Octave for macOS

GNU Octave is primarily developed on GNU/Linux and other POSIX conformal systems. GNU Octave for MacOS X is readily available using package managers such as Fink, MacPorts, and Homebrew.

About version numbers (May 2012):

• The 3.6.x are current releases.
• The 3.4.x are previous releases.
• The 3.2.x are very old releases.

Manual Installation from Source

The page Octave for Mac provides minimalistic instructions for building Octave from source on MacOS X. Additional support for those who need assistance in building Octave is available.

Package Managers

A package manager, is a collection of software tools to automate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages for a computer's operating system in a consistent manner. It typically maintains a database of software dependencies and version information to prevent software mismatches and missing prerequisites. Packages are distributions of software, applications and data. Packages also contain metadata, such as the software's name, description of its purpose, version number, vendor, checksum, and a list of dependencies necessary for the software to run properly. Upon installation, metadata is stored in a local package database. Operating systems based on Linux and other Unix-like systems typically consist of hundreds or even thousands of distinct software packages; in the former case, a package management system is a convenience, in the latter case it becomes essential.

There are three reputable package managers available for MacOS X. GNU Octave for MacOS X is readily available using package managers such as Fink, MacPorts, and Homebrew.

The most recent version of Fink's Octave package, MacPorts' Octave port, and Homebrew's Octave formula are generally not the same. Please check the web sites for these package managers to determine if the version of Octave you desire is available.

XCode Dependency

Each package manager requires that XCode be installed. In part this is to provide an initial set of development tools. It *may* be possible to substitute the MacOS X gcc Installer by Kenneth Reitz, but this alternative has not yet been tested. If any curious/industrious users experiment with using Kenneth's solution over Apple's XCode, please let Octave's developers know of the results. Or, if you prefer, just update the itemized list below. It is recommended that users with XCode already installed avoid installing Kenneth's solution, as it may break your existing XCode installation.

• Fink: The MacOS X gcc Installer has not been tested.
• MacPorts: The MacOS X gcc Installer has not been tested.
• Homebrew: The MacOS X gcc Installer has not been tested.

Fink

The Fink project is an effort to port and package open-source Unix programs to MacOS X. Fink uses dpkg and APT (Debian's package management system), as well as its own frontend program, fink (which is implemented as a set of Perl modules).

Simple Installation Instructions

• Install XCode: This is done via the MacOS X App Store. For MacOS 10.8, it is necessary to run Xcode and install the command-line tools via its Xcode's Preferences.
• Follow Fink's installation instructions. For those who prefer it, there is a GUI available for Fink, Fink Commander.
• Fink has excellent support for Octave and includes recent as well as dated versions. A list of what Fink has available for Octave is here. To install the latest Octave, type sudo fink install octave at the Terminal's command line. For those running the 64 bit version of Fink, it is recommended that octave-atlas be installed instead as there are some bugs/features with Apple's vecLib for the X86_64 architecture. Octave has many dependencies which will be downloaded and installed prior to Octave. The entire installation process can take a few hours.
• Fink should also be used to install [packages for Octave. For example, the control systems package for Lion may be installed by typing fink install control-atlas-oct362 at a terminals command line.

For the doc() function to be supported by Octave, either the unversioned octave, octave-atlas, or octave-ref package must be installed. Essentially, those features used at run-time which don't have a version somewhere in the file path are included in these packages.

MacPorts

MacPorts, formerly called DarwinPorts, is a package management system that simplifies the installation of software on the MacOS X and Darwin operating systems. It is a free/open source software project to simplify installation of other free/open source software. Similar in aim and function to Fink and the BSDs' ports collections, DarwinPorts was started in 2002 as part of the OpenDarwin project, with the involvement of a number of Apple Inc. employees including Landon Fuller, Kevin Van Vechten, and Jordan Hubbard.

Simple Installation Instructions

• Install XCode: This is done via the MacOS X App Store.
• Follow MacPorts' installation instructions.
• MacPorts has good support for Octave. A list of what MacPorts has available for Octave is here. To install the most recent version of Octave, type sudo port install octave-devel +atlas+docs at the Terminal's command line. Octave has many dependencies which will be downloaded and installed prior to Octave. The entire installation process can take a few hours.
• The variant installed may be important to the user's experience. The available variants for {Codeline|octave-devel} are displayed by typing port variants octave-devel. It is recommended that the user include +atlas+docs. This will avoid bugs present in Apple's vecLib and enable support for Octave's doc() function.

Homebrew

Homebrew is a package management system that simplifies the installation of software on the Mac OS X operating system. It is a free/open source software project to simplify installation of other free/open source software. It is similar in aim and function to MacPorts and Fink. It was written by Max Howell and has gained popularity in the Ruby on Rails community and earned praise for its extensibility.

Simple Installation Instructions

• Install XCode: This is done via the MacOS X App Store.
• Follow Homebrew's installation instructions.

Homebrew has good support for Octave. To install Octave, you must first enable the scientific related formulae by typing at the Terminal's command line:

brew tap homebrew/science

Then, if you do not have a fortran compiler installed, type

brew install gfortran

Currently, linking Octave fails with the newest suite-sparse (4.1.0). As a solution, an older version can be installed. First, versioning must be enabled and an older version has to be chosen (in this case, 3.7.0)

brew tap homebrew/versions

brew versions suite-sparse

Then go to the install directory of brew (/usr/local by default) and get the formula for the older version (the revision number, ff53163, is shown in the fourth column by in the previous command's output)

cd /usr/local/Library/Taps/homebrew-science/

git checkout ff53163 /usr/local/Library/Taps/homebrew-science/suite-sparse.rb

Now compile and activate the selected version and install Octave

brew unlink suite-sparse

brew install suite-sparse

brew switch suite-sparse 3.7.0

brew install octave

Note that Octave has many dependencies which will be downloaded and installed prior to Octave. The entire installation process can take a few hours.

Create a launcher app with AppleScript

• Open the "AppleScript Editor" application
• write the following text in the editor window:

tell application "Terminal"
 do script "/path/to/octave; exit"
end tell

or if Octave is in your default path:

tell application "Terminal"
 do script "`which octave`; exit"
end tell

• Select "Save as ..." from the "File" menu
• In the menu that appears, select "Application" from the "File format" menu, then navigate to the "Applications" folder and save your script there as "Octave.app"

To change the application icon

• Open this link in a web browser, right-click and select "copy image".
• Select "Octave.app" in the Finder, then press command-i to bring up the file info dialog.
• In the file info dialog, select the icon (in the top left) and press command-v to paste the Octave icon over it.

Installing a MacOS X Bundle

A reliable App bundle for Octave on MacOS is not presently available. The developers would like to be able to provide an App bundle, but need volunteers to support the effort. An approach for producing an App Bundle using MacPorts is being documented here. This approach shows promise, but a few problems must be resolved before a bundle will become available.

Octave and many other software packages may be installed and updated using one of the three package managers available for MacOS. To install using a package manager, see the section on Package Managers.

Octave-Forge does have App bundles for old Octave, versions and have problems running on MacOS 10.6 and above. The latest App bundle does not provide full support for the printing, or the documentation features of Octave. Other features may be missing as well. For individuals who'd like to use it anyway please carefully follow the instructions for Installing MacOS X Bundle.