VATStuff

Double entry bookkeeping and VAT accounting package.
Free, GPL Licensed.

VATStuff provides a double-entry bookkeeping system, with facilities to
create purchase orders, invoices and to record costs and calculate VAT
returns. VAT calculations are designed to meet UK regulations, and are not
applicable to other states.

Even for non-VAT registered companies, VATStuff enables you to record your
transactions and produce invoices.


Installation on Linux

VATStuff requires python version 2.5 or later (but not 3+).  To check your
version, type 'python --version' at a terminal prompt.

Source files are held at http://launchpad.net/vatstuff

Download the latest VATStuff-0.7.0.tar.gz file from Launchpad and extract
it in a convenient place - you will then have a directory with a
name VATStuff-0.7.0 (Or later numbers depending on the version).

VATStuff depends on a number of libraries, which you need to install.
These are; WxPython, PIL and Reportlab.
On Ubuntu/Debian use the package management system to install:

       python-wxtools
       python-imaging
       python-reportlab

With these dependencies satisfied, you now have two methods of installation:

Method 1

VATStuff can be run directly from the directory you have just created.
Simply double click on vatstuff.py - or from the terminal, move to the
directory and type:
  ./vatstuff.py

If the file does not have executable permissions, try
  python vatstuff.py

(Or give it executable permissions.)  This may be the simplest and most
convenient method if you are the only user of your computer. Should you
want to uninstall, delete this directory and its contents.

Method 2

If multiple users work on your computer - or you are an administrator, and
don't want others messing with the programs you have installed, then using
a terminal, move to the VATStuff-0.7.0 directory and type:
   sudo python setup.py install

This will then place the VATStuff files in appropriate places within the
system file hierarchy, and owned by root.
You can then, from any directory, and as any user, type vatstuff.py, and as
it is on your executable path, it will now run.
Please note: So far I have only tested this with Ubuntu 10.04.

Should an upgrade be required, just do the same again, and old files will be
overwritten.

You can then delete the VATStuff-0.7.0 directory and the tar file.

If you wish, you can create a descktop launcher (right click on the desktop
in Ubuntu), the command is 'vatstuff.py'  If you wish to insert an icon, a
suitable one can be found under:
/usr/local/vatstuff_files/images/vatstuff32.png


TO POTENTIAL PACKAGERS

If you are packaging vatstuff for a Linux distribution:

This program consists of:
file vatstuff.py - which is the executable
directory vatstuff_packages - contains pure python files
directory vatstuff_files - contains data files

There are no c extensions. VATStuff depends on:

python >= 2.5 and < 3.0
WxPython >= 2.8
PIL 
Reportlab

vatstuff_packages:
Contains all pure-python packages and needs to be either
on the python path, or under the same directory as vatstuff.py

vatstuff_files:
Contains data files and directories needed by the program.
The directories are described below, but you will also find three files
directly under vatstuff_files, these are:
vatstuff.cfg         - the configuration file
vatstuff.cfg.install - a version of the config file copied onto
                       vatstuff.cfg when 'python setup.py install' is run
vatstuff.cfg.local   - a copy of the original config file.

Of the above three, only vatstuff.cfg is needed (suitably edited), and
should be placed somewhere vatstuff.py can find it.
Within the executable script vatstuff.py there is the line:

_CONFIG_LOCATION = None

With this value at None, vatstuff.py looks for vatstuff.cfg in a number
of standard locations.  If you locate config files somewhere special, or
just for efficiency, then edit the _CONFIG_LOCATION variable, for example:
_CONFIG_LOCATION = "/etc/vatstuff/vatstuff.cfg"

Within the config file vatstuff.cfg, the locations of the directories under
vatstuff_files are specified.  So you can place vatstuff_files anywhere,
and edit vatstuff.cfg to show their location. The three lines you are likey
to edit are:

images_folder = 
html_folder = 
log_folder =

Set these to the location of the data directories:

vatstuff_files/images  - contains image files used by vatstuff
vatstuff_files/html    - contains html files used by vatstuff
vatstuff_files/log     - a directory for log files

There also exists:
vatstuff_files/license - copies of the gpl, not read by vatstuf

The html and images directories are only read, never written by vatstuff.
The license directory is not used by vatstuff at all.
The log directory needs to be writeable, and normally you would want it
elsewhere (perhaps under /var/log/vatstuff), in which case the line in
vatstuff.cfg should be suitably edited, for example:
log_folder = /var/log/vatstuff

vatstuff itself rotates the logs it creates in this directory, so there is
no need for any other log rotation mechanism.

You should also know that, when started, vatstuff creates a directory
 .vatstuff
under the users home directory; this contains a file holding user preferences
(such as the location of the users last database).  This directory could
also be used to hold the log files, in which case the line in the
vatstuff.cfg file would be:
log_folder =  %HOME%/.vatstuff

VATStuff substitutes the users home directory for %HOME% when it reads the
config file.

If you are interested in packaging VATStuff, and need any further
information, feel free to contact me at:
bernie@vatstuff.co.uk or bernie@skipole.co.uk