.. include:: ../../common.rst

.. _guide to effective bug reporting: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html

.. _support:

=======
Support
=======

|Aqsis| is a volunteer project that comes without warranty or formal support. However, there are many people willing to offer support via our community_ locations. Many of the people offering this support are the same people developing the product, and they provide both services in their own time without remuneration. Please bear this in mind when requesting support and always remain polite, considerate and patient.

If you feel that something is missing from this documentation or from the tutorials and examples, please let us know. It is our intention that the user guide be kept up to a high standard, and always be complete and correct. 

.. index:: community, forums, chat, IRC

.. _community:

Community
---------

The |Aqsis| community is formed of a number of communications channels, each of these channels has its specific benefits. The list below is in order of 'immediacy', the `irc channel`_ chat forum gives you direct access to the people offering support (and often the developers too). The `mailing lists`_ are less immediate, but many people will monitor those with reasonable frequency, even if they are not able to remain active in the chat forum. Finally, the `discussion forums`_ are less reactive, with many community members monitoring those on a less frequent basis.

.. _irc channel:

IRC Channel
    The #aqsis IRC channel on irc.freenode.net is generally very active, and is the best place to go if you need rapid support. You can access it via our chat_ page, which logs the channel discussions, and offers a web based service for those without an IRC client.

.. _mailing lists:

Mailing Lists
    There are two mailing lists, one for developers and one for users. Many members monitor these on a semi-regular basis, and will respond when they have the time. While they are less immediate than the `irc channel`_\, you will probably reach a broader audience.

.. _discussion forums:

Discussion Forums
    The web based forums_\ are organized into categories, **General**, **Creative**, **Support**, and **Technical**. Each category contains a number of forums further specialized by content. This allows you to more readily review previous posts relating to your interest, as well as ensure you post to a forum that is monitored by someone likely to be able to answer any questions you have. Please take the time to consider carefully where you post on the forums, and as always, follow the basic rules of etiquette.


Reporting Bugs
--------------

Like any large program, |Aqsis| has its fair share of bugs.  However, the developers can't fix these problems unless users let us know about them; doing so is one very useful manner in which users can give back to the |Aqsis| community.

Before reporting any bugs, we would really appreciate it if you would read Simon Tatham's excellent `guide to effective bug reporting`_, this is a short, easy-to-read essay and developers everywhere (not just us) will thank you for it.  Having done so, please follow these steps:
  - Go to the |Aqsis| `bug list`_\. 
  - See if there are any existing bug reports that match yours.  If there are, you can add comments or additional samples to the existing bug reports if you feel that it may be helpful.
  - If no existing bugs seem to match your problem, please submit a new bug.  The best way to file a bug report that will get noticed is to include a RIB file that manifests the problem you're reporting.

If you want to discuss the bug in more detail, feel free to also post to the bugs forum, with a link to the associated sourceforge bug tracker item.
