Octave for Microsoft Windows

GNU Octave is primarily developed on GNU/Linux and other POSIX conformal systems. The ports of GNU Octave to Windows use different approaches to get most of the original Octave and adapt it to Microsoft Windows idiosyncrasies (eg: dynamic libraries, file paths, permissions, environment variables, GUI system, etc). Bear this in mind and don't panic if you get unexpected results. There are a lot of suggestions on the mailing lists for tuning your Octave installation.

About version numbers (Feb 2012):

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

Standalone ports

Octave-3.6.4-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Files for manual installation

1. Octave-3.6.4-mingw binaries tree
   • Octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2_20130329.7z - MD5:46BD238C664E17B4B25E72A11C38163F

   This is a 7z archive which includes a directory tree of all the binaries and libraries required for a complete octave installation (excluding octaveforge packages)

   It can be downloaded from Octave Forge

   • The archive include:

   • octave-3.6.4 including PDF documentation (built using Tatsuro Matsuka OctaveLibs and gplibs http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/)
   • mingw32 + msys tool chain
   • gnuplot-4.6.0
   • fig2dev-3.2.5c
   • ghostscript-9.0.7
   • pstoedit-3.61
   • OpenBLAS-v2.6.0 and ATLAS-3.8.4 based libblas altenatives

   • Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
   • Latest update: 2013-03-29
2. Octaveforge pkgs, built for Octave-3.6.4-mingw
   • Octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2_pkgs_20130331.7z - MD5:8AB5F5F88E7267FB1E47BABC29FD7FE0

   It can be downloaded from Octave Forge

   This is a 7z archive which includes additional binaries and libraries for a set of octaveforge packages.

   • The included packages are:

   • actuarial-1.1.0
   • ad-1.0.6_patched
   • audio-1.1.4
   • benchmark-1.1.1
   • bim-1.1.1
   • bioinfo-0.1.2
   • cgi-0.1.0
   • civil-engineering-1.0.7
   • combinatorics-2.0.0
   • communications-1.1.1_patched
   • control-2.4.2
   • data-smoothing-1.3.0
   • dataframe-0.9.1
   • econometrics-1.1.1
   • fenv-0.1.0
   • financial-0.4.0
   • fits-1.0.2
   • fpl-1.3.3
   • fuzzy-logic-toolkit-0.4.2
   • ga-0.10.0
   • general-1.3.2
   • generate_html-0.1.5
   • geometry-1.6.0
   • gnuplot-1.0.1
   • gsl-1.0.8
   • ident-1.0.7
   • image-2.0.0
   • informationtheory-0.1.8
   • integration-1.0.7_svn20120128
   • io-1.2.1
   • irsa-1.0.7
   • java-1.2.9_patched
   • linear-algebra-2.2.0
   • lssa-0.1.2
   • mapping-1.0.7
   • mechanics-1.3.1
   • miscellaneous-1.2.0
   • missing-functions-1.0.2
   • msh-1.0.6
   • multicore-0.2.15
   • nan-2.5.5
   • ncarray-1.0.0
   • nlwing2-1.2.0
   • nnet-0.1.13
   • nurbs-1.3.6
   • ocs-0.1.3_svn20120128_patched
   • octcdf-1.1.5
   • octclip-1.0.3
   • octgpr-1.2.0
   • octproj-1.1.2
   • odebvp-1.0.6
   • odepkg-0.8.4
   • optim-1.2.2
   • optiminterp-0.3.4
   • outliers-0.13.9
   • physicalconstants-1.0.0
   • plot-1.1.0
   • quaternion-2.0.2
   • queueing-1.2.1
   • secs1d-0.0.9
   • secs2d-0.0.8
   • secs3d-0.0.1
   • signal-1.2.1
   • simp-1.1.0
   • sockets-1.0.8_patched
   • specfun-1.1.0
   • special-matrix-1.0.7
   • splines-1.1.2
   • statistics-1.2.0
   • strings-1.1.0_patched
   • struct-1.0.10
   • symband-1.0.10
   • symbolic-1.1.0
   • tcl-octave-0.1.8
   • time-2.0.0
   • tsa-4.2.4
   • video-1.0.2_patched
   • vrml-1.0.13_patched
   • windows-1.2.1
   • xraylib-1.0.8
   • zenity-0.5.7

   • Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
   • Latest update: 2013-03-31

Manual installation instructions

1. Create an installation directory of which doesn't have space chars (i.e. C:\Octave\Octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2\). This directory is referred hereafter as <your_install_dir>.
2. Extract the complete directories tree from Octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2_20130329.7z to the installation directory keeping the original directory structure as in the archive (you can use 7-zip tool from http://www.7-zip.org/). Note that the archive contains Octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2 folder, so you want to extract to the *parent* of <your_install_dir>.
3. Copy octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to <your_install_dir>\bin\octave.exe and <your_install_dir>\doc\octave\icons\octave-logo.ico as an icon

   Note for windows 8 users: As a workaround for a gnulib windows 8 compatibility bug, add command line switches ' -i --line-editing' to the octave.exe shortcut (i.e. <octave-dir>\bin\octave.exe -i --line-editing)

4. Copy octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2_docs.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to <your_install_dir>\doc\octave and <your_install_dir>\doc\octave\icons\octave-logo.ico as an icon.

