Re: Build a portable linux binary?

[Mike Miller]

On Tue, Feb 19, 2019 at 02:57:39 -0600, roland65 wrote:
> I'd like to know if it is possible to build a portable Linux binary, that
> can be distributed on various Linux distributions, and installed by untaring
> an archive. In the best case, such a build should include most packages,
> like in the Windows build.

You brought this up 2 years ago, and I don't think anything has changed,
except that there are now even more ways to install Octave.

If you or someone else is interested in doing the work, it can certainly
be done. I don't think the Octave maintainers are interested in doing
the work when there are already plenty of ways to easily install Octave
on GNU/Linux systems.

> This is the way Firefox, Libreoffice, or even MATLAB are distributed. So,
> perhaps it's possible to do the same for Octave?

This is not the way I would install any of these programs, or imagine
that most people would. Am I out of touch?

I would expect most GNU/Linux users to use their Software Center, apt,
dnf, etc, to look for applications first. Users of almost all
distributions out there can very easily install Octave this way.

> Of course, I know that we could have flatpak or snap packages

We do have a Flatpak package already that works quite well.

Linuxbrew (the GNU/Linux port of Homebrew) includes Octave. A Homebrew
bottle is essentially a portable binary.

Not to mention it is easy to install Octave in a chroot, container,
Docker image, or virtual machine.

I see no shortage of ways to install Octave on GNU/Linux systems, so I
honestly don't see the need to invent a new one.

-- 
mike

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