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1. What it does

   stark is a curses-based tool to display your GnuCash data. It displays current account balances, values of holdings, and account registers.

2. How to compile it

   There is a Makefile included that should build stark without any problems. Simply run 'make'. stark depends on expat and curses.

3. How to use it

   ./stark <GnuCash-data-file>

   GnuCash leaves behind dozens of .xac and .log files; in case you haven't paid attention to the GnuCash documentation, those are just backup files (the .log files aren't even that) and you can ignore them or do whatever you want to with them. I remove mine after committing the changes to CVS.

   If it complains about anything and doesn't show you an account list, odds are there's a problem with your GnuCash data. Hopefully there's enough information in the error message for you to open your data file in an editor and track down where the problem is.

   In the accounts display, these keys do these things:

   q - exit

   enter - show this account's register S - show transactions for this account and all subaccounts G - show all transactions (General Ledger)

   h, left - move to the parent account j, down, ^N - move to the account shown below k, up, ^P - move to the account shown above home, ^A - move to the first account end, ^E - move to the last account

   • - hide the current account's subaccounts +, right - show the current account's subaccounts space - toggle whether the current account's subaccounts are shown
     • - show all subaccounts / - hide all subaccounts

^R - reload from file

In the register/ledger display, these keys do these things:

q - go back to the account display

   j, down      - move to the split or transaction shown below
   ^N           - move to the transaction below, skipping all shown splits
   k, up        - move to the split or transaction shown above
   ^P           - move to the transaction above, skipping all shown splits
   home, ^A     - move to the first transaction
   end, ^E      - move to the last transaction

   ^R           - reload from file

In the subaccounts or general ledger, splits are always skipped.

If you are not looking at the subaccounts or general ledger, you can also use these keys to interact with splits:

enter, space - toggle whether the current transaction's splits are listed

                  explicitly
   J            - jump to the account referenced by the current split (for
                  transactions with only two splits, jump to the other account)

4. That's it?

stark doesn't do any real reporting, and doesn't let you modify the data. That makes it pretty useless, except for when you're out and only have ssh access and need to see how much money you have. Here's a quick TODO list:

• currencies
• reporting
• fetch updated stock quotes
• editable

I don't know if and when I'll ever get to this. Feel free to send a patch. stark is public domain so feel free not to.