   At this point you can:

   a. Launch and use octave by double-clicking the copied octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2.lnk

   b. Access and browse the documentation files by double-clicking the copied octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2_docs.lnk

5. Optional libblas dll replacement for optimizing the linear algebra subroutines for your CPU:

   • The default configuration should automatically detect your cpu architecture and select an appropriately tuned library.
   • In case the default library is not properly functioning on the actual cpu, or you wish to explore the performance with another library, you can manually replace the default one by performing the following procedures (where libblas.dll.<libblas_source> should be replaced with the full name of the desired library from the list below these instructions):
     1. Exit octave
     2. Delete <your_install_dir>\bin\libblas.dll
     3. Make a copy of the desired <your_install_dir>\bin\libblas.dll.<libblas_source>
     4. Rename the copy of the desired <your_install_dir>\bin\libblas.dll.<libblas_source> to libblas.dll
   • The following is a list of the available libblas.dll.<libblas_source> options:
     1. libblas.dll.ref - reference blas implementation, very slow but most stable
     2. libblas.dll.OpenBLAS-v2.6.0-0-54e7b37_dynamicarch_nt4 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, detects cpu architecture and selects respective lib
     3. libblas.dll.OpenBLAS-v2.6.0-0-54e7b37_nehalem_nt4 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, tuned for nehalem cpu architecture
     4. libblas.dll.OpenBLAS-v2.6.0-0-54e7b37_core2_nt4 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, tuned for core2 cpu architecture
     5. libblas.dll.OpenBLAS-v2.6.0-0-54e7b37_sandybridge_nt4 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, tuned for sandybridge cpu architecture
     6. libblas.dll.OpenBLAS-v2.6.0-0-54e7b37_atom_nt4 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, tuned for atom cpu architecture
     7. libblas.dll.altas-3.8.4_ht-pentium - ATLAS based libblass, tuned for older ht-pentium (compiled by Tatsuro Matsuka)
     8. libblas.dll.altas-3.8.4_corei5 - ATLAS based libblass, tuned for older core i5 cpu (compiled by Tatsuro Matsuka)

Manual installation instructions for the Octave-forge packages

1. Extract the complete directories tree from Octave3.6.4_gcc4.6.2_pkgs_20130331.7z to the installation directory (<your_install_dir>) keeping the original directory structure as in the archive (you can use 7zip tool from http://www.7-zip.org/).
2. In order to update octave_packages database with your installation tree and auto-load most packages (excluding 'ad' and 'windows' which may crash octave when loaded and 'clear all' is executed), launch Octave and execute the following five rebuild commands from the octave console:

   pkg rebuild -auto
   pkg rebuild -noauto ad % may crash octave when loaded and 'clear all' is executed
   pkg rebuild -noauto nan % shadows many statistics functions
   pkg rebuild -noauto gsl % shadows some core functions
   pkg rebuild -auto java

1. Last pkg rebuild command is required in order for the java pkg entry to be moved to the top of <your_install_dir>\share\octave\octave_packages db file - thus java pkg is loaded before io pkg is loaded, and io pkg related jars are added to java class path.

2. You can optionally adjust your installed packages status per your specific needs and usage by executing the following commands:

a. To interactively load or unload a package

pkg load <pkg_name>

or

pkg unload <pkg_name>

b. To disable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

pkg rebuild -noauto <pkg_name>

c. To enable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

pkg rebuild -auto <pkg_name>

d. To completely uninstall a package

pkg uninstall <pkg_name>

Optional installation of Notepad++ as an editor (recommended)

1. Download recent Notepad++ installation package from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ and install it on your system.
2. Edit <your_install_dir>\share\octave\site\m\startup\octaverc and un-comment the line which sets octave default editor:

EDITOR('C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe');
edit ("editor", sprintf ("%s %%s", EDITOR ()))
edit mode async

Note: win64 users may use the w32 programs directory:

EDITOR('C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\notepad++.exe');

Note: You may adjust the above line for the location of notepad++.exe as installed on your system.

Troubleshooting

Upon launching, some warnings may be displayed. These warnings can be ignored.

• Following warnings are about missing external tools which may reduce some of the functions of some packages. These external tools are not provided by the 7z archives in sourceforge.

warning: gmsh does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 
warning: dx does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 

• Following warning is about fstat function of the statistics package that overloads the old (to be deprecated) fstat function of octave-3.6.4

warning: function C:\Octave\3.6.4_gcc-4.6.2\share\octave\packages\statistics-1.2.0\fstat.m shadows a core library function

Octave-3.6.2-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Files for manual installation

1. Octave-3.6.2-mingw binaries tree
   • Octave362_gcc462_20120609.7z - MD5:1FA1F6191C151D527830722F71822312

   This is a 7z archive which includes a directory tree of all the binaries and libraries required for a complete octave installation (excluding octaveforge packages)

   It can be downloaded from Octave Forge

Octave-3.6.1-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Files for manual installation

1. Octave-3.6.1-mingw binaries tree
   • Octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2_20120303.7z - MD5:294B99B5E4D47CAA83E8940EB2918D10

   This is a 7z archive which includes a directory tree of all the binaries and libraries required for a complete octave installation (excluding octaveforge packages)

   It can be downloaded from Octave Forge

   • The archive include:

   • octave-3.6.1 including PDF documentation (built by Tatsuro Matsuka http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/)
   • OpenBLAS-r0.1alpha2.5 and ATLAS-3.8.4 based libblas altenatives
   • mingw32 + msys tool chain
   • gnuplot-4.4.4
   • fig2dev-3.2.5c
   • ghostscript-9.0.4
   • pstoedit-3.60

   • Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
   • Latest update: 2012-03-03
2. Octaveforge pkgs, built for Octave-3.6.1-mingw
   • Octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2_pkgs_20120303.7z - MD5:44A85F26A8925FEC5E1F0856408C9DD5

   It can be downloaded from Octave Forge

   This is a 7z archive which includes additional binaries and libraries for a set of octaveforge packages.

