux, BSD, Solaris, Microsoft Windows, macOS[7] |
| Platform | GTK |
| Available in | Multilingual[8] |
| Type | Genealogy software |
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later[9] |
| Website | gramps-project |
| Repository | github |
Gramps, formerly GRAMPS (Genealogical Research and Analysis Management Programming System), is free and open-source genealogy software. It is written in Python, uses PyGObject and GTK, and is developed by the Gramps project.
Gramps is designed for offline family-history research, including entry of people, families, events, sources, citations, places, media, and notes. It can generate reports and relationship graphs, supports plugins called Gramplets, and stores its archival exchange format as Gramps XML. It also includes special-use translation sets for contexts such as animal pedigrees and same-gender relationship reporting.
History
editGramps was created by Don Allingham and began as a Linux genealogy program named GRAMPS.[1][2] The project began in 2001, and the first stable 1.0 release was published in 2004.[4][10] The name was later changed from the all-capitals acronym GRAMPS to Gramps.[11]
The project has been developed by a volunteer contributor community.[3] LWN.net described Gramps in 2014 as a mature free software genealogy application with a plugin system, report generation, and support for multiple genealogy data formats.[10] The software has also been discussed as an example of commons-based peer production by genealogists and for genealogists.[12]
Features
editGramps provides tools for recording people, families, events, places, sources, citations, repositories, media, and notes. It supports multiple naming conventions and cultural contexts, including patronymic, matronymic, and multiple-surname systems.[13] The program also includes relationship calculators and consistency checks for improbable events.[14][2]
Reports can be generated in formats including OpenDocument Text, PDF, RTF, HTML, LaTeX, and plain text. Gramps can also create charts and relationship graphs for large family trees.[15] Its plugin system supports additional views, tools, reports, importers, exporters, and Gramplets, which are dynamic widgets shown inside the main interface.[16]
The software uses an event-centric documentation model similar to approaches used in cultural heritage documentation.[17] It is multilingual and includes special-use translations for animal pedigrees and same-gender relationship reporting.[8][18][19]
File format
edit| Gramps XML[20] | |
|---|---|
| Filename extension | .gramps |
| Internet media type |
application/x-gramps-xml[21] |
| Developed by | Gramps |
| Initial release | 2004 |
| Latest release | 1.7.2 19 March 2025 |
| Type of format | Genealogy data exchange |
| Extended from | XML |
| Website | gramps-project |
The core archival file format of Gramps is named Gramps XML and uses the file extension .gramps. It is based on XML, and its files are usually compressed with gzip.[22] The Portable Gramps XML Package format uses the extension .gpkg and stores Gramps XML together with referenced media. Internally, Gramps uses SQLite as the default database backend, with other database backends available as plugins.[23]
Gramps can import Gramps XML, Portable Gramps XML Package files, older Gramps database files, GEDCOM, and CSV.[24] It can export Gramps XML, Portable Gramps XML Package files, GEDCOM, GeneWeb's GW format, Web Family Tree format, vCard, vCalendar, and CSV.[25][26]
Programs that support Gramps XML
editSeveral genealogy tools and converters support Gramps XML or related Gramps export formats, including:
- Gramps Web, a collaborative web application built on the core of Gramps itself, which supports Gramps XML import and export.[27]
- Betty, a static-site generator that can use Gramps XML and Gramps XML Package files as alternatives to GEDCOM.[28]
- PhpGedView, which added support for Gramps XML output in version 4.1.[29]
- JoomlaGen, a Joomla component that used Gramps XML exports to display genealogical information.[30]
- tmg2gramps, a converter for data from The Master Genealogist.[31]
Languages
editGramps is translated by volunteers and tracks its translations through Weblate.[8][32] In addition to ordinary interface translations, the project has supported special-use translation sets for animal pedigrees and same-gender relationship reports.[18][19]
Release history
editThe following table shows selected major feature releases. Patch and bug-fix releases are published through the project's release channels.[33][11]
| Version | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GRAMPS 1.0.0 | 11 February 2004 | First stable release; used XML to store data.[11] |
| GRAMPS 2.0.0 | 11 May 2005 | Introduced Berkeley DB as a database backend.[11] |
| GRAMPS 2.2.1 | 30 October 2006 | Made the application available for Windows as well as Unix-like systems.[11] |
| GRAMPS 3.0.0 | 24 March 2008 | Introduced the Gramps Package format and the Gramplets plugin system.[11] |
| Gramps 3.2.0 | 15 April 2010 | Changed the project name from GRAMPS to Gramps and added a new plugin management system.[11] |
| Gramps 4.0.0 | 21 May 2013 | Converted the interface to GTK 3 and added support for Python 3.[11] |
| Gramps 4.2.0 | 3 August 2015 | Dropped Python 2 support.[34] |
| Gramps 5.1.0 | 21 August 2019 | Made SQLite the default database backend.[11] |
| Gramps 5.2.0 | 23 February 2024 | Required Python 3.8 or later and GTK 3.24 or later.[11] |
| Gramps 6.0.0 | 19 March 2025 | Began the 6.0 series; required Python 3.9 or later and continued the SQLite-based database line.[11] |
| Gramps 6.0.8 | 9 April 2026 | Latest stable maintenance release in the 6.0 series, with translation, schema, Windows build, and bug fixes.[5] |
| Gramps 6.1.0-beta1 | 21 April 2026 | Experimental preview release for the 6.1 series, including FamilySearch integration work, calendar enhancements, favorites/sidebar changes, and build-system changes.[6] |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Allingham, Don (21 April 2006). "Looking Back Over 5 Years". Gramps blog. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b c Wayner, Peter (22 April 2004). "From Shared Resources, Your Personal History". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b "Contributors". GitHub. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b "History of Gramps". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b "Release v6.0.8". GitHub. 9 April 2026. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b "Release v6.1.0-beta1". GitHub. 21 April 2026. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Installation". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b c "Gramps translations". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Project License - Gramps". Gramps Wiki. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b Peric, Vladimir (16 July 2014). "Genealogy research with Gramps". LWN.net. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Previous releases of Gramps". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ Leister, Wolfgang; Christophersen, Nils Damm; Tsiavos, Prodromos; Groven, Arne-Kristian; Heggestøyl, Simen; Rødskog, Daniel; Haaland, Kirsten; Glott, Rüdiger; Tannenberg, Anna; Darbousset-Chong, Xavier (2014). "INF5780 Compendium Autumn 2014: Open Source, Open Collaboration and Innovation" (PDF). Norsk Regnesentral. doi:10.13140/2.1.1322.6887. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Features". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Relationship Calculator". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ Marik, Radek (2016). On Large Genealogical Graph Layouts (PDF). ITAT 2016. CEUR Workshop Proceedings. Vol. 1649. pp. 218–225. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Gramplets". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ Häyrinen, Ari (2008). A Template Based, Event-Centric Documentation Framework (PDF). 2008 Annual Conference of CIDOC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b "Animal pedigree". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ a b "0003346: Same gender relationship reports". Gramps Bugtracker. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Gramps XML". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Generate XML". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "How to make a backup". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Database Formats". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Import from another program". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "The GW format". GeneWeb. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
- ^ "Web Family Tree". Archived from the original on 29 December 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Gramps Web". Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ Feenstra, Bart. "betty". Python Package Index. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "PhpGedView @ Neumont University". Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "JoomlaGen". SourceForge. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ Jessel, Anne. "tmg2gramps". Coherent Software Australia Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Gramps". Weblate. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Releases · gramps-project/gramps". GitHub. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
- ^ "Gramps 4.2 Wiki Manual - What's new?". Gramps Wiki. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
