Community
Built in the open, fixed in the open
There is no support portal and no ticket queue behind a login. Bugs, feature requests and the arguments about what should happen next all live on GitHub, where you can read them, add to them, and see what was decided and why.
Where to put what
Three doors, and which one to use
Something is broken
A file that will not open, a document that came back wrong, a window that will not draw. Open an issue — one per problem, so each can be closed when it is actually fixed.
Something is missing
A format you need read, a feature the app should have, a workflow that is two steps longer than it should be. Also an issue: it is the same list, and the roadmap is what is on it.
Something is unclear
How to do a thing, whether an approach is sensible, what a design decision was for. Discussions, so an answer that helps you stays where the next person will find it.
Making a report count
What to include when a file is involved
Almost every report about this suite is about a specific file, and almost every one that cannot be fixed is one where the file could not be reproduced.
- Which app, and which version. The version is in the application’s about window and in the installer’s filename.
- What the file is. Its extension, roughly its size, and what produced it — a .xlsx out of Excel 2019 and one out of a reporting tool fail in different ways.
- What you expected, and what happened. Two sentences beats a screenshot of an error, though both is better.
- A sample, if you can share one. A file that reproduces the fault is worth more than any description of it. If the real one is confidential, a cut-down copy that still fails is the next best thing — and please do not attach anything you would not want public, because an issue is public.
An issue is public. Anyone can read what you attach to it, permanently and from anywhere. Strip or redact anything confidential before it goes near the tracker — and if a fault can only be shown with a file you cannot publish, say so in the issue and we will find another way.
Being straight about it
What you are and are not entitled to
This is free software given away under the AGPL, maintained by the people who wrote it.
There is no response-time commitment, because promising one and missing it would be worse than not promising it. What there is: a public tracker where nothing gets lost, a repository you can fix it in yourself, and a licence that guarantees you can keep using and changing the software whatever anyone here decides.
Organisations that need a commitment — a response time, a fix in a particular release, or terms other than the AGPL — that is what the commercial licence conversation is for.