Ledger (software)
{{short description|Double-entry accounting app}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Ledger
| logo =
| author = John Wiegley
| released = {{Start date and age|2003}}
| latest release version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|P348|P548=Q2804309}} | latest release date = {{Start date and age|{{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|single|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}|df=yes}}
| latest preview version =
| latest preview date =
| operating system = Any Unix-like including macOS, Microsoft Windows[https://github.com/AlexanderAA/ledger_binaries_windows Ledger 2.6.1 and 3.1.x binaries for windows systems ]
| platform = Cross-platform{{which|date=September 2013}}
| language = C++
| status =
| genre = Double-entry bookkeeping system
| license = BSD-3-Clause
| website = {{URL|ledger-cli.org}}
}}
Ledger is a command-line based double-entry bookkeeping application. Accounting data is stored in a plain text file, using a simple format, which the users prepare themselves using other tools. Ledger does not write or modify data, it only parses the input data and produces reports.
Reviews
Linux Weekly News editor Jonathan Corbet found Ledger to be a "powerful tool", particularly for generating reports, but that the software lacked many of the features necessary to scale to the needs of a small business.{{refn|{{citation | last=Corbet | first=Jonathan | date=13 June 2012 | url=https://lwn.net/Articles/501681/ | title=The accounting quest: Ledger | publisher=Linux Weekly News}} }} Joe Barr writing for Linux.com commented "If you're an MBA who groks Emacs and regular expressions, or a kernel hacker who appreciates tax deferred accruals, you'll love this application."{{refn| {{citation|last=Barr|first=Joe|publisher=Linux.com|title=Ledger, the bran muffin of accounting tools | url=https://www.linux.com/news/ledger-bran-muffin-accounting-tools | date=10 Nov 2006}} }}
FLOSS Weekly interviewed John Wiegley in 2011. It noted reading of GnuCash files, scriptability, an Emacs interface and automated transactions as strong features as well as the Common Lisp port and the Haskell port of the system.{{refn|{{citation | last=Schwartz | first=Randall | date=23 January 2011 | url=https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly/episodes/150 | title=Ledger | publisher=FLOSS Weekly}} }}
Ports
The Ledger system and file format have been quite influential, reimplemented in several other languages and inspiring similar tools. Actively developed ports{{cite web|last=Wiegley|first=John|title=Ledger Ports|url=https://github.com/ledger/ledger/wiki/Ports}} include Abandon{{cite web|last=RJ|first=Harshad|title=Abandon|url=https://github.com/hrj/abandon}} in Scala, Beancount{{cite web|last=Blais|first=Martin|title=Beancount|url=http://furius.ca/beancount/}} in Python, and hledger{{cite web|last=Michael|first=Simon|title=How does hledger relate to ledger?|url=http://hledger.org/faq.html}} in Haskell. Actively developed projects inspired by ledger include penny.{{cite web|last=Norman|first=Omari|title=penny|url=https://hackage.haskell.org/package/penny}}
See also
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
External links
- [http://ledger-cli.org/ Ledger homepage]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060930/http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/AISTWiki/pub/AIS/Presentations/Ledger.pdf Ledger and Text based Accounting] 2009 presentation by Russell Adams
References
{{reflist}}
{{Personal finance software}}
Category:Free accounting software
Category:Free software programmed in C++