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 (March 2011):

The 3.4.x are current releases.
The 3.2.x are previous releases.

Standalone ports

Octave 3.2.4 for Windows MinGW32

Download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/octave/files/Octave_Windows%20-%20MinGW/Octave%203.2.4%20for%20Windows%20MinGW32%20Installer/Octave-3.2.4_i686-pc-mingw32_gcc-4.4.0_setup.exe/download
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-3.4.2-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Octave-3.4.2-mingw (without pkgs)
Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2_20110914.7z - MD5:4AA0DD4C97F73B2E9E0F7370CD8AD719 - http://www.multiupload.com/TCUHKNNH9S
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/

Includes

GNU Octave, version 3.4.2 (i686-pc-mingw32)
A new fltk graphics_toolkit is available
gnuplot 4.4.3
fig2dev 3.2.5c
ghostscript 9.0.2
PSTOEDIT 3.50
Msys + MinGW? tool chains
some Octave-forge packages
- actuarial-1.1.0
- ad-1.0.6
- audio-1.1.4
- benchmark-1.1.1
- bim-1.0.2 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- bioinfo-0.1.2
- civil-engineering-1.0.7
- communications-1.1.0 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- control-2.2.0 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- data-smoothing-1.2.3 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- dataframe-0.8.2
- econometrics-1.0.8
- fenv-0.1.0
- financial-0.3.2
- fpl-1.2.0
- fuzzy-logic-toolkit-0.2.4 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- ga-0.9.8
- general-1.2.2
- generate_html-0.1.3
- geometry-1.1.3 (added on 2011-10-14)
- gnuplot-1.0.1
- gpc-0.1.7
- gsl-1.0.8
- ident-1.0.7
- image-1.0.15 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- informationtheory-0.1.8
- integration-1.0.7
- io-1.0.15 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- irsa-1.0.7
- java-1.2.8 (Updated 2011-09-07)
- linear-algebra-2.0.0_svn20111014 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- mapping-1.0.7
- mechanics-1.1.0 (added on 2011-10-14)
- miscellaneous-1.0.11 (Updated 2011-09-14)
- 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 (Updated 2011-10-14)
- ocs-0.1.1
- oct2mat-1.0.7
- octclip-1.0.0
- octgpr-1.2.0
- odebvp-1.0.6
- odepkg-0.8.0
- optim-1.0.16
- optiminterp-0.3.3
- outliers-0.13.9
- physicalconstants-0.1.7
- plot-1.0.8
- quaternion-1.0.0
- secs1d-0.0.8
- secs2d-0.0.8
- secs3d-0.0.1 (added on 2011-10-14)
- signal-1.0.11
- simp-1.1.0
- sockets-1.0.7_svn20111014 (updated 2011-10-14)
- specfun-1.0.9
- special-matrix-1.0.7
- spline-gcvspl-1.0.8
- splines-1.0.7
- statistics-1.0.10
- strings-1.0.7
- struct-1.0.9
- symband-1.0.10
- symbolic-1.0.9
- tcl-octave-0.1.8
- time-1.0.9
- tsa-4.1.1
- video-1.0.2
- vrml-1.0.12_svn20111014_patched (added 2011-10-14)
- windows-1.1.0 (Updated 2011-09-07)
- xraylib-1.0.8
- zenity-0.5.7

Installation of the Octave package

Read readme.txt in Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2_20110914.7z
Unzip to a directory which doesn't have space chars i.e. C:\Octave\Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2\ keeping the directory structure in the archive.
Copy octave.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to octave.exe and octave.ico.

Installation of the Octave-forge packages

Read Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2_pkgs_readme.txt, Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2_pkgs_changes.txt in Octave3.4.2_gcc4.5.2_pkgs_20110914.7z.
In order to update octave_packages database and auto-load most packages (excluding 'ad' and 'windows' which may crash octave when loaded and 'clear all' is executed), launch Octave and execute:

       pkg rebuild -auto
       pkg rebuild -noauto ad windows

You can adjust your installed packages status per your specific needs and usage by executing one of the following commands:
To interactively load or unload a package

       pkg load <pkg_name>
       pkg unload <pkg_name>

To disable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

       pkg rebuild -noauto <pkg_name>

To enable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

       pkg rebuild -auto <pkg_name>

To completely uninstall a package

       pkg uninstall <pkg_name>

Notes

For details, please see http://old.nabble.com/Octave-3.4.2-mingw-%2B-octaveforge-pkgs-to32394771.html
This archive doesn't contain any editor! In order to install Notepad++ (recommended) as an editor:
- download the installation package from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
- install, edit <your octave dir>\share\octave\site\m\startup\octaverc
- un-comment the line which sets octave default editor:

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

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/

Octave-3.4.3-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Octave-3.4.3-mingw (without pkgs)
Octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2_20111025.7z - MD5:5AA004D933E000E762AE2AE95573ACBD - http://www.multiupload.com/KDQ1N463UW
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

https://sourceforge.net/projects/octave/files/Octave_Windows%20-%20MinGW/Octave%203.4.3%20for%20Windows%20MinGW%20Installer/

Maintainer: Nitzan Arazi
Latest update: 2011-10-26
Packages are archived by 7zip. 7zip software can be download from http://www.7-zip.org/

