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Start new development branch closer to the current website, but more lightweigt for further maintanence.
author Kai T. Ohlhus <k.ohlhus@gmail.com>
date Wed, 28 Sep 2016 02:08:11 +0200
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2 layout: default
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3 title: Support Expectations
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4 permalink: /support-expectations/
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8 <p>
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9 Octave is a capable free software system for numerical computing
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10 developed primarily by a community of volunteers. As good as it
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11 is, there are certainly some flaws and a lot of room for
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12 improvement. Most people who use Octave understand these things
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13 and know that if they work together with the community bugs will
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14 be fixed, features will be added, and Octave will improve over
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15 time. Working with people who have this kind of attitude is fun
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16 and rewarding.
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17 </p>
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19 <p>
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20 Unfortunately, there are a few people who behave as though the
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21 community owes them support as well as a 100% Matlab compatible
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22 system, all at zero cost. It shouldn't really be necessary, but
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23 we'll say it anyway: working with these people is no fun. If you
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24 approach the Octave community this way, you are sure to be
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25 disappointed. You should also not be surprised when your requests
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26 for help are ignored.
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27 </p>
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29 <h1>Development Group</h1>
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30 <p>
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31 People sometimes think that Octave is developed by some
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32 large team of well-paid programmers. Nothing could be further
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33 from the truth. Most of the initial development of Octave was
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34 done by one person over several years. Since then, there have
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35 been at most a half-dozen or so volunteers working on Octave at
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36 any one time. You can see who has done most of the work by
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37 looking through
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38 the <a href="http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave">development
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39 history</a> (prior to February 2008 it is best to look in the
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40 old <tt>ChangeLog</tt> files). Currently, none of the Octave
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41 developers are paid to work on Octave directly.
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42 </p>
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44 <p>
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45 If you would like to see Octave moving forward more quickly, then
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46 contribute to its development, either by working on the project
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47 yourself, or by donating funds. With sufficient funding, we would
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48 be able to pay a few developers to work on Octave full time.
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49 </p>
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51 <h1>Help</h1>
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52 <p>
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53 When asking for help on the mailing list or IRC channel, or
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54 reporting a bug, remember that the people helping you are Octave
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55 users just like you who are volunteering their time. They are not
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56 paid support staff. Use meaningful subject lines. Try to ask
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57 clear questions. Be precise about the problems you are having.
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58 </p>
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59
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60 <h1>Bugs</h1>
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61 <p>
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62 No software is perfect, and Octave is no exception. You can
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63 search the list of bug reports to see what problems have been
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64 reported. In looking at the list, you might also noticed the
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65 number of problems that have been <emph>fixed</emph>. Nearly all
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66 of these problems have been fixed by volunteers. If you find a
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67 problem, you are encouraged
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68 to <a href="bugs.html">report it</a>. Your report can help to
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69 improve Octave, but you should not think of the bug tracker as
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70 your personal support line.
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71 </p>
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72 <p>
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73 If you depend on Octave and absolutely must have prompt responses
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74 to problem reports, you should consider paying
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75 for <a href="commercial-support.html">commercial support</a>.
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76 </p>
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78 <h1>Features</h1>
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79 <p>
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80 When we say that Octave is "mostly compatible" with Matlab, we
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81 mean that the language that it accepts is similar enough that a
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82 substantial amount of code written for Matlab can also run in
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83 Octave without needing to be changed. But Octave does not have
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84 all the features of Matlab, and it is unlikely that it ever will.
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85 Given that Matlab is developed in secret and Octave developers
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86 only find out about new Matlab features when new versions of
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87 Matlab are released, it is clearly impossible for Octave to have
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88 new Matlab features as soon as they are available in Matlab.
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89 </p>
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90 <p>
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91 In most cases, Octave has the features that it does because
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92 someone decided to add them becuase they needed them. If you have
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93 the programming skills perhaps you can add the features you need.
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94 If you not, then consider paying for someone to implement the
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95 feature for you. Most people who
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96 provide <a href="commercial-support.html">commercial support</a>
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97 services for Octave will also take on custom programming projets.
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98 </p>
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99 <p>
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100 Even if you don't have the expertise required to implement new
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101 features or can't pay for someone to do the work for you, you may
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102 submit feature requests to the bug tracker. But you should
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103 understand that unless you are paying for someone to to add the
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104 feature, no one is obligated to do it for you.
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105 </p>
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106
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107 <h1>Releases</h1>
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108 <p>
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109 The Octave project currently provides source releases only. We
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110 simply don't have the volunteer resources to provide executable
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111 versions of Octave packaged for different types of systems. If
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112 you'd like to see this situation change, volunteer to help us, or
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113 donate to the project so that an Octave developer can spend the
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114 time needed to do the job.
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115 </p>