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annotate support-expectations.md @ 82:bc79072a8169 kai
Update README with suggestion for future deployment.
| author | Kai T. Ohlhus <k.ohlhus@gmail.com> |
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| date | Mon, 17 Oct 2016 18:34:14 +0200 |
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3 title: Support Expectations |
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6 |
| 49 | 7 Octave is a capable free software system for numerical computing |
| 8 developed primarily by a community of volunteers. As good as it | |
| 9 is, there are certainly some flaws and a lot of room for | |
| 10 improvement. Most people who use Octave understand these things | |
| 11 and know that if they work together with the community bugs will | |
| 12 be fixed, features will be added, and Octave will improve over | |
| 13 time. Working with people who have this kind of attitude is fun | |
| 14 and rewarding. | |
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| 49 | 16 Unfortunately, there are a few people who behave as though the |
| 17 community owes them support as well as a 100% Matlab compatible | |
| 18 system, all at zero cost. It shouldn't really be necessary, but | |
| 19 we'll say it anyway: working with these people is no fun. If you | |
| 20 approach the Octave community this way, you are sure to be | |
| 21 disappointed. You should also not be surprised when your requests | |
| 22 for help are ignored. | |
| 23 | |
| 24 | |
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25 # Development Group |
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26 |
| 49 | 27 People sometimes think that Octave is developed by some large team |
| 28 of well-paid programmers. Nothing could be further from the truth. | |
| 29 Most of the initial development of Octave was done by one person | |
| 30 over several years. Since then, there have been at most a half-dozen | |
| 31 or so volunteers working on Octave at any one time. | |
| 32 You can see who has done most of the work by looking through the | |
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33 [development history][1] (prior to February 2008 it is best to look |
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34 in the old `ChangeLog` files). Currently, none of the Octave developers |
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35 are paid to work on Octave directly. |
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36 |
| 49 | 37 If you would like to see Octave moving forward more quickly, then |
| 38 contribute to its development, either by working on the project | |
| 39 yourself, or by donating funds. With sufficient funding, we would | |
| 40 be able to pay a few developers to work on Octave full time. | |
| 41 | |
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42 [1]: http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave |
| 49 | 43 |
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44 |
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45 # Help |
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46 |
| 49 | 47 When asking for help on the mailing list or IRC channel, |
| 48 or reporting a bug, remember that the people helping you | |
| 49 are Octave users just like you who are volunteering their time. | |
| 50 They are not paid support staff. Use meaningful subject lines. | |
| 51 Try to ask clear questions. Be precise about the problems you are having. | |
| 52 | |
| 53 | |
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54 # Bugs |
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| 49 | 56 No software is perfect, and Octave is no exception. |
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57 You can search the list of bug reports to see what problems have been reported. |
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58 In looking at the list, you might also noticed the number of problems that |
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59 have been *fixed*. |
| 49 | 60 Nearly all of these problems have been fixed by volunteers. |
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61 If you find a problem, you are encouraged to [report it][2]. |
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62 Your report can help to improve Octave, but you should not think of the bug |
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63 tracker as your personal support line. |
| 49 | 64 |
| 65 If you depend on Octave and absolutely must have prompt responses | |
| 66 to problem reports, you should consider paying | |
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67 for [commercial support][3]. |
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68 |
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69 [2]: {{ "bugs.html" | relative_url }} |
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70 [3]: {{ "commercial-support.html" | relative_url }} |
| 49 | 71 |
| 72 | |
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73 # Features |
| 49 | 74 |
| 75 When we say that Octave is "mostly compatible" with Matlab, | |
| 76 we mean that the language that it accepts is similar enough that a | |
| 77 substantial amount of code written for Matlab can also run in | |
| 78 Octave without needing to be changed. But Octave does not have | |
| 79 all the features of Matlab, and it is unlikely that it ever will. | |
| 80 Given that Matlab is developed in secret and Octave developers | |
| 81 only find out about new Matlab features when new versions of | |
| 82 Matlab are released, it is clearly impossible for Octave to have | |
| 83 new Matlab features as soon as they are available in Matlab. | |
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84 |
| 49 | 85 |
| 86 In most cases, Octave has the features that it does because | |
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87 someone decided to add them because they needed them. If you have |
| 49 | 88 the programming skills perhaps you can add the features you need. |
| 89 If you not, then consider paying for someone to implement the | |
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90 feature for you. Most people who provide [commercial support][3] |
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91 services for Octave will also take on custom programming projects. |
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92 |
| 49 | 93 Even if you don't have the expertise required to implement new |
| 94 features or can't pay for someone to do the work for you, you may | |
| 95 submit feature requests to the bug tracker. But you should | |
| 96 understand that unless you are paying for someone to to add the | |
| 97 feature, no one is obligated to do it for you. |