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2 layout: page |
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3 title: Support Expectations |
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4 permalink: support-expectations |
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5 --- |
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6 |
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7 Octave is a capable free software system for numerical computing developed |
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8 primarily by a community of **volunteers**. |
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9 As good as Octave is, |
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10 there are certainly some flaws and a lot of room for improvement. |
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11 Most people who use Octave understand these things |
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12 and know that if they work together with the community bugs will be fixed, |
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13 features will be added, |
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14 and Octave will improve over time. |
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15 Working with people who have this kind of attitude is fun and rewarding. |
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16 |
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17 Unfortunately, |
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18 there are a few people who behave as though the community owes them support as |
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19 well as a 100% Matlab compatible system, |
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20 all at zero cost. |
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21 **Working with these people is no fun.** |
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22 If you approach the Octave community this way, |
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23 you are sure to be disappointed. |
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24 You should also not be surprised when your requests for help are ignored. |
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25 |
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26 |
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27 ### Development Group |
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28 |
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29 People sometimes think that Octave is developed by some large team of well-paid |
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30 programmers. |
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31 Nothing could be further from the truth. |
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32 Most of the initial development of Octave was done by one person over several |
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33 years. |
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34 Since then, |
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35 there have been at most a half-dozen or so volunteers working on Octave |
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36 at any one time. |
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37 You can see who has done most of the work by looking through the |
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38 [development history](https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave) |
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39 (prior to February 2008 it is best to look in the old `ChangeLog` files). |
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40 Currently, |
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41 none of the Octave developers are paid to work on Octave directly. |
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42 |
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43 If you would like to see Octave moving forward more quickly, |
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44 then contribute to its development, |
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45 either by working on the project yourself, |
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46 or by [donating funds]({{ "donation.html" | relative_url }}). |
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47 With sufficient funding, |
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48 the Octave project would be able to pay a few developers to work on it full |
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49 time. |
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50 |
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51 |
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52 ### Help |
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53 |
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54 When asking for help on Discourse or IRC channel, |
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55 or reporting a bug, |
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56 remember that the people helping you are Octave users just like you |
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57 who are volunteering their time. |
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58 They are not paid support staff. |
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59 Use meaningful subject lines. |
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60 Try to ask clear questions. |
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61 Be precise about the problems you are having. |
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62 |
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63 |
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64 ### Bugs |
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65 |
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66 No software is perfect, |
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67 and Octave is no exception. |
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68 You can search the list of bug reports to see what problems have been reported. |
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69 In looking at the list, |
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70 you might also noticed the number of problems that have been *fixed*. |
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71 Nearly all of these problems have been fixed by volunteers. |
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72 If you find a problem, |
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73 you are encouraged to [report it]({{ "bugs.html" | relative_url }}). |
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74 Your report can help to improve Octave, |
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75 but you should not think of the bug tracker as your personal support line. |
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76 |
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77 If you depend on Octave and absolutely must have prompt responses to problem |
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78 reports, |
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79 you should consider paying for |
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80 [commercial support]({{ "commercial-support.html" | relative_url }}). |
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81 |
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82 |
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83 ### Features |
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84 |
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85 When we say that Octave is "mostly compatible" with Matlab, |
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86 we mean that the language that it accepts is similar enough that a substantial |
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87 amount of code written for Matlab can also run in Octave without needing to be |
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88 changed. |
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89 But Octave does not have all the features of Matlab, |
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90 and it is unlikely that it ever will. |
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91 Given that Matlab is developed in secret and Octave developers only find out |
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92 about new Matlab features when new versions of Matlab are released, |
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93 it is clearly impossible for Octave to have new Matlab features as soon as they |
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94 are available in Matlab. |
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95 |
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96 In most cases, |
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97 Octave has the features that it does because someone decided to add them |
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98 because they needed them. |
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99 If you have the programming skills perhaps you can add the features you need. |
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100 If you not, |
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101 then consider paying for someone to implement the feature for you. |
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102 Most people who provide |
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103 [commercial support]({{ "commercial-support.html" | relative_url }}) |
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104 services for Octave will also take on custom programming projects. |
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105 |
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106 Even if you don't have the expertise required to implement new features or |
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107 can't pay for someone to do the work for you, |
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108 you may submit feature requests to the bug tracker. |
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109 But you should understand that unless you are paying for someone to to add the |
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110 feature, |
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111 no one is obligated to do it for you. |
