Octave-Forge (http://octave.sf.net) is a community project for collaborative development of GNU Octave extensions. If you have a large package that you want to open up to collaborative development, or a couple of m-files that you want to contribute to an existing package, Octave-Forge is the place to do it. Tiny helper functions (the equivalent of e.g., shell aliases) should go in the Tips and tricks page.

GNU Octave also needs the equivalent of CPAN so that packages such as epstk which have been developed elsewhere can be archived. Agora Octave is a fledgeling proposal to do that (talk to JordiGH about it). Before that is possible we need a packaging system which works for both Octave and Matlab (and maybe Scilab if you are feeling ambitious) without too much work on the either the developers or the users end, even for users working in a tool desert such as Windows. Feel free to expand on the definition of such a system on this page.

Installing packages

You can find the list of packages on the Octave-Forge website. The recommended method for package installation is using your system package manager. See also the FAQ for the most common issues.

If for some reason you need to install a package from the Octave Forge, simply type at the Octave prompt pkg install -forge package_name. If your Octave version is too old (before 3.4.0), you'll have to download the package file manually, and use pkg install package_file_name.tar.gz.

Contributing via the Agora website

This is work in progress.

You can upload your code to Agora. The code is classified according the following criteria.

  • Single file
The file is full responsibility of the uploader.
Octave and Agora do not check or support this submissions.
  • Bundle of files
The file(s) is(are) full responsibility of the uploader.
The bundle passes a structure check to see if it is compatible with the builtin Octave installer. This doesn't mean the bundle with install flawlessly.
Octave and Agora do not check or support this submissions.
  • Forge
The file(s) is(are) responsibility of its maintainer and the Agora maintainers community.
This package will install using the builtin Octave installer.


The Forge packages have must comply with

  • At least one package maintainer.
  • Must install and work with the latest Octave release.
  • The must be released under a GPL compatible license.
  • All functions (except private ones) must be documented using Texinfo.
  • The package must have all the required files.
  • If the package has a doc folder it should be written in Texinfo.

These packages are also recommended to comply with

  • No shadowing of Octave core functions.
  • No direct inclusion of external dependencies.

Suggested new features

  • Install directory
  • Install from URL
  • Build HTML / PDF docs

GNU Octave 4.0 compatibility assessment

The 4.0 release shall contain preinstalled packages in the official Microsoft Windows build (mxe-octave). Therefore, the available Octave Forge packages have been tested for compatibility with both, Octave 4.0 and Microsoft Windows.

If you are a package user or maintainer, please update the status.

