gnucash/README
Linas Vepstas c0aefd4a8b add alpha warning notes
git-svn-id: svn+ssh://svn.gnucash.org/repo/gnucash/trunk@441 57a11ea4-9604-0410-9ed3-97b8803252fd
1998-01-25 04:00:13 +00:00

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############## WARNING ######################
********** ALPHA DEVELOPMENT RELEASE ********
THIS IS VERSION 1.1, WHICH IS AN ALPHA RELEASE,
AND VERY, VERY BROKEN. IT IS FOR DEVELOPERS ONLY!!
IF YOU WANT TO USE XACC, USE VERSION 1.0 INSTEAD!!
##############################################
X-Accountant
------------
xacc is a program to keep track of your finances. It is similar in
concept to Quicken(TM). Although xacc still lacks the advanced
features of quicken, it does have the basic functionality. Some
of the features of xacc are:
- Multiple Accounts
- Each account keeps a running balance and
a reconciled balance, so you can keep track
of the checks that have clear your account.
- A simple interface. If you can use the
register in the back of your checkbook,
you can use xacc.
- QuickFill... if you begin typing a description
in the description fields, and it matches an
previous transaction, hitting <TAB> will copy
the previous transaction. Handy if you have
similar transactions on a regular basis.
(such as depositing your paycheck every week :)
- Stock/Mutual Fund Portfolios. Track stocks
individually (one per account) or in portfolio
of accounts (a group of accounts that can be
displayed together).
- Quicken File Import. Import Quicken Version 3.0
QIF files.
Advanced Features
-----------------
X-Accountant offers some features not usually found
in simpler accounting programs.
- Sub-accounts: A master account can have a hierarchy
of detail accounts underneath it. This allows similar
account types (e.g. Cash, Bank, Stock) to be grouped
into one master account (e.g. Assets).
- Double Entry:
Every transaction can appear in two
accounts; one account is debited and the other is
credited with exactly the same amount. With
double-entry, a transaction edited in one window
will be automatically updated in all other windows
showing that transaction, and in both of the
accounts.
- Income/Expense Account Types (Categories).
When used properly
with the double-entry feature, these can be used
to create both Balance Sheet and Profits &amp; Losses
reports. For example, savings account interest,
stock dividends, or paychecks can be marked as
both a deposit in a bank account, and as income in
an Income account type, using the double-entry
(transfer) feature. Similarly, credit card charges
can be noted in the credit card account, as well
as in a corresponding expense account.
- General Ledger: Multiple accounts can be displayed
in one register window at the same time. This can
ease the trouble of tracking down typing/entry errors.
It also provides a convenient way of viewing a
portfolio of many stocks, by showing all transactions
in that portfolio.
Home Page:
----------
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~rclark/xacc
Running:
--------
The binary-only distribution includes two files: 'xacc' and
'xacc-static'. The former requires a Motif shared library;
the latter has Motif statically linked in. If you have Motif,
then just run xacc. If you do not have Motif, then copy
'xacc-static' to 'xacc'.
Access to the on-line help documentation requires the that
the environment variable XACC_HELP be set to the 'Docs'
directory. For example, for csh/tcsh,
% setenv XACC_HELP /usr/local/share/xacc/Docs
or, for bash/bsh/ksh/sh
% set XACC_HELP=/usr/local/share/xacc/Docs
% export XACC_HELP
You can then start xacc at the command-line, with
"xacc" or "xacc <filename>", where <filename> is an
xacc account file. Sample accounts can be found in
"data" subdirectory. *.dat files are xacc accounts that can
opened with the "Open File" menu entry. *.qif files are
Quicken Import Format files that can be opened with the
"Import QIF" menu entry.
Building & Installing:
----------------------
These steps does not apply to binary distributions; only to
source distributions.
Normally, to build and install xacc, all you have to do is:
# ./configure
# make depend
# make
# make install
You can also build xacc in a seperate directory, which is
useful if you are compiling for several platforms from a
single copy of the source tree:
# mkdir BUILD
# mkdir BUILD/debug
# cd BUILD/debug
# ../../configure --enable-debug
# make depend
# make
# make install
sorry, no "make install" yet.
Status:
-------
As of version 1.0b11:
xacc is known to work in the following configs:
Linux 2.0.x -- Intel w/ RedHat Motif
Linux 2.0.x -- Intel w/ Lesstif v0.81
SGI IRIX --
xacc seems to be having problems with:
Solaris -- Sparc -- won't compile due to va-args in XmHTML
Linux 2.0.x -- Intel w/ Lesstif v0.82
That's all folks!
Credits:
--------
Robin Clark <rclark@hmc.edu> for original xacc
Linas Vepstas <linas@lins.org> for extensive enhancements
Tom Kludy <tkludy@csd.sgi.com> for SGI Irix port