Octave for Microsoft Windows: Difference between revisions

Overhaul page to keep the important information top most. Many visitors of this page are confused users ;-)
(Overhaul page to keep the important information top most. Many visitors of this page are confused users ;-))
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:''This article is about using pre-built installers of Octave for Windows; for instructions about building it, see [[Windows Installer]].''
:''This article is about using pre-built installers of Octave for Windows; for instructions about building it, see [[Windows Installer]].''


Windows installers are available for the latest version of Octave (Octave {{Release}}, released on {{Release Date}}) from [https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/ ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/]. Users are encouraged to use the latest version unless a specific feature or requirement warrants using an older version of the software. Version specific instructions and installation notes are provided below.
Windows installers are available for the latest version of Octave ({{Release}}, released on {{Release Date}}) from https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/. Users are encouraged to use the latest version unless a specific feature or requirement warrants using an older version of the software. Version specific instructions and installation notes are provided below.


Be advised that GNU Octave is primarily developed on GNU/Linux and other [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX POSIX] conform systems. The ports of GNU Octave to Microsoft Windows use different approaches to get most of the original Octave and adapt it to Microsoft Windows idiosyncrasies (e.g. 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. GNU Octave standalone ports for Windows are independently compiled using either the [http://mingw.org MinGW] or Microsoft Visual Studio development environments (3.6 or before).
=Installers for Microsoft Windows=


__TOC__
The easiest way to install GNU Octave on Microsoft Windows is by using [http://hg.octave.org/mxe-octave/ MXE] builds.  For the current release, both 32-bit and 64-bit installers and zip archived packages (.zip and .7z formats) can be found at https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/.


= Installers for Microsoft Windows =
For executable installers, the user can simply run the downloaded file and follow the on-screen installation prompts.  It is recommended that the installation path does not include spaces or non-ASCII characters.  Shortcuts to the program will be created automatically.


===Octave-{{Release}}===
For the zip archives, the user should extract the file content to a directory on the harddrive (such as {{Path|C:\Octave}}). Manual shortcuts can then be created to either the {{Path|octave.bat}} or {{Path|octave.vbs}} files in the main installation directory.
The easiest way to install GNU Octave on Microsoft Windows is by using [http://hg.octave.org/mxe-octave/ MXE] builds. For the current release, both 32-bit and 64-bit installers and zip archived packages (.zip and .7z formats) can be found at [https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/ ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/].  


For executable installers, the user can simply run the downloaded file and follow the on-screen installation prompts.  It is recommended that the installation path does not include spaces or non-ASCII characters. Shortcuts to the program will be created automatically.
'''Note that starting with Octave 4.4.0, the shortcuts will no longer start the graphical user interface by default.  The user needs to add <code>--force-gui</code> to any manual shortcuts to start Octave with the GUI. (Right-click on the shortcut, select Properties, and add <code>--force-gui</code> to the end of the Target field.)'''


For the zip archives, the user should extract the file content to a directory on the harddrive (such as C:\Octave). Manual shortcuts can then be created to either the octave.bat or octave.vbs files in the main installation directory. '''Note that starting with Octave 4.4.0, the shortcuts will no longer start the graphical user interface by default.  The user needs to add --force-gui to any manual shortcuts to start Octave with the GUI. (Right-click on the shortcut, select Properties, and add --force-gui to the end of the Target field.)'''
==Packages==


====Packages====
A selection of pre-built, [[Octave Forge]] packages are prepared for all versions of the official release. If you installed Octave using the executable installer, you can confirm the package list by typing the command below at the Octave command prompt:
A selection of pre-built, [[Octave Forge]] packages are prepared for all versions of the official release. If you installed Octave using the executable installer, you can confirm the package list by typing the command below at the Octave command prompt:


