This project is no longer being actively developed.
About
Ged2DB is a small program which converts Genealogical Database Communication (GEDCOM) files to a relational database. This allows much faster access to specific data within the file.
Ged2DB is written in Java so it can run on any system with a compatible runtime environment. The SQL commands used to create and manage the database follow the ANSI SQL-92 standard. The program should work with most JDBC drivers and is known to work with MySQL, PostgreSQL, and HypersonicSQL databases.
This documentation assumes you are familiar with Java, JDBC, and basic database systems. The versions of software such as Java and Ant are based on what I used to build the system. Older versions may work but have not been tested.
Demonstration
The Harrington Genealogy Page created and maintained by Donald Harrington relies on Ged2DB for populating the database. The download section contains example websites using Java Server Pages and PHP.
The structure of the database is shown in the entity relationship diagram below. The entities Individual and Family correspond to the individual and family entries in the GEDCOM file. Individuals can be connected via marriage or lineage.
Downloads
Ged2DB
- Ged2DB 1.0 Binaries (zip)
- Ged2DB 1.0 Binaries (tar.gz)
- Ged2DB 1.0 Source (zip)
- Ged2DB 1.0 Source (tar.gz)
Example Websites
- JSP Website Source (zip)
- JSP Website Source (tar.gz)
- PHP Website Source (zip)
- PHP Website Source (tar.gz)
Installing
Download the appropriate archive from the Ged2DB website. Extract the archive where you want to have Ged2DB installed. After you have extracted the files, open ged.ini and set the properties for the database you want to run. You will need to download the appropriate JDBC drivers for the database you wish to use. Ged2DB will need to use an account that has permission to perform drop, create, and insert commands.
Running
Running Ged2DB requires a Java Runtime Environment 1.3 or higher which is available from http://java.sun.com. To run java must be in your path and type the following command:
java -classpath jdbc_driver.jar -jar ged2db.jar
This will create the database using the settings in ged.ini. The it will use the gedcom specified by the gedcom attribute in the ged.ini file. You can override this property by specifying a file as a parameter, such as:
java -classpath jdbc_driver.jar -jar ged2db.jar mygedcom.ged
It will only look at the first parameter. Any other parameters will be ignored.
Building
If you want to build Ged2DB download and extract one of the source archives. In order to build Ged2DB you will need a Java Software Development Kit 1.3 or higher which is available from http://java.sun.com. You will also need Ant 1.4 which is available from http://ant.apache.org.
To build you must have ant setup and in your path. When this is done, you can build by simply typing ant in the directory where build.xml is located.