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+This directory contains development releases of Octave.
+
+If you want a stable, well-tested version of Octave, you should be
+looking at ftp://ftp.che.wisc.edu/pub/octave.
+
+Development releases are provided for people who want to help test,
+debug, and improve Octave.  Very little testing is done before making
+the development releases and they may even be made when Octave is in
+an inconsistent state.  It is possible that you will encounter a
+very obvious bug, such as failure to compile on *any* machine.  It is
+likely that such bugs will be fixed by the next development release,
+so it really isn't necessary to report them unless they persist over
+more than one release.
+
+Please DO report other bugs in the development releases as soon as you
+find them by sending a message to octave-maintainers@bevo.che.wisc.edu.
+
+If you have a fix for a bug, or an enhancement to submit, send your
+patch to octave-maintainers@bevo.che.wisc.edu.  Here are some simple
+guidelines for submitting patches:
+
+  o Use "context diffs" for patches.  A typical command for
+    generating context diffs is "diff -rc octave-old octave-new".
+
+  o Use the "minimalist approach" for patches.  That is, each patch
+    should address only one particular bug, new feature, etc.  Do not
+    save up many unrelated changes and submit them all in one big
+    patch, since in general, the larger the patch the more difficult
+    it is for me to decide if the patch is either correct or
+    desirable.
+
+  o Submit a sample ChangeLog entry with your patch.  See the
+    existing Octave ChangeLog for examples of what a ChangeLog entry
+    should look like.
+
+If you would like to be notified when new development releases are
+available, subscribe to the octave-testers mailing list by sending a
+request to octave-testers-REQUEST@bevo.che.wisc.edu
+
+
+Thanks,
+
+John W. Eaton
+jwe@bevo.che.wisc.edu
+University of Wisconsin-Madison
+Department of Chemical Engineering