   • The included packages are:

   • actuarial-1.1.0
   • ad-1.0.6_patched
   • audio-1.1.4
   • benchmark-1.1.1
   • bim-1.0.2
   • bioinfo-0.1.2
   • civil-engineering-1.0.7
   • combinatorics-1.0.9
   • communications-1.1.0_svn20120127_patched
   • control-2.2.5
   • data-smoothing-1.3.0
   • dataframe-0.9.1
   • econometrics-1.0.8
   • fenv-0.1.0
   • financial-0.3.2
   • fpl-1.2.0
   • fuzzy-logic-toolkit-0.3.0
   • ga-0.9.8
   • general-1.2.2
   • generate_html-0.1.3
   • geometry-1.4.0
   • gnuplot-1.0.1
   • gpc-0.1.7
   • gsl-1.0.8
   • ident-1.0.7
   • image-1.0.15
   • informationtheory-0.1.8
   • integration-1.0.7_svn20120128
   • io-1.0.17
   • irsa-1.0.7
   • java-1.2.8_patched
   • linear-algebra-2.1.0_svn20120225
   • mapping-1.0.7
   • mechanics-1.2.0
   • miscellaneous-1.0.11_svn20120127
   • missing-functions-1.0.2
   • msh-1.0.2
   • multicore-0.2.15
   • nan-2.5.2
   • nlwing2-1.2.0
   • nnet-0.1.13
   • nurbs-1.3.5
   • ocs-0.1.3_svn20120128_patched
   • octclip-1.0.0
   • octgpr-1.2.0
   • odebvp-1.0.6
   • odepkg-0.8.0_svn20120127
   • optim-1.0.17_patched
   • optiminterp-0.3.4_svn20120128_patched
   • outliers-0.13.9
   • physicalconstants-0.1.7
   • plot-1.1.0
   • quaternion-1.0.0
   • queueing-1.0.0
   • secs1d-0.0.8
   • secs2d-0.0.8
   • secs3d-0.0.1
   • signal-1.1.2
   • simp-1.1.0
   • sockets-1.0.7_svn20120128_patched
   • specfun-1.1.0
   • special-matrix-1.0.7
   • spline-gcvspl-1.0.8
   • splines-1.0.7
   • statistics-1.1.0_svn20120128
   • strings-1.0.7
   • struct-1.0.9
   • symband-1.0.10
   • symbolic-1.1.0
   • tcl-octave-0.1.8
   • time-1.0.9
   • tsa-4.1.1
   • video-1.0.2_patched
   • vrml-1.0.12_svn20111014_patched
   • windows-1.1.0
   • xraylib-1.0.8
   • zenity-0.5.7

   • Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
   • Latest update: 2012-03-03

Manual installation instructions

1. Create an installation directory of which doesn't have space chars (i.e. C:\Octave\Octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2\). This directory is referred hereafter as <your_install_dir>.
2. Extract the complete directories tree from Octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2_20120303.7z to the installation directory keeping the original directory structure as in the archive (you can use 7-zip tool from http://www.7-zip.org/). Note that the archive contains Octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2 folder, so you want to extract to the *parent* of <your_install_dir>.
3. Copy octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to <your_install_dir>\bin\octave.exe and <your_install_dir>\share\octave\3.6.1\imagelib\octave-logo.ico as an icon
4. Copy octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2_docs.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to <your_install_dir>\doc\octave and <your_install_dir>\share\octave\3.6.1\imagelib\octave-logo.ico as an icon.

   At this point you can:

   a. Launch and use octave by double-clicking the copied octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2.lnk

   b. Access and browse the documentation files by double-clicking the copied octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2_docs.lnk

5. Optional libblas dll replacement for optimizing the linear algebra subroutines for your CPU:

   • The default configuration should automatically detect your cpu architecture and select an appropriately tuned library.
   • In case the default library is not properly functioning on the actual cpu, or you wish to explore the performance with another library, you can manually replace the default one by performing the following procedures (where libblas.dll.<libblas_source> should be replaced with the full name of the desired library from the list below these instructions):
     1. Exit octave
     2. Delete <your_install_dir>\bin\libblas.dll
     3. Make a copy of the desired <your_install_dir>\bin\libblas.dll.<libblas_source>
     4. Rename the copy of the desired <your_install_dir>\bin\libblas.dll.<libblas_source> to libblas.dll
   • The following is a list of the available libblas.dll.<libblas_source> options:
     1. libblas.dll.ref - reference blas implementation, very slow but most stable
     2. libblas.dll.libopenblas_dynamicarch-r0.1alpha2.5-0-fda39c6 - Openblas based, up to 2 threads, detects cpu architecture and selects respective lib
     3. libblas.dll.libopenblas_dynamicarch_nt4-r0.1alpha2.5-0-fda39c6 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, detects cpu architecture and selects respective lib
     4. libblas.dll.libopenblas_nehalemp-r0.1alpha2.5-0-fda39c6 - Openblas based, up to 2 threads, tuned for nehalem cpu architecture
     5. libblas.dll.libopenblas_nehalemp_nt4-r0.1alpha2.5-0-fda39c6 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, tuned for nehalem cpu architecture
     6. libblas.dll.libopenblas_core2p-r0.1alpha2.5-0-fda39c6 - Openblas based, up to 2 threads, tuned for core2 cpu architecture
     7. libblas.dll.libopenblas_core2p_nt4-r0.1alpha2.5-0-fda39c6 - Openblas based, up to 4 threads, tuned for core2 cpu architecture
     8. libblas.dll.altas-3.8.4_ht-pentium - ATLAS based libblass, tuned for older ht-pentium (compiled by Tatsuro Matsuka)
     9. libblas.dll.altas-3.8.4_corei5 - ATLAS based libblass, tuned for older core i5 cpu (compiled by Tatsuro Matsuka)

