LifeLines is a free

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 open-source

Open-source software

Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...

 genealogy software

Genealogy software

Genealogy software is computer software used to record, organize, and publish genealogical data. At a minimum, genealogy software collects the date and place of an individual's birth, marriage, and death, and stores the relationships of individuals to their parents, spouses, and children...

 tool to assist family history research. LifeLines primary strengths are its powerful scripting language and the ability to easily import and export information in the GEDCOM

GEDCOM

GEDCOM, an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunication, is a proprietary and open de facto specification for exchanging genealogical data between different genealogy software...

 format. It was the first open-source genealogy program for Unix. The Lifelines scripting language is now supported by several other open-source programs.

History

Lifelines version 1.0 was written by Tom Wetmore in the fall and winter of 1990/91 for his private use. Lifelines version 2.0 was released 23 September 1992 to the public. Lifelines version 3.0 was released 12 October 1994.

Lifelines is now maintained by a team of volunteers.

LifeLines uses a text-based curses

Curses (programming library)

curses is a terminal control library for Unix-like systems, enabling the construction of text user interface applications.The name is a pun on the term “cursor optimization”. It is a library of functions that manage an application's display on character-cell terminals .- Overview :The curses API...

 interface. A couple of experimental GUI

Gui

Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...

interfaces are in development, but currently lack the stability and core functionality to make them suitable for release.