Announcement 2.2.0

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We expect quite some PR buzz for the 2.2.0 release, see PR planning. Here's what we collect as draft announcements. This page also has a German translation.

A popular-press announcement

This text should be a little bit more story-like and it tries to avoid the "geek-talk" if possible. The text is based on the Announcement 2.0.0:

Open Source Accounting Software for Everyone

GnuCash 2.2.0 milestone released to public

GNUCASH.org — Personal and small business accounting is available for every user after today's release of GnuCash 2.2.0, program developers said.

This milestone release of the free, open source accounting program is the first release that is available on Microsoft Windows and includes generational advances over the last version. Developers said they worked hard to integrate improved scheduled transactions, better check printing, and easier installation requirements to meet standards set by PC software.

The programers also said they added features now unique to GnuCash, like Online Banking for many U.S. users (using OFX DirectConnect) and for German users (using HBCI) on Windows and all other supported operating systems.

GnuCash had its first stable releases in 1998 on Linux and similar Unix-like operating systems, where it is known as the best available Open Source accounting software for years. With today's release, this proven software is available on Microsoft Windows for the first time. Program developer Christian Stimming said this is a demonstration of the high programming quality of this software, in that one project is able to be shipped on many operating systems.

"We've worked hard to take full advantage of cross-platform programming aids, especially the GTK+ programming library, yet it took months and months to iron out all issues that still occurred due to the new operating system," he said.

The software's lead developer, Derek Atkins, said these new features and changes will make GnuCash accessible for more newcomer users than ever.

“Our feature-rich software is now available for personal and small business users on almost any operating system you can think of,” Derek said.

Major changes in the milestone release are in the internal program structure. As a programming language wrapper the unsupported g-wrap library was replaced with the much more widely-known SWIG. Program developer Chris Shoemaker said these changes were made because of SWIG's more flexible code generation features and the good support from the SWIG developer community. As a result, the GnuCash installation is made easier on all supported platforms due to less software requirements.

“I'm even more impressed with SWIG's flexibility than I previously was,” he said.

Playing With Others

Like other leading Open Source software, GnuCash is designed as a functional replacement for expensive accounting programs. But, like OpenOffice.org and The Gimp, GnuCash is also programmed to communicate and interact with as many existing programs, institutions and people as possible.

Derek Atkins said the team continued to improve file import filters, which allow users to import work from old programs like Microsoft Money and Quicken. GnuCash can load QIF and QFX files, which are used by both of those programs.

“You cannot expect users to throw away their existing accounting data. Instead, every program must offer the possibility to use what is already there,” he said.

Developers also continued to incorporate support for online banking into the program. GnuCash 2.2.0 supports banking for institutions that offer OFX DirectConnect (e.g. Citibank, Bank of America) or German HBCI (e.g. Deutsche Bank), the developer said.

“Online banking is a difficult issue where every institution tries to establish their own technology. But by using public standards like OFX and HBCI, GnuCash properly talks to many banks and enables online banking features at least for the majority users,” Derek said.

The milestone release is available in 28 languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Norwegian, so people from around the world will have no difficulty operating the program, developer Christian Stimming said.

“GnuCash plays well with others,” Christian said. “It doesn't matter what country you're from.”

Off on the Right Foot

Users of the GnuCash 2.2.0 will notice a few changes when they start the program. Improvements have been made on the scheduled transaction presentation, check printing, and features of the account creation “druid,” or wizard, that helps newcomers set up and import their accounting data.

"Structured account examples are provided for even more languages and almost every personal situation with this 2.2.0 milestone," Christian said.

After they enter the program, users will find a double-ledger account system, exhaustive report options and account hierarchy tools. Also at their disposal is a full system of tutorials and documentation.

Regarding older GnuCash data files, the developers would like to point out that in version 2.1.2 the format for scheduled transactions in the data file was changed. Files using the old format will be read without problems by this new version, but the new version of GnuCash only writes the new format. The new file format cannot be loaded by older versions of GnuCash. (If you try, the file will fail to be loaded with an error message.) As a result, if you begin using the new Gnucash, and you have data files with scheduled transactions, then these files will not be readable by older versions. If you have to make a new data file readable by older versions of GnuCash, this can be achived by deleting all records of scheduled transactions in the scheduled transaction editor.