Manual installation instructions for the Octave-forge packages

1. Extract the complete directories tree from Octave3.6.1_gcc4.6.2_pkgs_20120303.7z to the installation directory (<your_install_dir>) keeping the original directory structure as in the archive (you can use 7zip tool from http://www.7-zip.org/).
2. In order to update octave_packages database with your installation tree and auto-load most packages (excluding 'ad' and 'windows' which may crash octave when loaded and 'clear all' is executed), launch Octave and execute the following 3 rebuild commands from the octave console:

   pkg rebuild -auto
   pkg rebuild -noauto ad windows
   pkg rebuild -noauto nan % shadows many statistics functions
   pkg rebuild -noauto gsl % shadows some core functions
   pkg rebuild -auto java

1. Last pkg rebuild command is required in order for the java pkg entry to be moved to the top of <your_install_dir>\share\octave\octave_packages db file - thus java pkg is loaded before io pkg is loaded, and io pkg related jars are added to java class path.

2. You can optionally adjust your installed packages status per your specific needs and usage by executing the following commands:

a. To interactively load or unload a package

pkg load <pkg_name>

or

pkg unload <pkg_name>

b. To disable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

pkg rebuild -noauto <pkg_name>

c. To enable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

pkg rebuild -auto <pkg_name>

d. To completely uninstall a package

pkg uninstall <pkg_name>

Optional installation of Notepad++ as an editor (recommended)

1. Download recent Notepad++ installation package from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ and install it on your system.
2. Edit <your_install_dir>\share\octave\site\m\startup\octaverc and un-comment the line which sets octave default editor:

EDITOR('C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe');
edit ("editor", sprintf ("%s %%s", EDITOR ()))
edit mode async

Note: You may adjust the above line for the location of notepad++.exe as installed on your system.

Troubleshooting

Upon launching, some warnings may be displayed. These warnings can be ignored.

• Following warnings are about missing external tools which may reduce some of the functions of some packages. These external tools are not provided by the 7z archives in sourceforge.

warning: gmsh does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 
warning: dx does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 

• Following warning is about fstat function of the statistics package that overloads the old (to be deprecated) fstat function of octave-3.6.1

warning: function C:\Octave\3.6.1_gcc-4.6.2\share\octave\packages\statistics-1.1.0\fstat.m shadows a core library function

Octave-3.6.0-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Files for manual installation

1. Octave-3.6.0-mingw binaries tree
   • Octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2_20120129.7z - MD5:53E4823B0DC5F2923C4CBCB8B60FC1B6

   This is a 7z archive which includes a directory tree of all the binaries and libraries required for a complete octave installation (excluding octaveforge packages)

   It can be downloaded from octave forge

   • The archive include:

   • octave-3.6.0 including PDF documentation (built by Tatsuro Matsuka http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/)
   • mingw32 + msys tool chain
   • gnuplot-4.4.4
   • fig2dev-3.2.5c
   • ghostscript-9.0.4
   • pstoedit-3.60

   • Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
   • Latest update: 2012-01-29
2. Octaveforge pkgs, built for Octave-3.6.0-mingw
   • Octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2_pkgs_20120128.7z - MD5:93CC6207EED411BCE747193D3A8B6625

   It can be downloaded from octave forge

   This is a 7z archive which includes additional binaries and libraries for a set of octaveforge packages.

   • The included packages are:

