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title: Support Expectations
permalink: /support-expectations/
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---

  <p>
    Octave is a capable free software system for numerical computing
    developed primarily by a community of volunteers.  As good as it
    is, there are certainly some flaws and a lot of room for
    improvement.  Most people who use Octave understand these things
    and know that if they work together with the community bugs will
    be fixed, features will be added, and Octave will improve over
    time.  Working with people who have this kind of attitude is fun
    and rewarding.
  </p>

  <p>
    Unfortunately, there are a few people who behave as though the
    community owes them support as well as a 100% Matlab compatible
    system, all at zero cost.  It shouldn't really be necessary, but
    we'll say it anyway: working with these people is no fun.  If you
    approach the Octave community this way, you are sure to be
    disappointed.  You should also not be surprised when your requests
    for help are ignored.
  </p>

  <h1>Development Group</h1>
  <p>
    People sometimes think that Octave is developed by some
    large team of well-paid programmers.  Nothing could be further
    from the truth.  Most of the initial development of Octave was
    done by one person over several years.  Since then, there have
    been at most a half-dozen or so volunteers working on Octave at
    any one time.  You can see who has done most of the work by
    looking through
    the <a href="http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave">development
    history</a> (prior to February 2008 it is best to look in the
    old <tt>ChangeLog</tt> files).  Currently, none of the Octave
    developers are paid to work on Octave directly.
  </p>

  <p>
    If you would like to see Octave moving forward more quickly, then
    contribute to its development, either by working on the project
    yourself, or by donating funds.  With sufficient funding, we would
    be able to pay a few developers to work on Octave full time.
  </p>

  <h1>Help</h1>
  <p>
    When asking for help on the mailing list or IRC channel, or
    reporting a bug, remember that the people helping you are Octave
    users just like you who are volunteering their time.  They are not
    paid support staff.  Use meaningful subject lines.  Try to ask
    clear questions.  Be precise about the problems you are having.
  </p>

  <h1>Bugs</h1>
  <p>
    No software is perfect, and Octave is no exception.  You can
    search the list of bug reports to see what problems have been
    reported.  In looking at the list, you might also noticed the
    number of problems that have been <emph>fixed</emph>.  Nearly all
    of these problems have been fixed by volunteers.  If you find a
    problem, you are encouraged
    to <a href="bugs.html">report it</a>.  Your report can help to
    improve Octave, but you should not think of the bug tracker as
    your personal support line.
  </p>
  <p>
    If you depend on Octave and absolutely must have prompt responses
    to problem reports, you should consider paying
    for  <a href="commercial-support.html">commercial support</a>.
  </p>

  <h1>Features</h1>
  <p>
    When we say that Octave is "mostly compatible" with Matlab, we
    mean that the language that it accepts is similar enough that a
    substantial amount of code written for Matlab can also run in
    Octave without needing to be changed.  But Octave does not have
    all the features of Matlab, and it is unlikely that it ever will.
    Given that Matlab is developed in secret and Octave developers
    only find out about new Matlab features when new versions of
    Matlab are released, it is clearly impossible for Octave to have
    new Matlab features as soon as they are available in Matlab.
  </p>
  <p>
    In most cases, Octave has the features that it does because
    someone decided to add them becuase they needed them.  If you have
    the programming skills perhaps you can add the features you need.
    If you not, then consider paying for someone to implement the
    feature for you.  Most people who
    provide <a href="commercial-support.html">commercial support</a>
    services for Octave will also take on custom programming projets.
  </p>
  <p>
    Even if you don't have the expertise required to implement new
    features or can't pay for someone to do the work for you, you may
    submit feature requests to the bug tracker.  But you should
    understand that unless you are paying for someone to to add the
    feature, no one is obligated to do it for you.
  </p>

  <h1>Releases</h1>
  <p>
    The Octave project currently provides source releases only.  We
    simply don't have the volunteer resources to provide executable
    versions of Octave packaged for different types of systems.  If
    you'd like to see this situation change, volunteer to help us, or
    donate to the project so that an Octave developer can spend the
    time needed to do the job.
  </p>