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Getting Started with PostBooks

PostBooks is a fully open source accounting, ERP, and CRM system that shares a code base with the OpenMFG commercial product. It's released and managed by xTuple, the new name for the company formerly known as OpenMFG. For details on the company, and the differences between PostBooks and OpenMFG, please see http://www.xtuple.com.

PostBooks is a client-server system, with a rich GUI client built with Qt, and most of the business logic in the PostgreSQL database (in the pl/pgsql procedural language). Below is a quick start guide to getting started with PostBooks.

There are three packages in the PostBooks project - GUIclient, databases, and docs. The GUIclient package contains binaries for Linux, Mac, and Windows, as well as client source code. The databases package contains PostgreSQL database dumps (.backup files) that you restore into a clean PostgreSQL database, as well as some more detailed instructions on database setup. The docs package contains two ZIP files - some developer-oriented documentation, and the full application User Guide.

Here are the basic steps to getting up and running with PostBooks. All package and file locations refer to the SourceForge open source repository; the main PostBooks page is here.

1. Install and configure a PostgreSQL database. (For more information, see the INSTALL.TXT file in the PostBooks-databases package.)

2. Setup a basic PostgreSQL user and group.

3. Create a new PostgreSQL database and then restore a PostBooks database schema into it. There are currently two starter schemas to choose from:

* empty.backup - This is an empty database with no data, but all the tables and structures created.

* quickstart.backup - This database contains a basic Chart of Accounts and also the Account Assignments required to run the full range of transactions. Recommended unless you're very familiar with the application.

4. Start the pre-compiled PostBooks binary and connect to your database. (For login options and other instructions, please see the User Guide, in the PostBooks-docs package.)

--OR--

4a. Compile the binary yourself using the PostBooks source code. (For instructions on compiling PostBooks from source, please see the Developer Guide documentation, in the PostBooks-docs package.)

Thanks for your interest in PostBooks! Please come visit us at www.postbooks.org!

Additional Resources for Ubuntu 7.04 users

There's a howto written by Oliver Meyer at www.howtoforge.com/postbooks_on_ubuntu704.

There's also a more comprehensive (30 minute) Flash video produced by xTuple at www.xtuple.com/pbvideos/installu.html.