1 2 3[](https://github.com/fisharebest/webtrees/actions/workflows/phpunit.yaml) 4[](https://codecov.io/gh/fisharebest/webtrees) 5[](https://weblate.iet.open.ac.uk/projects/webtrees/webtrees/) 6[](https://scrutinizer-ci.com/g/fisharebest/webtrees/?branch=main) 7[](https://codeclimate.com/github/fisharebest/webtrees) 8[](https://github.styleci.io/repos/11836349?branch=main) 9# webtrees - online collaborative genealogy 10 11## Contents 12 13* [License](#license) 14* [Coding styles and standards](#coding-styles-and-standards) 15* [Introduction](#introduction) 16* [System requirements](#system-requirements) 17* [Internet browser compatibility](#browser-compatibility) 18* [Installation](#installation) 19* [Upgrading](#upgrading) 20* [Building and developing](#building-and-developing) 21* [Gedcom (family tree) files](#gedcom-family-tree-files) 22* [Security](#security) 23* [Backup](#backup) 24* [Restore from Backup](#restore-from-backup) 25 26## License 27 28* **webtrees: online genealogy** 29* Copyright 2022 webtrees development team 30 31This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify 32it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by 33the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or 34(at your option) any later version. 35 36This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 37but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 38MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the 39GNU General Public License for more details. 40 41You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 42along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. 43 44## Coding styles and standards 45 46webtrees follows the [PHP Standards Recommendations](https://www.php-fig.org/psr). 47 48* [PSR-1](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-1) - Basic Coding Standard 49* [PSR-2](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-2) - Coding Style Guide 50* [PSR-4](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-4) - Autoloading Stardard 51* [PSR-6](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-6) - Cache 52* [PSR-7](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-7) - HTTP Message Interface 53* [PSR-11](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-11) - Container Interface 54* [PSR-12](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-12) - Extended Coding Style Guide 55* [PSR-15](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-15) - HTTP Handlers 56* [PSR-17](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-17) - HTTP Factories 57 58We do not currently use [PSR-3 (logging)](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-3) - but we plan to do so in the future. 59 60For JavaScript, we use [semistandard](https://github.com/standard/semistandard). 61 62## Introduction 63 64**webtrees** is the web's leading online collaborative genealogy application. 65 66* It works from standard GEDCOM files, and is therefore compatible with every 67major desktop application. 68* It aims to to be efficient and effective by using the right combination of 69third-party tools, design techniques and open standards. 70 71**webtrees** allows you to view and edit your genealogy on your website. It has 72full editing capabilities, full privacy functions, and supports imedia such as 73photos and document images. As an online program, it fosters extended family 74participation and good ancestral recording habits, as it simplifies the process 75of collaborating with others working on your family lines. Your latest information 76is always on your web site and available for others to see, defined by viewing 77rules you set. For more information and to see working demos, visit 78[webtrees.net](https://webtrees.net/). 79 80**webtrees** is Open Source software that has been produced by people from many 81countries freely donating their time and talents to the project. All service, 82support, and future development is dependent on the time developers are willing 83to donate to the project, often at the expense of work, recreation, and family. 84Beyond the few donations received from users, developers receive no compensation 85for the time they spend working on the project. There is also no outside source 86of revenue to support the project. Please consider these circumstances when 87making support requests and consider volunteering your own time and skills to make 88the project even stronger and better. 89 90 91## System requirements 92 93To install **webtrees**, you need: 94 95* A webserver. Apache, NGINX and IIS are the most common types. To use “Pretty URLs”, you will need to configure URL rewriting" 96* A database. MySQL is recommended, although PostgreSQL, SQL-Server and SQLite can be used. Some features rely on MySQL for collation. Other database might not sort names according to local rules. **webtrees** uses a prefix for its table names, so you can install several instances of webtrees in the same database. 97* Approximately 100MB of disk space for the application files, plus whatever is 98 needed for your media files, GEDCOM files and database. 99* PHP 7.1 - 7.4. Servers with PHP 5.3 - 7.0 can use **webtrees** 1.7. 