   • actuarial-1.1.0
   • ad-1.0.6_patched
   • audio-1.1.4
   • benchmark-1.1.1
   • bim-1.0.2
   • bioinfo-0.1.2
   • civil-engineering-1.0.7
   • combinatorics-1.0.9
   • communications-1.1.0_svn20120127_patched
   • control-2.2.4
   • data-smoothing-1.2.3
   • dataframe-0.8.2
   • econometrics-1.0.8
   • fenv-0.1.0
   • financial-0.3.2
   • fpl-1.2.0
   • fuzzy-logic-toolkit-0.3.0
   • ga-0.9.8
   • general-1.2.2
   • generate_html-0.1.3
   • geometry-1.4.0
   • gnuplot-1.0.1
   • gpc-0.1.7
   • gsl-1.0.8
   • ident-1.0.7
   • image-1.0.15
   • informationtheory-0.1.8
   • integration-1.0.7_svn20120128
   • io-1.0.16
   • irsa-1.0.7
   • java-1.2.8_patched
   • linear-algebra-2.1.0_svn20120127
   • mapping-1.0.7
   • mechanics-1.2.0
   • miscellaneous-1.0.11_svn20120127
   • missing-functions-1.0.2
   • msh-1.0.2
   • multicore-0.2.15
   • nlwing2-1.2.0
   • nnet-0.1.13
   • nurbs-1.3.5
   • ocs-0.1.3_svn20120128_patched
   • octclip-1.0.0
   • octgpr-1.2.0
   • odebvp-1.0.6
   • odepkg-0.8.0_svn20120127
   • optim-1.0.17_patched
   • optiminterp-0.3.4_svn20120128_patched
   • outliers-0.13.9
   • physicalconstants-0.1.7
   • plot-1.1.0
   • quaternion-1.0.0
   • secs1d-0.0.8
   • secs2d-0.0.8
   • secs3d-0.0.1
   • signal-1.1.2
   • simp-1.1.0
   • sockets-1.0.7_svn20120128_patched
   • specfun-1.1.0
   • special-matrix-1.0.7
   • spline-gcvspl-1.0.8
   • splines-1.0.7
   • statistics-1.1.0_svn20120128
   • strings-1.0.7
   • struct-1.0.9
   • symband-1.0.10
   • symbolic-1.1.0
   • tcl-octave-0.1.8
   • time-1.0.9
   • tsa-4.1.1
   • video-1.0.2_patched
   • vrml-1.0.12_svn20111014_patched
   • windows-1.1.0
   • xraylib-1.0.8
   • zenity-0.5.7

   • Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
   • Latest update: 2012-01-28

Manual installation instructions

1. Create an installation directory of which doesn't have space chars (i.e. C:\Octave\Octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2\). This directory is referred hereafter as <your_install_dir>.
2. Extract the complete directories tree from Octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2_20120129.7z to the installation directory keeping the original directory structure as in the archive (you can use 7-zip tool from http://www.7-zip.org/).
3. Copy octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to <your_install_dir>\bin\octave.exe and <your_install_dir>\share\octave\3.6.0\imagelib\octave-logo.ico as an icon
4. Copy octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2_docs.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to <your_install_dir>\doc\octave and <your_install_dir>\share\octave\3.6.0\imagelib\octave-logo.ico as an icon.

   At this point you can:

   a. Launch and use octave by double-clicking the copied octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2.lnk

   b. Access and browse the documentation files by double-clicking the copied octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2_docs.lnk

Manual installation instructions for the Octave-forge packages

1. Extract the complete directories tree from Octave3.6.0_gcc4.6.2_pkgs_20120128.7z to the installation directory (<your_install_dir>) keeping the original directory structure as in the archive (you can use 7zip tool from http://www.7-zip.org/).
2. In order to update octave_packages database with your installation tree and auto-load most packages (excluding 'ad' and 'windows' which may crash octave when loaded and 'clear all' is executed), launch Octave and execute the following 3 rebuild commands from the octave console:

   pkg rebuild -auto
   pkg rebuild -noauto ad windows
   pkg rebuild -auto java

1. Last pkg rebuild command is required in order for the java pkg entry to be moved to the top of <your_install_dir>\share\octave\octave_packages db file - thus java pkg is loaded before io pkg is loaded, and io pkg related jars are added to java class path.

2. You can optionally adjust your installed packages status per your specific needs and usage by executing the following commands:

a. To interactively load or unload a package

pkg load <pkg_name>

or

pkg unload <pkg_name>

b. To disable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

pkg rebuild -noauto <pkg_name>

c. To enable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

pkg rebuild -auto <pkg_name>

d. To completely uninstall a package

pkg uninstall <pkg_name>

Optional installation of Notepad++ as an editor (recommended)

1. Download recent Notepad++ installation package from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ and install it on your system.
2. Edit <your_install_dir>\share\octave\site\m\startup\octaverc and un-comment the line which sets octave default editor:

EDITOR('C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe');
edit ("editor", sprintf ("%s %%s", EDITOR ()))
edit mode async

Note: You may adjust the above line for the location of notepad++.exe as installed on your system.

Troubleshooting

Upon launching, some warnings may be displayed. These warnings can be ignored.

• Following warnings are about missing external tools which may reduce some of the functions of some packages. These external tools are not provided by the 7z archives in sourceforge.

warning: gmsh does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 
warning: dx does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 

• Following warning is about fstat function of the statistics package that overloads the old (to be deprecated) fstat function of octave-3.6.0

warning: function C:\Octave\3.6.0_gcc-4.6.2\share\octave\packages\statistics-1.1.0\fstat.m shadows a core library function

Octave-3.4.3-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

1. Octave-3.4.3-mingw (without pkgs)

   Octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2_20111025.7z - MD5:5AA004D933E000E762AE2AE95573ACBD - http://www.multiupload.com/KDQ1N463UW

2. Octaveforge pkgs, built for Octave-3.4.3-mingw

   Octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2_pkgs_20111026.7z - MD5:2987F6078B4AD161F2D23634D5109D61 - http://www.multiupload.com/7U6J23CSZ6

The above archive files are now able to be downloaded from octave forge

• Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
• Latest update: 2011-10-26
• Packages are archived by 7zip. 7zip software can be download from http://www.7-zip.org/
• Octave Binaries are built using Tatsuro Matsuka OctaveLibs.zip and gplibs.zip (http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/)

