737d776b40
This older doc/README file is pure text and provides incomplete information compared to the root's README.md markdown file. I copied over some introductory verbiage and added cross references to that file.
72 lines
2.6 KiB
Text
72 lines
2.6 KiB
Text
Welcome to Ledger
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The Command-line Accounting Program
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Introduction
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============
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Ledger is a powerful, double-entry accounting system that is accessed from the
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UNIX command-line. This may put off some users, since there is no flashy UI,
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but for those who want unparalleled reporting access to their data there are
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few alternatives.
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To start using Ledger, you will need to create such a
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file containing your financial transactions. A sample has been provided in the
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file "test/input/sample.dat". See the Ledger 3 Manual (ledger.pdf, ledger.info,
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or http://www.ledger-cli.org/3.0/doc/ledger3.pdf) for full documentation on creating
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a ledger file and using Ledger to generate reports.
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Once you have such a file -- you might call it "ledger.dat" -- you can start
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looking at balances and account registers using commands like the following:
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ledger -f ledger.dat balance assets:checking
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ledger -f ledger.dat register expenses:food
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This assumes, of course, that like the sample file you use account names such
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as "Assets:Checking" and "Expenses:Food". If you use other account names, you
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will need to vary the reporting commands you use accordingly.
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You can find more information on getting starting, building from source, and
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getting help from the ./README.md file in your ledger source repository or
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online at https://github.com/ledger/ledger.
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Building
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========
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To build Ledger, you will need a fairly modern C++ compiler (gcc 2.95 will not
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work), and at least these two libraries installed:
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gmp GNU multi-precision library
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pcre Perl regular expression library
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On some GNU/Linux systems, the packages you need to install are called
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"gmp-dev" and "pcre-dev". See the ./README.md in the source repository for
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a more complete list of dependencies.
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Once you have determined where the headers and libraries for the above
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packages are installed, run the script "configure", passing those paths. If
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you installed everything under /usr/local, you can probably just type
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"./configure". Otherwise, do this:
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./configure CPPFLAGS=-I<INCLUDE-PATH> LDFLAGS=-L<LIBRARY-PATH>
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If you need to specify multiple include or library paths, then do this:
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./configure CPPFLAGS="-I<PATH1> -I<PATH2>" LDFLAGS="-L<PATH1> -L<PATH2>"
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Once configure is done running, just type:
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make install
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Mailing List and IRC
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====================
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If you need help on how to use Ledger, or run into problems, you can join the
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Ledger mailing list at the following Web address:
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http://groups.google.com/group/ledger-cli
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You can also find help at the #ledger channel on the IRC server
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irc.freenode.net.
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