README.md

familytreemaker

Originally developed by Adrien Vergé, it is now a python package.

What is it?

This program creates family tree graphs from simple text files.

The input file format is very simple, you describe persons of your family line by line, children just have to follow parents in the file. Persons can be repeated as long as they keep the same name or id. An example is given in the file LouisXIVfamily.txt.

How do I install it?

1. Clone the repo.

2. Create and activate a virtual environment

   python3.12 -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install the local Python package using pip in editable mode:

   pip install --editable .

How do I use it?

The sample family descriptor LouisXIVfamily.txt is here to show you the usage. With the activated environment, simply run:

python scripts/create.py -a 'Louis XIV' familytreemaker/examples/LouisXIVfamily.txt | dot -Tpng -o familytreemaker/examples/LouisXIVfamily.png

It will generate the tree from the infos in LouisXIVfamily.txt, starting from Louis XIV and saving the image in LouisXIVfamily.png.

You can do both steps seperately, as well:

python scripts/main.py -a 'Louis XIV' familytreemaker/examples/LouisXIVfamily.txt
dot familytreemaker/examples/LouisXIVfamily.dot -Tpng -o familytreemaker/examples/LouisXIVfamily.png

This script outputs a graph descriptor in DOT format. To make the image containing the graph, you will need a graph drawer such as GraphViz.

What is the output?

You can see the result: