openBMD Wiki

openBMD is an application for the transcription of index entries for Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMD) from the Civil Registration index in England and Wales.

Written in python using the wxPython toolkit, it's designed to be a multi-platform solution for people using Windows, OS X and Linux, providing a native look and feel on each system.

Purpose

openBMD is designed to be used as part of the FreeBMD project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records. It is a part of the FreeUKGEN family, which also includes FreeCEN (Census data) and FreeREG (Parish Registers).

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

By participating in the FreeBMD project, using software such as openBMD, volunteers are helping to provide access to a key source of information for genealogists, family tree hobbyists and people looking to trace their ancestry.

Status

openBMD is still in development.
Weekly updates to the code are being added as part of the 'release early, release often' ethos.

Usage

This software is being developed using the following:

• Python 2.6.1
• wxPython 2.8.12.0

You'll need both of these packages to run the script.

To run, download and unzip the files to your computer. Navigate to the unzipped folder in a terminal or command console session and run the script with the following command:

python openBMD_0.1.py

...where _0.1 corresponds to the version of the software you've downloaded.

Note: this version of wxPython only has 32-bit support. If you're running the code using the Apple build of python (OS X 10.6.x) which runs scrips at 64-bit by default, then you'll first need to temporarily enable 32-bit support by typing the following into the terminal:

export VERSIONER_PYTHON_PREFER_32_BIT=yes

Alternative software:

There are a range of other software available for the transcription of Birth, Marriage and Death index records:

• WinBMD (http://winbmd.rmhh.co.uk/)
• MacBMD (http://download.cnet.com/MacBMD/3000-2072_4-2542.html)
• LinBMD (http://andrew.higgs.co.za/linbmd/)

The wiki uses Markdown syntax.