5. Support and reporting a problem

StrixGeo is free and open source; report problems on GitHub issues (https://github.com/Vorsie/strixgeo/issues) or by e-mail. Your reports make the next release better, so this chapter says exactly what to send and where to find it. Everything below works offline: the app never uploads anything by itself.

Note

The menu bar follows your interface language. On a Dutch system the menus read Bestand, Bewerken, Beeld and Help, and the items named below carry their Dutch label, given in brackets after the English one.

5.1. Where to write

Open an issue at https://github.com/Vorsie/strixgeo/issues, or send the question, idea or problem to info@strixgeo.com. One issue or mail per problem is easier to track than a list. A GitHub issue is public: attach a project file there only when its data may be seen by everyone, and mail it otherwise.

5.2. What a good report contains

Three things let the developer reproduce what you saw in minutes instead of days:

  1. The project file. Use File > Save (Dutch: Bestand > Opslaan) and attach the .strix file. It holds the imported data and every interpretation, so the developer can open the same model you were looking at. It contains no personal data beyond what you imported yourself.

  2. The logs for support. In the app, open Help > Save logs for support… (Dutch: Help > Logs opslaan voor support…). It writes one small zip file with the app log, the engine log and a redacted diagnostics record. Attach that zip. Nothing is sent anywhere until you attach it to your mail.

  3. What you did, what you expected, what happened. Two or three sentences are enough: the stage you were in, the button or gesture, and the moment it went wrong. A screenshot of the screen at that moment helps when the problem is visual (a fill that looks wrong, a lens that should be a band).

If the app cannot start, the log files are still on disk: open Windows Explorer, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\StrixGeo\logs in the address bar and attach the files there (the exact path is also printed at the top of each log).

5.3. Updates

StrixGeo is free and open source: it needs no key and it does not expire. Help > Check for updates… (Dutch: Help > Controleren op updates…) installs the next release, and your projects open as before. A .strix file written by any beta build opens in every later build.

The setting Check for updates at start (Dutch: Bij het starten controleren op updates) controls the automatic check. It is on by default; when it is off the app makes no check by itself and the Help menu item keeps working.

5.4. What the app does not send

The app does not phone home. It keeps a redacted diagnostics log on your own disk, and that log leaves the machine only when you attach it to a report yourself. Automatic sending needs two things, and both are off by default: a recorded opt-in (the app does not offer it in Settings yet) and a diagnostics server named in the STRIXGEO_DIAGNOSTICS_URL environment variable. With the defaults nothing is sent. The project stays on your disk.