Compiling octave-3.4.3

[Bart Vandewoestyne]

Hello list,

I am trying to use a recent version of Octave on my work-desktop PC 
which is running the Red Hat Enterprise 5.7:

address@hidden:~$ lsb_release -a
LSB Version: 
:core-4.0-amd64:core-4.0-ia32:core-4.0-noarch:graphics-4.0-amd64:graphics-4.0-ia32:graphics-4.0-noarch:printing-4.0-amd64:printing-4.0-ia32:printing-4.0-noarch
Distributor ID: RedHatEnterpriseClient
Description:    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client release 5.7 (Tikanga)
Release:        5.7
Codename:       Tikanga

As this is my work-desktop PC, I cannot upgrade to a more recent Red Hat 
distribution (I have to follow the company policy).

For as far as I can see, the most recent package available on Red Hat 
5.7 is octave 3.0.5:

address@hidden:~$ sudo yum info octave | grep Version
Version    : 3.0.5
Version    : 3.0.5

I am downloading the 3.4.3 .tar.gz file from 
http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/download.html and after unpacking, i 
do the following:

      export FFLAGS="-ff2c"
      ./configure --prefix=/users/vandewoe/software/octave/octave-3.4.3

Configure can find almost everything, except that it complains about 
HDF5 stuff not being found, but I can live with that, I don't need HDF5 
support for now.

Not setting FFLAGS resulted in a configure error... so after googling a 
bit around i noticed that setting it to -ff2c could help me, and 
apparently it did.

I then try to compile using a simple

    make

but then i get the error:

libtool: compile:  g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.. -I../libgnu -I../libgnu 
-g -O2 -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I/usr/include/freetype2 -Wall -W -Wshadow 
-Wold-style-cast -Wformat -Wpointer-arith -Wwrite-strings -Wcast-align 
-Wcast-qual -g -O2 -pthread -g -O2 -MT misc/libcruft_la-quit.lo -MD -MP 
-MF misc/.deps/libcruft_la-quit.Tpo -c misc/quit.cc  -fPIC -DPIC -o 
misc/.libs/libcruft_la-quit.o
In file included from 
/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d3/hped_build_gent/tools/gcc/4.6.2/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.6.2/../../../../include/c++/4.6.2/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/bits/gthr-default.h:42:0,
                 from 
/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d3/hped_build_gent/tools/gcc/4.6.2/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.6.2/../../../../include/c++/4.6.2/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/bits/gthr.h:162,
                 from 
/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d3/hped_build_gent/tools/gcc/4.6.2/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.6.2/../../../../include/c++/4.6.2/ext/atomicity.h:34,
                 from 
/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d3/hped_build_gent/tools/gcc/4.6.2/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.6.2/../../../../include/c++/4.6.2/bits/ios_base.h:41,
                 from 
/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d3/hped_build_gent/tools/gcc/4.6.2/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.6.2/../../../../include/c++/4.6.2/ios:43,
                 from 
/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d3/hped_build_gent/tools/gcc/4.6.2/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.6.2/../../../../include/c++/4.6.2/ostream:40,
                 from 
/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d3/hped_build_gent/tools/gcc/4.6.2/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.6.2/../../../../include/c++/4.6.2/iostream:40,
                 from misc/quit.cc:29:
../libgnu/unistd.h:1722:1: error: '::unlinkat' has not been declared
../libgnu/unistd.h:1722:1: note: suggested alternative:
../libgnu/unistd.h:1722:1: note:   'gnulib::unlinkat'
make[2]: *** [misc/libcruft_la-quit.lo] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory 
`/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d2/vandewoe/octave-3.4.3/libcruft'
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/gfs/belgium/gntnas01/d2/vandewoe/octave-3.4.3'
make: *** [all] Error 2


and the unlinkat error is where I'm stuck...  Any hints on how to solve 
this is highly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Bart