Asking for support

Analyzing your problem

When you face a problem, you should first check out the following resources:

  1. Make sure that you use the latest version of Orthanc.

  2. Make sure to check all the content of the Orthanc Book, and notably to understand the basics of DICOM.

  3. Carefully read your log files in verbose mode.

  4. In the case of DICOM networking problems, carefully read the log files from your remote modality. If you are using Orthanc against a proprietary system, contact the support team from the vendor of this system: You pay them to solve your setup issues.

  5. Follow the general troubleshooting guide.

  6. If the problem is related to the DICOM network protocol, follow the DICOM troubleshooting guide.

  7. Have a look at all the frequently asked questions (FAQs) that are already available in the Orthanc Book.

  8. Make a search for similar problem previously discussed in the Orthanc Users discussion forum.

  9. Check out the Pending changes in the mainline section of the NEWS file, as your issue might already be solved in the mainline of Orthanc (i.e. in the cutting-edge version of Orthanc since the last stable official release).

  10. Carefully read the TODO file that contains our roadmap, as you might be requesting a feature that is currently pending in our backlog (i.e. not implemented yet).

  11. Look for similar issue in the official bug tracker (make sure to select All in the Status field, as your issue might already have been solved).

Importantly, for all the features that are pending in the TODO file, if you are a company, please consider buying professional services in order to get the feature implemented faster.

Discussing a minimal working example

If none of these resources help, you can consider sending a message to the Orthanc Users discussion forum. In such a situation, you must provide a minimal working example, which means that you must provide all the following information:

  • Context and full textual description of your issue. When talking about DICOM networking issues, carefully describe the imaging modalities into play (including their manufacturers) and your network topology.

  • The observed vs. expected results.

  • Full configuration files.

  • Full logs as produced by Orthanc in verbose mode.

  • Sample DICOM files.

  • A sequence of command lines that lead to your problem. These command lines must only use commands that are available as free and open-source software, that are cross-platform (proprietary software does not help), and that are preferably calls the REST API of Orthanc. The most useful commands are cURL, DCMTK (notably storescu), dicom3tools (notably dciodvfy), dcm4che command-line tools (notably storescu), GDCM (notably gdcmscu), or Python scripts (notably using pydicom).

  • In the case of DICOM networking problems, the logs from the remote modality.

  • If applicable, a screenshot is worth a thousand words.

  • If you report a crash, if applicable, a core file.

  • The OHIF viewer can connect to Orthanc using the DICOMweb plugin of Orthanc, but is a fully separate project. As a consequence, questions regarding OHIF must be asked on the dedicated discussion group or on the dedicated bug tracker. The core developers of Orthanc will happily fix the DICOMweb plugin, but it is necessary for the reporter to identify the discrepancy wrt. DICOMweb standard by providing a minimal working example as explained above.

All this information is mandatory, as it allows other members of the Orthanc community to reproduce your problem independently of your setup. If we can’t reproduce your issue, we can’t provide any support!

In addition, please note that the original author of Orthanc (Sébastien Jodogne), as a free software advocate, will only personally deal with issues that are reproducible on recent GNU/Linux distributions (typically, on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or through Docker).

Required minimal quality of a message in the Orthanc Users discussion forum

While posting a message on the Orthanc Users discussion forum, you should not be surprised if your message does not get any response if it does not meet these minimal quality requirements:

  • Before posting, are you sure you have made everything possible to analyze and solve the issue by yourself? This includes, searching the web or the forum to see if the topic has already been discussed.

  • Describe your issue with as much details as possible.

  • Review your message as if you were the one who should help you - would you understand your problem?

  • Be polite and respectful, say hello, and adhere to the code of conduct.

Using the bug tracker

If you are sure that you are reporting a yet unknown bug, you can consider directly introducing a bug report on our issue tracker. Beware however that your issue might be closed if too vague or if not reproducible. As a consequence, it is strongly advised to use the Orthanc Users discussion forum in the first place.

Finding professional assistance

If you face a problem you cannot solve by yourself, please follow this decision chart:

  1. If you have a reproducible issue for which you can provide a minimal working example using only free and open-source tools, use the Orthanc Users discussion forum.

  2. If you need an additional feature implemented in Orthanc, and if you are ready to pay, get in touch with the Orthanc Team, the main commercial partner of the Orthanc project.

  3. If you are part of a scientific team and would like to setup a research project using Orthanc, including about AI, get in touch with Sébastien Jodogne’s research lab at the UCLouvain university.

  4. If you are not able to reproduce an issue by yourself, if you are looking for personalized help related to deployments/training/…, or if you need proximity support in your language/timezone, here is a list of freelancers/companies:

    Note that the freelancers/companies in this list are not endorsed in any way by the Orthanc project, except for Orthanc Team. Get in touch with Sébastien Jodogne if you want to be included in this list.