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annotate support-expectations.md @ 145:2ae741742981
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author | Kai T. Ohlhus <k.ohlhus@gmail.com> |
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date | Sat, 24 Mar 2018 00:17:39 +0100 |
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2 layout: page |
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3 title: Support Expectations |
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4 menu: false |
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5 --- |
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7 Octave is a capable free software system for numerical computing |
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8 developed primarily by a community of volunteers. As good as it |
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9 is, there are certainly some flaws and a lot of room for |
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10 improvement. Most people who use Octave understand these things |
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11 and know that if they work together with the community bugs will |
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12 be fixed, features will be added, and Octave will improve over |
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13 time. Working with people who have this kind of attitude is fun |
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14 and rewarding. |
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15 |
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16 Unfortunately, there are a few people who behave as though the |
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17 community owes them support as well as a 100% Matlab compatible |
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18 system, all at zero cost. It shouldn't really be necessary, but |
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19 we'll say it anyway: working with these people is no fun. If you |
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20 approach the Octave community this way, you are sure to be |
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21 disappointed. You should also not be surprised when your requests |
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22 for help are ignored. |
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23 |
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24 |
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25 # Development Group |
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26 |
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27 People sometimes think that Octave is developed by some large team |
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28 of well-paid programmers. Nothing could be further from the truth. |
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29 Most of the initial development of Octave was done by one person |
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30 over several years. Since then, there have been at most a half-dozen |
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31 or so volunteers working on Octave at any one time. |
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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 |
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37 If you would like to see Octave moving forward more quickly, then |
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38 contribute to its development, either by working on the project |
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39 yourself, or by donating funds. With sufficient funding, we would |
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40 be able to pay a few developers to work on Octave full time. |
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41 |
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42 [1]: https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave |
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45 # Help |
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46 |
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47 When asking for help on the mailing list or IRC channel, |
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48 or reporting a bug, remember that the people helping you |
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49 are Octave users just like you who are volunteering their time. |
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50 They are not paid support staff. Use meaningful subject lines. |
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51 Try to ask clear questions. Be precise about the problems you are having. |
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52 |
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54 # Bugs |
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55 |
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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*. |
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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. |
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64 |
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65 If you depend on Octave and absolutely must have prompt responses |
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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 }} |
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71 |
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72 |
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73 # Features |
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74 |
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75 When we say that Octave is "mostly compatible" with Matlab, |
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76 we mean that the language that it accepts is similar enough that a |
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77 substantial amount of code written for Matlab can also run in |
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78 Octave without needing to be changed. But Octave does not have |
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79 all the features of Matlab, and it is unlikely that it ever will. |
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80 Given that Matlab is developed in secret and Octave developers |
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81 only find out about new Matlab features when new versions of |
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82 Matlab are released, it is clearly impossible for Octave to have |
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83 new Matlab features as soon as they are available in Matlab. |
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84 |
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85 |
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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 |
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88 the programming skills perhaps you can add the features you need. |
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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 |
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93 Even if you don't have the expertise required to implement new |
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94 features or can't pay for someone to do the work for you, you may |
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95 submit feature requests to the bug tracker. But you should |
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96 understand that unless you are paying for someone to to add the |
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97 feature, no one is obligated to do it for you. |