Support

This page describes how to get in contact to solve problems you might encounter when using FEniCS. Help is available both from FEniCS developers and other FEniCS users.

Depending on the type of question, comment or issue you might have, you will need to address it to a specific forum or mailing list. Please read on below to find out.

Asking questions

User questions should be posted on scicomp.stackexchange, which is a community-driven forum for questions and answers regarding scientific computing.

Questions suitable for scicomp.stackexchange include questions like “How do I set boundary conditions in FEniCS?”, “Is P2/P0 a stable element for Stokes?” or “What is the best way to post-process my solution?”.

Questions not suitable for scicomp.stackexchange include questions like “Periodic boundary conditions give wrong results for BDM3 elements in parallel” (this should be reported as a bug/issue, see below) or “Can’t find Boost when configuring on Windows 3.11” (this should be reported to the fenics-support mailing list, see below).

Before running away and posting on scicomp.stackexchange, please note the following:

• Search the forum to check that your question has not been answered before.
• Formulate your question well. If we cannot understand your question, we probably cannot help you.
• Post complete, but minimal code examples. No one wants to read through your complex application code.
• Consult the guidelines for posting to scicomp.stackexchange.
• Please help out in answering questions from other users.
• Tag your question using the FEniCS tag.

Reporting bugs

If you encounter something you suspect is a bug, please file a bug report using the Bitbucket issue tracking system. In particular, for reporting bugs in DOLFIN, visit the DOLFIN issues page. As above, post complete but minimal code examples.

Mailing lists

The FEniCS mailing lists cover everything that does not fit into any of the above categories (user questions or bug reports).

The development of FEniCS is discussed on the main FEniCS mailing list. This is also the place for announcements of workshops, releases, tutorials, papers. Everyone is invited to subscribe to the mailing list and take part in discussions.

Questions regarding the installation of FEniCS on specific architectures, packaging and other practical questions can be posted on the FEniCS support mailing list. Users are encouraged to subscribe and help out other users with installation issues.

Contributing

We encourage users to take active part in developing and documenting FEniCS. As an active developer, it is easy to influence the direction and focus of the project. The step from user to developer is just a patch away! For information about how to contribute code to the FEniCS Project, visit the page Contributing.