lb -- The Little Budgeting Tool for GnuCash Copyright (C) 2004 by Gabriel M. Beddingfield All Rights Reserved "For of him [God], and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen." (Romans 11:36) CONTENTS ======== 1. Description 2. Introduction 3. Installation 4. Usage 5. About lb DESCRIPTION =========== lb, The Little Budgeting Tool for GnuCash is a command-line utility that compares a comma-separated values budget definition with a HTML cash-flow report from GnuCash. It merges the two documents into a report that shows (for each account) the budgeted amount, the actual amount spent, and the difference between the two. INTRODUCTION ============ GnuCash (www.gnucash.org) is an excellent, high quality financial application put out by Gnu as part of the Gnome desktop project. While it is well-written and has many excellent features, on feature that it does not have is budgeting tools. While such an interface is in the works among the developers, I needed something to get me by for now. The Little Budgeting Tool meets this need for me. Budgeting is really pretty simple: 1. You make a plan about how you will spend your money. 2. You compare your actual expenses with your plan to make sure that you're sticking to your plan. 3. You make adjustments to fit your expenses into your budget, and you adjust future budgets to be more realistic. The Little Budgeting Tool for GnuCash is a command-line application that compares a GnuCash cash-flow report (where you spent your money) with another text file where you keep your budget. It outputs a table to the standard output (your screen) that shows you budgeted values, actual values, and the difference. INSTALLATION ============ See the INSTALL file. In most cases you will just need to do: $ tar xzf lb-1.0.0.tar.gz $ cd lb-1.0.0 $ make $ su Password: # make install USAGE ===== Read the man page: $ man 1 lb ABOUT LB ======== LB is free software written to glorify God and His Savior Jesus Christ. I dedicate this code to spreading His word and His love. If you have found this software useful, please make a donation to a Christian missionary. Suggested donation is US $10 or US $20. The mission is (of course) your choice... but if you don't know one to pick, may I suggest Wycliffe Bible Translators (www.wycliffe.org). They are an organization dedicated to translating the Bible into the "heart language" of every person on earth -- *every* indigenous language. In doing so, they have brought literacy to thousands of third-world peoples. These peoples now have their language written down, increased literacy rates, and greater pride in their heritage through such literacy. This is admirable even if you are not a believer of Jesus Christ. Are you a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ? Do you have in your life peace and forgiveness of sins? Or do you live in fear of God because of your sins -- the evil things that you do every day? Jesus didn't come put you down! He came to SAVE you from your sins. He came to: (1) forgive you for all your sins (past, present, and future) (2) Make a way for God to live inside you (every day), to teach you about Himself, and to be your friend. But this can only happen if you surrender your life to Him. To say, "I have sinned. I am sorry. I turn from that, and turn to you, God. Please forgive me for my sins. I give my life to you. You are now in control... I am your slave. I will follow Your Word. What You say, I will do." Not those exact words... but you get the idea. When this happens, the Holy Spirit comes into your life and lives within you. This happens as a "down payment" (from God to you) -- as a way of proving that you *will* be with God when you die. Proving that you are now a child of God -- no longer an enemy but a favored child. (Otherwise, you will go to hell -- forever separated from God.) Don't believe me? OK. But this is what the Bible (the Christian Scriptures / Holy Book) says about it: 1. That people are separated from God by sins... "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:26) 2. That God loves you and wants to FREE you... "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. He that believes on him is not judged: he that does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:16-18) 3. That Jesus is the ONLY way... "And in no other is there salvation: for there is no other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) If you now believe -- tell someone. Even me. Offended? No flames, please. I'm not forcing myself on anyone. Questions? Drop me a line: gabriel@teuton.org Grace and peace to you all!