Package Version State Installable (Win7) Test results (Win7 64bit, Octave 4.0rc3 Logs) Test results (Win7 32bit, Octave 4.0rc2) Public m-files Comments (known bugs/patches)
Pass Fail XFail Pass Fail XFail w/o tests total
bim 1.1.5 ok 92 0 0 15 47
cgi 0.1.0 unknown 0 0 0 6 6
communications 1.2.1 ok 457 0 0 19 115
control 2.8.0 ok 330 0 0 317 13 0 229 287 some tests fail when using OpenBLAS (default BLAS lib)
data-smoothing 1.3.0 unknown 0 0 0 4 4
database 2.3.1 unknown 0 1 0 5 6 %!test should be %!xtest, test fails as no postgres server to connect to
dataframe 1.1.0 broken 3 9 0 101 101
dicom 0.1.1 broken Bug #44624
divand 1.1.2 unknown 1 0 0 115 116
econometrics 1.1.1 unknown 0 0 0 28 28
fem-fenics 0.0.3 can't bundle with mxe-octave Missing eigen3 lib in mxe-octave
financial 0.4.0 broken 158 9 0 23 57 Several deprecation warnings during install, bug 44851
fits 1.0.5 unknown 0 0 0 0 0
fl-core 1.0.0 broken Bug #41214
fpl 1.3.4 unknown 0 5 0 10 10 deprecated tests?
fuzzy-logic-toolkit 0.4.4 unknown 0 0 0 50 50 Several deprecation warnings during install
ga 0.10.0 ok 79 0 0 16 22 Several deprecation warnings during install
general 1.3.4 deprecated 25 0 1 24 28 shadows newer functions in 4.0
generate_html 0.1.7 unknown 0 0 0 8 8
geometry 1.7.0 unknown 282 3 0 188 233 %!test should be %!xtest, missing python in mxe-octave, warning on printf args - warn on cant cleanup after self
image 2.4.0 ok 632 4 21 632 5 20 54 137
image-acquisition 0.2.1 can't bundle with mxe-octave Missing v4l in mxe-octave
instrument-control 0.2.1 unknown 0 0 0 27 27 currently uses only tcp and serial in mxe-octave
interval 0.1.5 ok 7264 0 18 0 249
io 2.2.7 ok for 32-bit Octave 11 0 0 30 32 Has dedicated test scripts for spreadsheet I/O as those functions depend on external SW. Some binary functions broken in 64-bit Octave (bug #44662)
java deprecated part of core now
level-set 0.2.0 ok 197 7 0 198 6 0 2 31 Tests seem to be deprecated
linear-algebra 2.2.2 unknown 20 0 0 57 69 warnings on abstract class types
lssa 0.1.2 ok 16 0 0 0 7
ltfat 2.0.1 broken 0 0 0 534 534 Tested with Bug #43603 applied
mechanics 1.3.1 broken Bug #44804
miscellaneous 1.2.1 broken 384 9 0 16 30
mpi 1.2.0 can't bundle with mxe-octave Missing mpi lib in mxe-octave
msh 1.0.10 ok 28 1 0 9 21 Tests seem to be deprecated and don't cleanup temporary files (circle.geo)
mvn 1.1.0 unknown 1 0 0 18 19
nan 2.7.1 unknown 31 0 0 65 81
ncarray 1.0.3 unknown 0 0 0 45 45
netcdf 1.0.6 unknown 0 0 0 10 10
nurbs 1.3.9 broken 24 52 0 41 67 Bug #44651
ocs 0.1.3 unknown 0 0 0 22 22
octcdf 1.1.8 ok 23 0 0 30 31
octclip 1.0.3 ok 5 0 0 0 1 printf format warnings
octproj 1.1.2 can't bundle with mxe-octave Missing libproj in mxe-octave
odepkg 0.8.4 broken Bug #44594
odepkg patched ok 404 0 0 20 36
optics 0.1.1 ok 166 2 0 163 3 0 0 43 %!test should be %!error
optim 1.4.1 unknown 16 0 0 49 54
optiminterp 0.3.4 unknown 0 0 0 9 9
parallel 2.2.1 broken Bug #41148
quaternion 2.4.0 unknown 23 0 0 60 76
queueing 1.2.3 broken 263 2 3 261 4 3 23 101 2 failed tests are private function tests
secs1d 0.0.9 unknown 0 0 0 5 5
secs2d 0.0.8 broken Bug #44803
secs3d 0.0.1 unknown 0 0 0 39 39
signal 1.3.1 ok 472 0 0 78 146 Tests may fail if affected by bug #44814
sockets 1.2.0 ok 0 0 0 0 0 has been tested manually
specfun 1.1.0 deprecated 6 0 0 17 19 shadows newer functions in 4.0
splines 1.2.7 ok 75 0 0 5 12
statistics 1.2.4 broken 219 25 0 52 117 Tests don't cleanup temporary files
stk 2.2.1 broken 881 0 0 81 220
strings 1.1.0 broken 12 0 0 2 5 Tested when patched by Bug #44640
struct 1.0.11 ok 9 0 1 0 3
symbolic 2.1.0 can't bundle with mxe-octave Untestable without python + sympy
tsa 4.2.9 unknown 17 0 0 50 55
vrml 1.0.13 unknown 0 0 0 44 44 deprecation warnings during install. dev sources warnings appear fixed.
windows 1.2.1 broken 0 0 0 5 5 Bug #44180 - patched in mxe. Crashes in windows octave 64.

See also