Includes

GNU Octave, version 3.4.3 (i686-pc-mingw32)
A new fltk graphics_toolkit is available
gnuplot 4.4.3
fig2dev 3.2.5c
ghostscript 9.0.2
PSTOEDIT 3.50
Msys + MinGW? tool chains
PDF and html documentation
some Octave-forge packages
- actuarial-1.1.0
- ad-1.0.6
- 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_patched
- control-2.2.0
- 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-0.2.4
- ga-0.9.8
- general-1.2.2
- generate_html-0.1.3
- geometry-1.2.0
- 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
- io-1.0.15 + supporting java jars
- irsa-1.0.7
- java-1.2.8_patched + java.opts file
- linear-algebra-2.0.0_svn20111014
- mapping-1.0.7
- mechanics-1.1.0
- miscellaneous-1.0.11_svn20110912
- 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-0.1.1_patched
- octclip-1.0.0
- octgpr-1.2.0
- odebvp-1.0.6
- odepkg-0.8.0
- optim-1.0.16
- optiminterp-0.3.3
- outliers-0.13.9
- physicalconstants-0.1.7
- plot-1.0.8
- quaternion-1.0.0
- secs1d-0.0.8
- secs2d-0.0.8
- secs3d-0.0.1
- signal-1.0.11
- simp-1.1.0
- sockets-1.0.7_svn20111014
- specfun-1.0.9
- special-matrix-1.0.7
- spline-gcvspl-1.0.8
- splines-1.0.7
- statistics-1.0.10
- 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

Installation of the Octave package

Read readme.txt in Octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2_20111025.7z
Unzip to a directory which doesn't have space chars i.e. C:\Octave\Octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2\ keeping the directory structure in the archive.
Copy octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to bin\octave.exe and share\octave\3.4.3\imagelib\octave-logo.ico.
Copy octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2_docs.lnk to any convenient location and edit its properties respectively to point to doc\octave and share\octave\3.4.3\imagelib\octave-logo.ico.

Installation of the Octave-forge packages

Read Octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2_pkgs_readme.txt in Octave3.4.3_gcc4.5.2_pkgs_20111026.7z.
In order to update octave_packages database and auto-load most packages (excluding 'ad' and 'windows' which may crash octave when loaded and 'clear all' is executed), launch Octave and execute:

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

Last pkg rebuild command is required in order for the java pkg entry to be moved to the top of 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.
You can adjust your installed packages status per your specific needs and usage by executing one of the following commands:
To interactively load or unload a package

       pkg load <pkg_name>
       pkg unload <pkg_name>

To disable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

       pkg rebuild -noauto <pkg_name>

To enable auto-load for specific pkg <pkg_name>

       pkg rebuild -auto <pkg_name>

To completely uninstall a package

       pkg uninstall <pkg_name>

Notes

This archive doesn't contain any editor! In order to install Notepad++ (recommended) as an editor:
download the installation package from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
install, edit <your octave dir>\share\octave\site\m\startup\octaverc
un-comment the line which sets octave default editor:

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

Octave Binaries are built using Tatsuro Matsuka OctaveLibs.zip and gplibs.zip (http://www.tatsuromatsuoka.com/octave/Eng/Win/)

Octave on CygwinOctave 3.4.2 on cygwin

Web-Site: http://cygwin.com
Maintainer: Marco Atzeri
Latest release: 2011-10-03

octave 3.4.2-3
octave-forge packages octave-forge-20110730-1
Please select them in Math category in the cygwin setup (using setup.exe).
On Cygwin 1.7.9-1 the communication between octave and gnuplot is broken due to a cygwin bug. Please use a cygwin snapshot or 1.7.8-1 until cygwin-1.7.10-1 is released. Cygwin 1.7.8-1 is reported to currently work, but snapshots have notable performance improvements, so they are recommended.

Notes

To install a cygwin snapshot:
download cygwin1-20111020.dll.bz2 (current last) from http://cygwin.com/snapshots/

   bunzip2 cygwin1-20111020.dll.bz2
   cp cygwin1-20111020.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 on 3.4.2-3 using the patch proposed here: https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?31641

If a dlls collision arise, the correct invocation of the rebase utility within dash shell is:

   rebaseall -s "dll|so|oct"

as octave dll's use unexpected ".oct" suffix for its own extension.

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-3.4.2-3-src.tar.bz2 
   gl2ps-print.patch 
   octave-3.4.2-3.cygport 
   octave-3.4.2-3.cygwin.patch 
   octave-3.4.2-3.src.patch 
   octave-3.4.2.tar.bz2

   $ cygport octave-3.4.2-3.cygport almostall

see cygport documentation for further info.

currently octave depends on the following packages
libgcc1-4.5.3-2
libgfortran3-4.5.3-2
libstdc++6-4.5.3-2
liblapack0-3.2.2-2
libreadline7-6.1.2-2
libfftw3_3-3.3-1
libqrupdate0-1.1.1-1
libGL1-7.10.3-1
zlib0-1.2.5-1
libfontconfig1-2.8.0-1
libhdf5_6-1.8.6-1

Octave for Microsoft Windows

Contents

Standalone ports

Octave 3.2.4 for Windows MinGW32

Includes

Notes

Octave-3.4.2-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Includes

Installation of the Octave package

Installation of the Octave-forge packages

Notes

Octave-3.4.3-mingw + octaveforge pkgs

Includes

Installation of the Octave package

Installation of the Octave-forge packages

Notes

Octave on Cygwin

Octave 3.4.2 on cygwin

Notes