How can I install GNU Octave on Mac with Fink ?

Question

I tried to install GNU Octave on my Mac using Fink by this instruction http://wiki.octave.org/Octave_for_MacOS_X

I think I have followed all the instructions but I can't run Octave. How can I check if it is installed correctly? I tried typing 'octave' in the terminal but it says 'command not found'

Or, is there any easy instruction for Octave installation? I've found many install guides but they are all different and assumes some knowledge.

Answer 1

Incidentally, I have installed Octave GNU today twice on two different machines (both running Lion).

I needed the latest version of Octave (3.6.4), and used Homebrew.

I already had XCode installed, so the rest:

Install Homebrew

Based on the instructions in this page, I ran:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/mxcl/homebrew/go)"

Install Octave

Following this guide, I ran:

brew tap homebrew/science
brew update && brew upgrade
brew install gfortran
brew install octave

Install AquaTerm

Notice that you need this before you install gnuplot (or gnuplot won't see aqua as a valid terminal and you may get 'unknown or ambiguous terminal type' error).

Simply downloaded the latest version (1.1.0) dmg from SourceForge.

Install gnuplot

brew install gnuplot

Answer 2

This is simply an update on the instruction provided by Izhaki (that I ran on Mac OSX 10.8.4).

1. You may be required to update XCode to 4.6.3. This can be done through the AppStore.

2. If you encounter the error:

Error: Download failed: http://threadingbuildingblocks.org/sites/default/files/software_releases/source/tbb41_20130613oss_src.tgz

during

brew install octave 

Then invoke:

brew update
brew install octave

and the install will pick up where it left off. Other than that, the instruction worked seamlessly.

Answer 3

You could try installing it with Home Brew. Once you download and install Home Brew, use this guide to get Octave installed.

Answer 4

Easiest option would be using the precompilled .app I've tried the precompiled .app, but had issues with certain functions (like sound), whereas the macports version always worked.

I usually install it using macports:

sudo port install octave

for the basics.

You might need other port variants/octave modules installed:

sudo port install octave octave-signal octave-plot octave-image octave-signal

Need to have XCode with Command Line Tools first and Macports with this route though

Answer 5

How to know if a Fink package is installed

By default (and this should be your case too if you didn't changed it), Fink installs everything under /sw, i.e. the binaries you are looking for should be in /sw/bin/.

Run ls /sw/bin/octave*and, depending on the output, you then have two choices :

• Either the Octave binary is inside /sw/bin, in that case run echo $PATH and learn more about PATH Variable to fix your problem.
• Otherwise, if there is nothing inside, there might have been a problem with the install.
  Try running fink install octave once more, look closely at the output and update your post if necessary.