If you need help using Octave, you have many options, from reading the Octave manual, asking for help on the mailing lists, chatting online with other Octave users, or paying for commercial support.

Support Expectations

The Octave community is a loosely organized association of volunteers. Your interactions with the community will be better if you have the right expectations about the support options available to you.

Commercial Support

Community support can be great, and with the Octave community it often is, but sometimes you need to know that your question will be answered. We maintain a list of people and organizations who offer commercial support contracts for Octave. This list is available as a service to the community and the support providers. The Octave project does not provide endorsements or recommendations.

User Community

There is an active user community centered around Octave. Please understand that the people answering your question on the mailing list or IRC channel, or helping to fix the bug you reported are doing so as volunteers.

Documentation

Reference Manual

Octave is fully documented by a comprehensive 800 page manual.

The on-line HTML and PDF versions of the manual are generated directly from the Texinfo source files that are distributed along with every copy of the Octave source code. The complete text of the manual is also available at the Octave prompt using the doc command.

A printed version of the Octave manual may be ordered from Network Theory, Ltd.. Any money raised from the sale of this book will support the development of free software. For each copy sold $1 will be donated to the GNU Octave Development Fund.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you are new to Octave, you may have some questions that have been asked (and answered) a few times before.

Wiki

The Octave Wiki is a great place to look for information about things that are not covered in the manual, or other transient topics (Google Summer of Code, Octave Conferences, etc.).

Contacting Other Users for Help

Mailing List

If your question isn't answered in the FAQ, the manual, or the Wiki, the help@octave.org mailing list is a good resource.

Chat

Too impatient for email? You can find Octave developers and users on the #octave channel at irc.freenode.net. The atmosphere is relaxed and chat isn't restricted to matters strictly pertaining to Octave.

Reporting Bugs

If you think you've found a bug, you are encouraged to report it.