Troubleshooting

Upon launching, some warnings may be displayed. The following warnings can be ignored:

• Following warning is about interpretation of logical operators (on scalars) in octave which is slightly different than matlab's interpretation.

warning: C:\Octave\3.4.3_gcc-4.5.2\share\octave\packages\integration-1.0.7\PKG_ADD: possible Matlab-style short-circuit operator
at line 9, column 32 

• Following messages are from java package about loading of java classes that have been found and how to manually run a statement which will display its capabilities.

io PKG_ADD: java classes has been found and added in C:\Octave\3.4.3_gcc-4.5.2\bin 
io PKG_ADD: run chk_spreadsheet_support([],3) to view io support 

• Following warnings are about missing external tools which may reduce some of the functions of some packages. These external tools are not provided by the 7z archives in sourceforge.

warning: gmsh does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 
warning: dx does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled 

• Following warning is about fstat function of the statistics package that overloads the old (to be deprecated) fstat function of octave-3.4.3

warning: function C:\Octave\3.4.3_gcc-4.5.2\share\octave\packages\statistics-1.0.10\fstat.m shadows a core library function

Octave-3.4.2-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

1. Octave-3.4.2-mingw (without pkgs)

   Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2_20110914.7z - MD5:4AA0DD4C97F73B2E9E0F7370CD8AD719 - http://www.multiupload.com/TCUHKNNH9S

2. Octaveforge pkgs, built for Octave-3.4.2-mingw

   Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2_pkgs_20111014.7z - MD5:49097AF3C6FC6CDB58EE83F510A50993 - http://www.multiupload.com/DCWFZOUGZA

• Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
• Latest update: 2011-10-14
• Packages are archived by the 7zip. The 7zip software can be download from http://www.7-zip.org/
• Octave Binaries are built by Tatsuro Matsuoka (http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/)
• Octave manual (octave-3.4.2.pdf.zip, octave-3.4.2.html.zip) can be downloaded from http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/

Installation

The installation instructions are the same as for the 3.4.3 version, above.

Notes

For details, please see http://old.nabble.com/Octave-3.4.2-mingw-%2B-octaveforge-pkgs-to32394771.html

Upon launching, some warnings may be displayed. The following warnings can be ignored:

• Following warning is about interpretation of logical operators (on scalars) in octave which is slightly different than matlab's interpretation.

warning: C:\Octave\Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2\share\octave\packages\integration-1.0.7\PKG_ADD: possible Matlab-style 
short-circuit operator at line 9, column 32

• Following warnings are about missing external tools which may reduce some of the functions of some packages. These external tools are not provided by the 7z archives in sourceforge.

warning: gmsh does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled
warning: dx does not seem to be present some functionalities will be disabled

• Following warning is about fstat function of the statistics package that overloads the old (to be deprecated) fstat function of octave-3.4.3

warning: function C:\Octave\Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2\share\octave\packages\statistics-1.0.10\fstat.m shadows a core library

Octave 3.2.4 for Windows MinGW32

• Download: Octave-3.2.4_i686-pc-mingw32_gcc-4.4.0_setup.exe
• Maintainer: Benjamin Lindner
• Latest release: 2010-03-25

Includes

• GNU Octave, version 3.2.4 (i686-pc-mingw32)
• atlas 3.8.2
• mingw32 (GCC 4.4.0 on http://www.mingw.org )
• gnuplot Version 4.4.0 specially prepared for octave
• mini-MSYS 1.0.11
• notepad++ 5.6.7 as text editor
• Some components of octave-forge packages
  • actuarial-1.1.0 (New!)
  • audio-1.1.4
  • benchmark-1.1.1
  • bim-1.0.0 (New!)
  • bioinfo-0.1.2
  • combinatorics-1.0.9
  • communications-1.0.10
  • control-1.0.11
  • data-smoothing-1.2.0
  • econometrics-1.0.8
  • fenv-0.1.0 (New!)
  • financial-0.3.2
  • fixed-0.7.10
  • fpl-1.0.0 (New!)
  • ga-0.9.7
  • general-1.2.0 (updated)
  • generate_html-0.1.2 (New!)
  • gnuplot-1.0.1 (New!)
  • gpc-0.1.7
  • gsl-1.0.8
  • ident-1.0.7
  • image-1.0.10
  • informationtheory-0.1.8
  • integration-1.0.7
  • io-1.0.11 (updated)
  • irsa-1.0.7
  • java-1.2.7 (New!)
  • jhandles-0.3.5 (New!)
  • linear-algebra-1.0.8
  • mapping-1.0.7
  • miscellaneous-1.0.9
  • missing-functions-1.0.2
  • msh-1.0.0 (New!)
  • nlwing2-1.1.1 (New!)
  • nnet-0.1.10
  • nurbs-1.0.3 (New!)
  • ocs-0.0.4 (New!)
  • oct2mat-1.0.7 (New!)
  • octcdf-1.0.17 (updated 1.0.17+)
  • octgpr-1.1.5 (New!)
  • odebvp-1.0.6
  • odepkg-0.6.10 (updated)
  • optim-1.0.12 (updated)
  • optiminterp-0.3.2
  • outliers-0.13.9
  • physicalconstants-0.1.7
  • plot-1.0.7
  • quaternion-1.0.0
  • signal-1.0.10
  • simp-1.1.0 (New!)
  • sockets-1.0.5
  • specfun-1.0.8
  • special-matrix-1.0.7
  • spline-gcvspl-1.0.8 (New!)
  • splines-1.0.7
  • statistics-1.0.9
  • strings-1.0.7
  • struct-1.0.7
  • symband-1.0.10 (New!)
  • symbolic-1.0.9
  • time-1.0.9
  • video-1.0.2 (New!)
  • windows-1.0.8(updated to 1.0.8+)
  • zenity-0.5.7

