Have you ever been curious about your entire family history? Would you like to pass on this knowledge to your descendants? Are you a student or a passionate reader who could use a clear view of all the members of some dynasty or book series? Last, but not least, do you know how fun it is to build and connect family trees?

Unless you answered "no" to all these questions, keep reading. This article highlights some open source tools you can use to create, view, and preserve genealogy trees.

GEDCOM

Genealogical Data Communication (GEDCOM) [1], the de facto standard format for preserving genealogy data, has a unique genealogy in its own right. The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) created GEDCOM in 1984, and they still maintain it today. The LDS church places great importance on genealogy. Mormons have traced and archived family trees since the beginning of their history [2][3]. When computers became available, they developed a file format known for openness and simplicity, which explains why it's still the standard for preserving or exchanging genealogy data.

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