"This change in data file format was necessary to accomodate a much more flexible scheme for time intervals when scheduling payments," developer Josh Sled said.

Getting GnuCash

GnuCash 2.2.0 can be downloaded from gnucash.org and sourceforge.net. It is available as source code and as self-installing setup program for Windows which includes all necessary additional libraries.

To install GnuCash from source code, users will need Gnome 2, guile, and slib. The Microsoft Windows version will run on Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, but not on 98 or 95 anymore. Neither the currently used swig nor the previously used g-wrap packages are needed anymore when compiling from tarball or when installing a binary.

Detailed installation help is available at gnucash.org.

About the Program

GnuCash is a free, open source accounting program released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and available for GNU/Linux, *BSD, Solaris, Mac OSX, and Microsoft Windows. It is collaboratively developed by 12 people from over 6 countries. Programming on GnuCash began in 1997, and its first stable release was in 1998.

A more technical announcement

For the more technical-oriented users (e.g. our mailing lists), we need a less story-like but more technical-oriented text, similar to Announcement 2.1.4.

GnuCash 2.2.0 released

The GnuCash development team proudly announces GnuCash 2.2.0, the new stable release of the GnuCash Open Source Accounting Software. With this new release series, GnuCash is available on Microsoft Windows for the first time, and it also runs on GNU/Linux, *BSD, Solaris and Mac OSX.

Download:

What's New in GnuCash 2.2.0?

This release has only a few user-visible new features, except for the completed port to the Microsoft Windows operating system. In summary, the following features are new, compared to the older 2.0.x series:

  • Port to Microsoft Windows completed.
  • Data file notice: In version 2.1.2 the format for scheduled transactions in the data file was changed. Files using the old format will be read without problems by this new version, but the new version of GnuCash only writes the new format. The new file format cannot be loaded by older versions of GnuCash. (If you try, the file will fail to be loaded with an error message.) As a result, if you begin using the new Gnucash, and you have data files with scheduled transactions, then these files will not be readable by older versions. If you have to make a new data file readable by older versions of GnuCash, this can be achived by deleting all records of scheduled transactions in the scheduled transaction editor.
  • SWIG is now used instead of g-wrap for providing language bindings.
  • The Scheduled Transaction list view is now improved and summarized more compactly. The Since-Last-Run dialog has been simplified.
  • Check printing has been improved, with new formats and simpler format descriptions.
  • Automatic saving of the data file was added

Bugfixes and improvements since the last version 2.1.5 include:

  • Updated translations
  • Improved DLL handling on Windows
  • Improved handling of Online Banking on Windows

How can you help?

  • We would like to encourage people to test this and any further releases as much as possible and submit bug reports in order that we can continuously polish GnuCash to be as stable as possible. Simply post any bugs you find to bugzilla http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=GnuCash
  • If you have the urge to help beyond testing please get involved in the discussions on the GnuCash mailing lists which you will find at http://www.gnucash.org. We especially need people to help with updating the documentation. Please see http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Development on how to get involved.
  • Translating: The new release comes with some new translation strings. If you consider contributing a translation, we invite you to work with the translation template in this package. Our development is in String Freeze now, so you can safely work on our translation. Please check http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Translation_Status for updates on this.

Getting GnuCash

GnuCash 2.2.0 can be downloaded from sourceforge.net. It is available as source code and as self-installing setup program for Windows which includes all necessary additional libraries.

To install GnuCash from source code, users will need Gnome 2, guile, and slib. Neither the currently used swig nor the previously used g-wrap packages are needed anymore when compiling from tarball or when installing a binary. The Windows version requires Windows 2000, XP, or Vista; GnuCash does not run on Windows 98 or 95.

About the Program

GnuCash is a free, open source accounting program released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and available for GNU/Linux, *BSD, Solaris, Mac OSX, and Microsoft Windows. It is collaboratively developed by 12 people from over 5 countries.

Programming on GnuCash began in 1997, and its first stable release was in 1998.

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