Re: Octave Installation problems

[A Scotte Hodel]

On Dec 23, 2004, at 12:32 PM, GERALD HOOPER wrote:

> Hi Octave Experts
> I was recently give some Matlab V5 Software which required Window 95 
> which is now obsolete. The Linux Group at Leicester University 
> suggested that I take a look at your Octave software which I did and 
> downloaded and decompressed the tar archive OK. I then considered 
> installing your Octave software but before doing so I decied to print 
> out and read the shell files involved such as CONFIGURE!! This file 
> took more than thirty pages of A4 to print and is such that I stand no 
> chance of understanding its contents. The build processes for Octave 
> seem to be very complex and involved and the instructions given in 
> your Install files have really put me off proceeding further.

A lot of Gnu/FSF style software typically has that gigantic configure 
up front.

If you're installing under Linux then the install process should be 
very straightforward:

unpack the source tarball (which it looks like you have)
cd to the top-level directory where the configure file is located

configure
        [ wait a minute or two ]
make
        [ wait awhile - hour or two ]
make install
        [ wait a few minutes ]

I've used this procedure to install octave and gnuplot
on several different Unix-ish OS's (Linux, Compaq Alpha, Mac OS X, etc.)

Oh - you will probably want to install gnuplot on your machine as well.

> I am currently running the latest version of SuSe Linux on a standard 
> PC with dual Pentium II processors. There should be a binary version 
> of Octave available for such a configuration and I would be grateful 
> for your advice in locating and installing i without too much hastle.

Two days before Christmas one can hope for peace on earth, good will 
and easy to use software.  Try the above install procedure and (cross 
fingers) that ought to take care of the install step.

There may be  binaries available for  SuSe Linux; that's not something 
I'm familiar with.  Others on the list may be able to help you there.  
When I used Yellow Dog Linux on my mac there were binaries available 
from the Linux vendor for many programs that I wanted.

> Thanks
> Dr Gerry Hooper



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