Notes

• Although there are some remaining known issues, some bugs reported to the octave-3.2.3 have been corrected. In addition, useful octave-forge packages are added (Java, Jhandles, ....). Please see RELEASE_NOTES.txt for details:
• Default Octave install folder changed to e.g. C:\Octave\3.2.4_gcc-4.4.0\.

  If you have installed octave in a folder where the path name has whitespace, for example, C:\Program Files\, 'pkg install (package name)' command will fail: See http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_name=4A1AF9EF.1000005@hotmail.com for details

Additional important topics found after the release:

• It is reported that the oct2mat octave-forge package affects plot related commands. The purpose of the package is to convert m-file into matlab-compatible coding style. Please see the documentation of the octave-forge (oct2mat - freetb4matlab) from http://octave.sourceforge.net/functions_by_package.php)
  • Report for this problem: http://old.nabble.com/Re:-Octave-3.2.4-mingw32-available-p28053703.html
  • Explanation of the problem: http://old.nabble.com/Re:-Octave-3.2.4-mingw32-available-p28090303.html
  • Realistic solution at this moment, do not install the oct2mat package when you install octave with octave-forge packages if you do not use this package. Another solution is to execute

     pkg rebuild -noauto oct2mat

at the octave prompt and then restart octave. The operation results in the oct2mat package not to be auto-loaded in startup. When you want to use oct2mat, execute

     pkg load oct2mat 

• The plot octave-forge package still have ginput code although the ginput function is now merge into octave itself. Therefore conflict occur if the plot package is installed. To avoid this problem, rename 'ginput.m' in the folder ..\Octave\3.2.4_gcc-4.4.0\share\octave\packages\plot-1.0.7, for example ginput.ob.m. In some computers which has one core CPU, response of ginput is very slow. In the case, modify '__gnuplot_ginput__.m' according to the following thread. http://old.nabble.com/ginput-on-Octave-3.2.4-mingw32-to28093888.html
• From gnuplot-4.4.0, the default terminal of gnuplot for windows is the wxt terminal. Some users may set the GNUTERM environmental variable for the windows terminal being default. The gnuplot for windows allows to set GNUTERM to 'win' (abbreviated form) but octave does not recognize the abbreviated form for terminal name. If one would like set GNUTERM to windows terminal, one should specify it as 'windows' (full form) but not 'win' (abbreviated form). In detail see the following thread: http://old.nabble.com/flicking-problem-again-Octave-3.2.4-mingw32-td28038688.html

Octave on Cygwin

Octave 3.6.2 on cygwin

• Web-Site: http://cygwin.com
• Maintainer: Marco Atzeri
• Latest release: 2012-06-04

• Latest packages:

octave-3.6.2-1

octave-forge-20120714-2

• To install : run cygwin setup.exe and select them in the Math category .

Notes

• Not needed anymore, but just in case you want to try one cygwin snapshot.

HOWTO install a cygwin snapshot:

download cygwin1-20120227.dll.bz2 (current last) from http://cygwin.com/snapshots/

   bunzip2 cygwin1-20120227.dll.bz2
   cp cygwin1-20120227.dll cygwin1.dll
   cp /bin/cygwin1.dll /bin/cygwin1.dll_backup

exit all cygwin processes and from windows explorer

copy the cygwin1.dll snapshot to

   c:\cygwin\bin 
   (or in the equivalent directory of your cygwin installation).

• Graphics is based on X, so to plot you need to start octave within xterm (or similar).

• A new fltk graphics_toolkit is available, and the crash on "print" issue was solved starting from 3.4.2-3 using the patch proposed here: https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?31641

• For general build notes, see etc/README.Cygwin.

• When building from development source (default branch)

   "make check" 

passes almost all the tests.

Only, and not substantial, failures are:

   /pub/hg/octave/src/data.cc : 8 failures due to different handling of complex Inf on sort
   /pub/hg/octave/src/syscalls.cc: 1 failure on fork. This disappears when octave is installed
   /pub/hg/octave/scripts/sparse/svds.m: 1 failure due to test sensitivity on starting point. See 
   https://mailman.cae.wisc.edu/pipermail/octave-maintainers/2011-September/024715.html

• To build from cygwin source package, you need to install "cygport" and the relevant development libraries

   $ tar -xvjf octave-3.6.2-1-src.tar.bz2 
   gl2ps-print.patch 
   octave-3.6.2-1.cygport 
   octave-3.6.2-1.cygwin.patch 
   octave-3.6.2-1.src.patch 
   octave-3.6.2.tar.bz2

   $ cygport octave-3.6.2-1.cygport almostall

see cygport documentation for further info.

Octave with Visual Studio

Octave binaries compiled with Microsoft Visual Studio are available for download from Octave-Forge site. These binaries come in the form of an easy-to-use installer (created with NSIS) and are provided in 2 flavors: pre-compiled version for Visual Studio 2008 and for Visual Studio 2010.

