hledger/doc/github-release-template.md

Release notes (https://hledger.org/release-notes.html#hledger-A-BB)

YYYY-MM-DD hledger-A.BB

Summary.

hledger A.BB

Installing

At https://hledger.org/install, binary packages should be available for this release within a few days (look for green badges).

Or, you can build from source as described there, after cloning at tag A.BB: git clone https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger --depth 1 -b A.BB

Or, if there are release binaries below suitable for your OS and hardware, you can use those.

Here are some instructions for the release binaries on various platforms:

GNU/Linux on 64-bit Intel

At the command line,

$ cd /usr/local/bin
$ curl -LOC- https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/releases/download/A.BB/hledger-linux-x64.zip   # can rerun this if interrupted
$ unzip -X hledger-linux-x64.zip
$ cd -
$ hledger --version  # should show the new version
$ touch $HOME/.hledger.journal   # ensure a default journal file exists

Mac on 64-bit Intel

In a terminal window,

$ cd /usr/local/bin
$ curl -LOC- https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/releases/download/A.BB/hledger-mac-x64.zip
$ unzip -X hledger-mac-x64.zip
$ open .
# for the hledger, hledger-ui, hledger-web icons: right-click the executable, Open, confirm it's ok to run
$ cd -
$ hledger --version  # should show the new version
$ touch $HOME/.hledger.journal   # ensure a default journal file exists

Windows on 64-bit Intel

In a powershell window (press Windows-r, type powershell, press enter),

Make a place to keep hledger binaries, and add it to your PATH. You only need to do this once, not for every release. This is optional, but makes running hledger easier.

mkdir -force $HOME\bin >$null
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)+";"+$HOME+"\bin", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User)

Download and install the release binaries:

cd $HOME\bin
curl https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/releases/download/A.BB/hledger-windows-x64.zip -OutFile hledger-windows-x64.zip
Expand-Archive hledger-windows-x64.zip -DestinationPath .
rm hledger-windows-x64.zip
cd $HOME
hledger --version           # should show the new version

And ensure a default journal file exists:

echo $null | out-file -append -encoding ascii $HOME/.hledger.journal

Problems: - Starting hledger/hledger-web by double-clicking their icon won’t work; run them from a cmd or powershell window instead.

Windows 7 on 64-bit Intel, using Firefox

• click hledger-windows-x64.zip below
• choose Open with Windows Explorer, OK
• click Extract all files
• choose a destination folder - ideally one that appears in echo %PATH%, like C:\Windows (though that one will require administrator permission); otherwise, your home directory (C:\Users\YOURNAME)
• check “Show extracted files when complete”
• click Extract, wait for the destination folder to open
• find the hledger, hledger-web icons (if you extracted to \Windows, you’ll need to scroll down)
• for each icon: double-click, uncheck “Always ask before opening this file”, click Run
• close those Explorer windows
• open a command window (press Windows-r, type CMD, press enter)
• hledger --version should show the new version
• echo # >> .hledger.journal to ensure a default journal file exists. (Important: the doubled >> is needed to avoid overwriting existing data.)

Problems: - Starting hledger by double-clicking its icon won’t work because it needs arguments; run it from the command window instead. - Starting hledger-web by double-clicking its icon may fail eg because Explorer’s command window is too small; configure that to be larger, or run hledger-web from a command window instead. - hledger or hledger-web may fail to run if there is not enough memory available.

Next steps

Once installed, you could try these quick starts / tutorials:

• https://hledger.org/index.html#how-to-get-started
• https://hledger.org/add.html
• https://hledger.org/ui.html
• https://hledger.org/web.html