100 * PHP should be configured to allow sufficient server resources (memory and 101 execution time) for the size of your system. Typical requirements are: 102 * Small systems (500 individuals): 16–32 MB, 10–20 seconds 103 * Medium systems (5,000 individuals): 32–64 MB, 20–40 seconds 104 * Large systems (50,000 individuals): 64–128 MB, 40–80 seconds 105 106## Browser compatibility 107 108 **webtrees** is tested on recent versions of popular browsers such as Edge, Firefox, 109 Chrome, and Safari. Support for other browsers and older versions is on a case-by-case basis. 110 111## Installation 112 1131. Download the .ZIP file for latest stable version from [github.com](https://github.com/fisharebest/webtrees/releases/latest). 1142. Unzip the files and then upload them to an empty folder on your web server. 1153. Open your web browser and type the URL for your **webtrees** site (for example, 116 ``https://www.yourserver.com/webtrees`` into the address bar. 1174. The **webtrees** setup wizard will start automatically. 118 119Your first task will be to create a family tree. 120 121If you have a GEDCOM file, you can import it into the tree. If not, just start 122entering your family tree. 123 124There are lots of configuration options. You'll probably want to review the 125privacy settings first. Don't worry too much about all the other options - the 126defaults are good for most people. If you get stuck, you can get friendly help 127and advice from the [help](https://webtrees.net/forums) forum. 128 129 130## Upgrading 131 132Upgrading **webtrees** is quick and easy. It is strongly recommended that you 133upgrade your installation whenever a new version is made available. Even minor 134**webtrees** version updates usually contain a significant number of bug fixes 135as well as interface improvements and program enhancements. 136 137* **Automatic upgrade** 138 139 **webtrees** has an automatic upgrade facility. An administrator upon logging in 140will receive notification when a new version is available and an option to start 141the automatic upgrade. If for some reason the automatic upgrade should fail 142then a manual upgrade should be performed. 143 144* **Manual upgrade** 145 146 1. Now would be a good time to make a [backup](#backup). 147 2. Download the latest version of **webtrees** available from 148 [webtrees.net](https://webtrees.net/) 149 3. While you are in the middle of uploading the new files, 150 a visitor to your site would encounter a mixture of new and old files. This 151 could cause unpredictable behavior or errors. To prevent this, create the 152 file **data/offline.txt**. While this file exists, visitors will see a 153 “site unavailable - come back later” message. 154 4. Unzip the .ZIP file, and upload the files to your web server, overwriting the existing files. 155 5. Delete the file **data/offline.txt**. 156 157 158### Note for Macintosh users 159 160Step 4 assumes you are using a copy tool that **merges** directories rather than 161replaces them. (**Merge** is standard behavior on Windows and Linux.) If you use 162the Macintosh Finder or other similar tool to perform step 3, it will **replace** 163your configuration, media and other directories with the empty/default ones from 164the installation. This would be very bad (but you did take a backup in step 1, 165didn't you!). Further details and recommendations for suitable tools can be found 166by searching [google.com](https://google.com). 167 168 169## Building and developing 170 171If you want to build webtrees from source, or modify the code, you'll need to install 172a couple of tools first. 173 174You will need [composer](https://getcomposer.org/) to install the PHP dependencies. 175Then run this command:: 176 177* php composer.phar install 178 179You will need [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/get-npm) to install the Javascript dependencies. 180Then run the commands: 181 182* npm install 183* npm run production 184 185You will need to re-run the second of these any time you modify the file `webtrees.js`. 186 187## Gedcom (family tree) files 188 189When you import a family tree (GEDCOM) file in **webtrees** the 190data from the file is transferred to the database tables. The file itself 191remains in the **webtrees/data** folder and is no longer used or required 192by **webtrees**. Any subsequent editing of the **webtrees** data 193will not change this file 194 195When or if you change your genealogy data outside of **webtrees**, it is not 196necessary to delete your GEDCOM file or database from **webtrees** and start 197over. Follow these steps to update a GEDCOM that has already been imported: 198 199* Go to ``Control panel`` -> ``Manage family trees`` On the line relating to this particular family tree (GEDCOM) 200 file (or a new one) select IMPORT. 201* Take careful note of the media items option (_“If you have created media objects 202 in **webtrees**, and have edited your data off-line using software that 203 deletes media objects, then tick this box to merge the current media objects 204 with the new GEDCOM.”_) In most cases you should leave this box **UNCHECKED**. 205* Click “SAVE”. **webtrees** will validate the GEDCOM again before importing. 206 During this process, **webtrees** copies your entire family tree (GEDCOM file) 207 to a 'chunk' table within your database. Depending on the coding of your file, 208 its file size and the capabilities of your server and the supporting software, 209 this may take some time. **No progress bar will show while the data is being 210 copied** and should you navigate away from this page, the process is suspended. 