These binaries do not include the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler. This must be installed separately, but is only required if you plan to compile and link source code against the pre-compiled octave release. If the Visual C++ compiler is not present on the target system, then the Visual C++ runtime libraries must be installed prior the installation of these binaries. These runtime libraries are support libraries that are required by any code compiled with the Visual C++ compiler. They can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft download site:

• Visual C++ 2008 runtime libraries
• Visual C++ 2010 runtime libraries

Note that if you already installed other software on your system, there is a possibility that these runtime libraries are already present. Search for a files named msvcr90.dll (Visual Studio 2008) or msvcr100.dll (Visual Studio 2010) in the %WINDIR% directory (usually C:\WINDOWS).

Installation

The pre-compiled versions for Visual Studio come in the form of a self-installing executable. Simply download the executable, run it and follow the installer instructions. To avoid possible problems with white spaces in the octave paths, it is strongly recommended to install octave in a directory that do not contain any white spaces.

Printing (installing Ghostscript)

In order to use the print command ghostscript must be installed. The installer may be obtained at sourceforge.

The instructions below assume the GLP version of Ghostscript is installed with the Destination directory C:\Program Files (x86)\GPLGS\. The Destination directory may be different for 32 bit and 64 bit windows and can also change for different versions of Ghostscript. Therefore, it is important that the user make note of the Destination directory used to install Ghostscript and use it in place of the Destination directory used in these instructions.

In order for Octave to find Ghostscript, the directory containing Ghostscript's command line program must be in the command shell's path. The name of Ghostscript's command line program may vary. Some examples are gswin32c.exe, gswin64c.exe, gs.exe, and mgs.exe. To directory containing Ghostscript's command line program may either be added to the command shell's using Windows Control Panel, or by having Octave modify the path variable to include the directory where Ghostscript's command line programs resides.

For the latter, to following lines may be placed in the ~/.octaverc file (where ~ indicates the user's home folder). The variable gs_path should be set to the Destination directory where Ghostscript was installed.

 cmd_path = getenv ("path");
 gs_path = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\GPLGS\';
 if (isempty (strfind (cmd_path, gs_path)))
   setenv ('path', strcat (cmd_path, pathsep (), gs_path));
 endif

In this case, the value of gs_path has been set to the location of Ghostscript's command line program for the GPL's 8.15 version of Ghostscript. The location for other versions may differ. Please determine the location of the installed Ghostscript command line program and make the needed adjustments to these instructions.

To set the path via the Control Panel,

• Go to Control Panel --> System and Security --> System
• Click Advanced System Settings
• Click Environment Variables
• In the System Variables area, locate the Path variable, highlight it and click Edit.
• Add the Destination directory where Ghostscript is installed and confirm the change by clickiing OK, OK, OK.

If the 64 bit version of Ghostscript is installed, Octave will not automatically detect it. To use the 64 bit version an option telling Octave about it must be passed to the print command. For example to produce PDF output for a figure, using the 64 bit version of Ghostscript, the command below may be used.

 print -Ggswin64c.exe figure.pdf

At this point most of Octave's printing functionality should work. When output is produced using the print command the warnings below will be given.

 warning: print.m: epstool binary is not available.
 Some output formats are not available.
 warning: print.m: fig2dev binary is not available.
 Some output formats are not available.
 warning: print.m: pstoedit binary is not available.
 Some output formats are not available.

For the print command to be fully functional, each of these utilities will also need to be installed, and their locations added to the Path variable via either the Control Panel or Octave's ~/.octaverc file.

Using the Visual C++ compiler with Octave

As of version 3.6.1, the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler is not automatically detected. If you need to use it from octave (for instance to compile a MEX or OCT file), then you must configure your system by updating the appropriate environment variables: %PATH%, %INCLUDE% and %LIB%. One way to achieve this easily is to call the vcvarsall.bat script (from the Visual C++ installation directory) prior executing octave. You can for instance automate this by creating a batch script with the following content (adapt paths to your actual installation):

call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"
"C:\Octave-3.6.1\bin\octave.exe"

• Gnuplot 4.4.4
• 72 packages from Octave-Forge

Octave 3.6.2

Download

Octave-Forge

Content

• Octave 3.6.2
• OpenBLAS-0.1.1 (dynamic architectures, up to 4 threads)
• ATLAS 3.8.4 single-threaded and multi-threaded (2 threads)
• All required libraries
• QtHandles
• Octave GUI (experimental, compiled from development sources)
• Gnuplot 4.4.4
• 72 packages from Octave-Forge (see README: 3. Content)

Octave 3.6.1

Download

Octave-Forge

Content

• Octave 3.6.1
• ATLAS 3.8.4 single-threaded (SSE/SSE2/SSE3) and multi-threaded (SSE3, 2 threads)
• All required libraries
• QtHandles
• Octave GUI (experimental, compiled from development sources)

Building from source

In addition to the instructions provided in the Octave manual, a basic toolkit for building Octave in windows using the MSVC compiler has been produced by Michael Goffioul. It consists of a set of scripts that can be used to compile Octave and its dependencies.

A pre-compiled (with VS2010) version of everything has also been provided, so it is not necessary to recompile everything from scratch. The files can be found at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45539519/octave-build2.zip and http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45539519/VC10Libs.zip

Note that this is not a enterprise-level SDK, so don't try to start an enterprise with it.