Gramps (software)
Free genealogy software
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 | |
|---|---|
| |
 Gramps 5.0.1 showing a fan chart and given-name cloud Gramplet | |
| Original author | Don Allingham[1][2] |
| Developer | The Gramps Team[3] |
| Release | 21 April 2001[4] |
| Stable release | |
| Preview release | |
| 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 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
Gramps 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
Gramps 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
| 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
Several 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
Release history
The 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] |