211 It will start again when you return to the Family Tree management page. 212 213 214### Gedcom file Formats 215 216Every Family History program has its own method of creating GEDCOM files, and 217differing output format options to select from. **webtrees'** import routines 218can read many different formats, but not necessarily all. If your software has 219a “UTF8” option you should always use that. However, **webtrees** has been 220tested with these alternative formats: 221 222* ANSI 223 * imports OK, but is slow due to the translation into UTF8 as part 224 of the import process. 225* MAC 226 * imports OK, but is slow due to the translation into UTF8 as part 227 of the import process. 228* DOS 229 * imports OK, but is slow due to the translation into UTF8 as part 230 of the import process. 231* ANSEL 232 * currently will not import. Gives warning *Error: cannot convert 233 GEDCOM file from ANSEL encoding to UTF-8 encoding*. Later releases 234 of **webtrees** may include the facility to translate from ANSEL to UTF8, 235 but for now a standalone utility [is available here](https://dev.webtrees.net/ansel/) 236 and should be used to convert the format to UTF-8 prior to importing. 237 238 239## Security 240 241**Security** in _webtrees_ means ensuring your site is safe from unwanted 242intrusions, hacking, or access to data and configuration files. The developers 243of _webtrees_ regard security as an extremely important part of its development 244and have made every attempt to ensure your data is safe. 245 246The area most at risk of intrusion would be the **/data** folder that contains your 247config.ini.php file, and various temporary files. If you are concerned there 248may be a risk there is a very simple test you can do: try to fetch the file 249config.ini.php by typing **``url_to_your_server/data/config.ini.php``** in your web 250browser. 251 252The most likely result is an “access denied” message like this: 253 254 Forbidden 255 256 You don't have permission to access /data/config.ini.php on this server. 257 258This indicates that the protection built into **webtrees** is working, and no 259further action is required. 260 261In the unlikely event you do fetch the file (you will just see a semicolon), 262then that protection is not working on your site and you should take some further 263action. 264 265If your server runs PHP in CGI mode, then change the permission of the **/data** 266folder to 700 instead of 777. This will block access to the httpd process, 267while still allowing access to PHP scripts. 268 269This will work for perhaps 99% of all users. Only the remaining 1% should consider 270the most complex solution, moving the **/data** folder out of accessible web 271space. (**_Note:_** In many shared hosting environments this is not an option anyway.) 272 273If you do find it necessary, following is an example of the process required: 274 275If your home folder is something like **/home/username**, 276and the root folder for your web site is **/home/username/public_html**, 277and you have installed **webtrees** in the **public_html/webtrees** folder, 278then you would create a new **data** folder in your home folder at the same 279level as your public_html folder, such as **/home/username/private/data**, 280and place your GEDCOM (family tree) file there. 281 282Then change the **Data folder** setting on the ``Control panel`` -> 283``Website`` -> ``Website preferences`` page from the default **data/** to the new 284location **/home/username/private/data** 285 286You will have **two** data directories: 287 288* [path to webtrees]/data - just needs to contain config.ini.php 289* /home/username/private/data - contains everything else 290 291 292## Backup 293 294Backups are good. Whatever problem you have, it can always be fixed from a good 295backup. 296 297To make a backup of **webtrees**, you need to make a copy of the following 298 2991. The files in the *webtrees/data* folder. 3002. The tables in the database. Freely available tools such as 301 [phpMyAdmin](https://www.phpmyadmin.net) allow you to do this in one click. Alternatively, You can also make a backup running a mysqldump command (just replace the words *[localhost]*, *[username]*, *[password]* and *[databasename]* with your own): 302 303 `mysqldump --host=[localhost] -u [username] -p[password] --databases [databasename] > dump_file.sql` 304 305 Note that '*-p[password]*' goes together with no space in between. 306 307 308Remember that most web hosting services do NOT backup your data, and this is 309your responsibility. 310 311## Restore from backup 312 313To restore a backup on a new server: 314 3151. Follow the steps in [Installation](#installation) to get a clean new installation. 316 3172. Replace the *data* folder with backup copy. 318 3193. Restore your mysql database using phpmyadmin or running the following command line on your database server using your mysqldumpfile (just replace the words *[username]*, *[password]* and *[databasename]* with your own): 320 321 `mysql -u [username] -p[password] [database_name] < [dump_file.sql]` 322 3234. Confirm the file *data/config.ini.php* contains to correct information to connect to the database and update it if needed. 324
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