LifeLines

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Open-source genealogy program

title: "LifeLines" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["free-genealogy-software", "free-software-programmed-in-c", "software-using-the-mit-license"] description: "Open-source genealogy program" topic_path: "general/free-genealogy-software" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeLines" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Open-source genealogy program ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

Field	Value
name	LifeLines
logo	LifeLines logo.png
author	Tom Wetmore
developer	The LifeLines Team
released
latest release version
latest release date
latest preview version
latest preview date
programming language	C
operating system	Unix-like, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
language	English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Polish, and Swedish
genre	Genealogy software
license	MIT license
website

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

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 is maintained by a team of volunteers. In April 2016 the code was moved to GitHub and a new release numbered 3.1.0 was issued.

LifeLines uses a text-based curses interface. A couple of experimental GUI interfaces were in development, but lacked the stability and core functionality to make them suitable for release.

References

[https://lifelines.sourceforge.net/ LifeLines genealogy software:Key Info] - "Lifelines was written by Tom Wetmore circa 1991-1994 and he has now placed it under an MIT-style license."
"Index of /Pub/Genealogy/Lines".
[https://web.archive.org/web/20121225013903/http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/genealogy/lines/LIFELINE.NEWSL-01 On 23 September I announced the existence of LifeLines on the soc.roots/ROOTS-L list,...]{{webarchive. link. (2010-07-07 LIFELINES NEWSLETTER 1, 4 October 1992, T. T. Wetmore IV, ed.)
[https://sourceforge.net/project/memberlist.php?group_id=852 LifeLines - Project Member List]
[http://kairoscomputers.com/notlimaH/lifelinesFAQ.htm LifeLines FAQ] - By Larry Hamilton - November 22, 2005
[https://lifelines.sourceforge.net/ LifeLines genealogy software:Key Info] - "Internationalization and localization: Native language support has been added for a number of languages, including Danish, French, German, and Swedish beginning with the 3.0.29 release."
[http://www.oneworldtree.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=4841 Windows XP Versus Linux: A Genealogist’s Viewpoint] - By Dick Eastman - 2001 - "Lifelines was the first genealogy program to become available for Linux."
[https://fhtw.byu.edu/static/conf/2005/finlay-genealogy-fhtw2005.pdf Open Source Genealogy Software] - By John Finlay - 2005
Lifelines version 3.0 was released 12 October 1994.[http://listserv.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind9410b&L=lines-l&T=0&F=&S=&P=1779 LifeLines 3.0.1 Available], From:"T.T.Wetmore", Date:12 Oct 1994, LINES-L Archives
[https://lifelines.sourceforge.net/faq.html#A23 FAQ#23. Will there ever be a GUI for LifeLines?]

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