Pantry is a command-line nutrient analysis program for Unix-like operating systems. What Pantry needs most right now is testing and bugreports! I know it works well on my machine but I have no idea how Pantry is doing "in the wild." So please, report any problems or suggestions you may have. Below is a section from the Pantry user guide that describes Pantry in brief. For more details, check out the current user guide.
Pantry is non-copylefted free software. This means you can use it, modify the source code, and distribute it to your neighbors, all free of charge. You can even compile it and make it proprietary if you want. It is licensed under the MIT license.
The current release of Pantry is version 25. It was released on Tuesday, July 01, 2008. To download, follow this link. Here is the change log.
Pantry release numbers are sequential, like the numbering scheme for less. You can't infer anything from the version number--not even how many versions have been released, as I used to use a more conventional scheme. The only guarantee is that future versions will use higher numbers.
To know when a new version of Pantry is released, you can keep your eye on this webpage, which is the official home of Pantry. I also post new releases to the Pantry Freshmeat listing. Freshmeat has subscription services that will notify you when there is a new Pantry release.
Table of Contents
As you can see, this user manual is of some length. Right now you are probably wondering what Pantry does, whether it is right for you, and how it compares to similar programs.
Pantry is a command-line oriented nutrient analysis program. That's right, command-line oriented. What's more, Pantry is a true command-line program: there are no menus, there are no prompts. Instead, you simply type commands from your shell prompt, and Pantry does what you ask it to do, displaying results if you have asked it to do that. Thus, Pantry is different from other programs which run in a text-based terminal but which also present the user with menus; Wikipedia calls such programs text-user interface programs.
In addition to using Pantry from your shell prompt, you also interact with it through XML files. Using XML, you can edit Pantry's configuration file. You can also add nutrient information for custom foods (though Pantry includes nutrient information for over 7,000 foods to get you started) and recipes using XML.
Pantry is developed and tested on a Unix-like operating system.
Pantry's true command-line interface gives it many advantages. Because Pantry works from your shell prompt, you can easily combine it with other text-processing tools. You can also easily write scripts incorporating Pantry, in ways that even I cannot anticipate. This is the strength of the Unix "toolbox" way of using a computer.
In addition, nothing beats the speed of a command-line program for something you use frequently and are familiar with. If you are using a nutrient-analysis program to track your daily food intake, you will appreciate how quickly you can use Pantry for this purpose. Indeed, I developed Pantry due to my frustration with current tools because it was very tedious to use them to quickly tally a day's food intake.
Because Pantry runs from a text console, you can easily set it up on one computer that has an SSH server running. You may then access your nutrient data from any computer that has an SSH client.
The biggest disadvantage of using Pantry is the same as its biggest advantage: its command-line interface. Graphical user interface programs attempt to be self-documenting: just sit down, click on some buttons, and hopefully you can figure things out. With Pantry, on the other hand, you will absolutely have to read this manual to figure out how it works, and you will need some practice before you are comfortable with Pantry. In this way, Pantry resembles other command-line oriented Unix programs. As with other Unix programs, once you learn Pantry, you will love its speed and efficiency--but you will have to spend some time learning.
Similarly, because of its command-line interface, you will find that you are most efficient with Pantry if you know your way around a Unix shell prompt. For example, you will find that you can use Pantry more quickly if you know how to use your shell's features to manipulate your command history. Such knowledge is useful for any Unix command-line program, not just Pantry; however, building up this knowledge takes some time.
Pantry has no tools to graphically visualize your food intake. I might eventually add such features using Gnuplot or something similar.
A final disadvantage of using Pantry is that it is still new. I am still tweaking it, making changes, adding features, and improving the documentation. But perhaps this is not such a disadvantage: software that improves is nice. If you have any features that you would like, ask!
I know I like to check out many possible programs before settling on one to learn to use--and I always like trying new programs too. Here are some possible alternatives to Pantry that you might take a look at:
This is probably the leading nutrient analysis program for Unix. It has a text user interface and is very mature. NUT website.
The best GUI program for nutrient analysis that I have ever seen. It does more than nutrient analysis, too--for example it can track your exercise too. (Pantry will never do anything other than nutrients.) Crosstrainer only runs on Windows though, and I have not used Windows in quite awhile. Crosstrainer is also somewhat expensive. Crosstrainer website.
This website has great tools, and neat graphical features. Using it as a food diary is somewhat cumbersome, however. nutritiondata.com website.
This is the best food diary website that I have found. Fitday website.