  >> pkg list
  >> pkg list


If instead you installed Octave from the .zip archive, you need first to rebuild the package list on your local machine. (The command above will produce a blank output and packages will be inaccessible before rebuilding.) Do this by typing the following command:
If instead you installed Octave from the .zip archive, you need first to rebuild the package list on your local machine. (The command above will produce a blank output and packages will be inaccessible before rebuilding.) Do this by typing the following command:
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   >> pkg install -forge <package name>
   >> pkg install -forge <package name>


To install a new or updated package version manually, the package file can be downloaded from the [https://octave.sourceforge.io/packages.php Octave Forge website]to the working directory and can be installed using:
To install a new or updated package version manually, the package file can be downloaded from the [https://octave.sourceforge.io/packages.php Octave Forge website] to the working directory and can be installed using:


   >> pkg install package_file_name.tar.gz
   >> pkg install package_file_name.tar.gz


Detailed instructions for installing a specific Octave Forge package are given at https://octave.sourceforge.io/packages.php.
Detailed instructions for installing individual Octave Forge packages are given at https://octave.sourceforge.io/packages.php.
 


'''Note that a security related issue in Windows XP currently prevents Octave from retrieving packages from the website automatically for installation or updates when running under that Operating System, and manual package installation is necessary to update or install new packages.'''


''Note that a security related issue in Windows XP currently prevents Octave from retrieving packages from the website automatically for installation or updates when running under that Operating System, and manual package installation is necessary to update or install new packages.''


== Octave 4.4.1 on cygwin==
=GNU Octave 4.4.1 on [https://cygwin.com/ cygwin]=


*'''Web-Site:''' http://cygwin.com
*'''Maintainer:''' Marco Atzeri  
*'''Maintainer:''' Marco Atzeri  
*'''Latest release:''' 2018-08-17
*'''Latest release:''' 2018-08-17
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:octave-4.4.1-1
:octave-4.4.1-1
:Its announce on cygwin mailing list [http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2018-08/msg00021.html]
:Its announce on cygwin mailing list [https://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2018-08/msg00021.html]


:octave forge packages have each a cygwin package
:Octave Forge packages have each a cygwin package.
:Its announce on cygwin mailing list [https://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2017-01/msg00078.html]
:Its announce on cygwin mailing list [https://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2017-01/msg00078.html]
: Full cygwin package list is available here [https://cygwin.com/packages/]
: Full cygwin package list is available here [https://cygwin.com/packages/]
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:  Otherwise the only graphics will be ASCII art ;-)
:  Otherwise the only graphics will be ASCII art ;-)


===Notes===
==Notes for cygwin==


*When building from development source (default branch)  
*When building from development source (default branch)  
:    "make check"  
:    "make check"  
:passes almost all the tests. Only, and not substantial, failures are:
:passes almost all the tests. Only, and not substantial, failures are:
    <nowiki>
:<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
    /pub/hg/octave/src/data.cc : 8 failures due to different handling of complex Inf on sort
/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/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  
/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</nowiki>
https://mailman.cae.wisc.edu/pipermail/octave-maintainers/2011-September/024715.html
</syntaxhighlight>
 
* To build GNU Octave from cygwin source package, you need to install "cygport" and the relevant development libraries
:<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
tar -xf octave-4.4.1-1-src.tar.xz
cygport octave.cygport almostall
</syntaxhighlight>
:see [https://cygwinports.github.io/cygport/ cygport documentation] for further info.


*To build from cygwin source package, you need to install "cygport" and the relevant development libraries
=General info=
    <nowiki>
    $ tar -xf octave-4.4.1-1-src.tar.xz
    $ cygport octave.cygport almostall</nowiki>


:see cygport documentation for further info.
Be advised that GNU Octave is primarily developed on GNU/Linux and other [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX POSIX] conform systems. The ports of GNU Octave to Microsoft Windows use different approaches to get most of the original Octave and adapt it to Microsoft Windows idiosyncrasies (e.g. 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. GNU Octave standalone ports for Windows are independently compiled using either the [http://mingw.org MinGW] or Microsoft Visual Studio development environments (3.6 or before).


=See also=
=See also=