Re: why is the wiki page on building octave so lacking?

[Daniel J Sebald]

On 03/19/2012 08:19 AM, Richard Crozier wrote:
> On 18/03/2012 03:57, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:
> > On 16 March 2012 11:33, Richard Crozier<address@hidden>  wrote:
> > > On the page main 'Appendix G Installing Octave' I would consider adding
> > > a little introduction outlining the steps used to build Octave before
> > > launching straight into the links to specific sections.
> >
> > This sounds good. Please write it. I'll add it to the manual.
>
> ok, how about:
>
> "Building Octave is easiest on Unix-like systems, e.g. Debian, Ubuntu,
> etc. The procedure for building and installing Octave from its sources
> on a Unix-like system is described in the sections below. To build on
> other systems requires considerably more expertise, but is possible.
> Further information on this is available online, such as on the Octave
> wiki (http://www.octave.org/wiki/index.php?title=GNU_Octave_Wiki), but
> note that this information is not directly controlled by the Octave authors.
>
> Octave is a large and complex program which depends on many other
> packages and libraries. The first section below describes how to obtain
> and install these dependencies before attempting to build Octave itself.
>
> This second section describes the process of building Octave itself. On
> a Unix-like system building Octave can often be as simple as running a
> few commands from the terminal. The Octave build system is based on GNU
> make (http://www.gnu.org/software/make/). This is a commonly used system
> for compiling large and complex programs. It is often supplied as a
> standard package, so you are likely to already have it installed. Before
> running make to build Octave you must also first configure the build
> process on your system by running a shell script supplied with the
> source code. This configuration stage is also described in the second
> section.
>
> Note that this description applies only to Octave releases. If you wish
> to build the development source, you must obtain them from the Mercurial
> archive. Building the development sources requires additional steps as
> described in<Building the Development Sources>. Further information on
> building Octave can be found in the readme files supplied with the
> source code."
>
>
> Feel free to edit, or reject as desired!

[I felt that parts of the text might scare off those interested so made 
small modifications.]

"The Octave build and install process is most mature on Unix-like 
systems, e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, etc. and is described in the sections 
below. To build on other operating systems requires more knowledge 
specific to that system.  Further information on alternate platforms is 
available online, such as on the Octave wiki 
(http://www.octave.org/wiki/index.php?title=GNU_Octave_Wiki), but note 
that this wiki is not directly controlled by the Octave authors.

Octave depends on many other packages and libraries. The first section 
below describes how to obtain and install these dependencies before 
attempting to build Octave.  Furthermore, the build utilities on Unix 
systems will identify any missing or out-of-date libraries before 
proceeding to compile and assemble Octave.

[I'm not exactly following the next paragraph.  I tried improving the 
"Octave itself" ambiguity, but don't believe I have.  Were you intending 
to make a distinction between "configure" and "make"?]

The second section describes the process of compiling and assembling 
Octave. On a Unix-like operating system this can often be as simple as 
running a few commands from the terminal. The Octave build system is 
based on GNU make (http://www.gnu.org/software/make/). This is a 
commonly used system for compiling large and complex programs. It is 
often supplied as a standard package on Unix-based operating systems, so 
you are likely to already have it installed. Before running make to 
build Octave you must also first configure the build process on your 
system by running a shell script supplied with the source code. This 
configuration stage is also described in the second section.

Note that this description applies only to Octave releases. If you wish 
to build the development source, you must obtain them from the Mercurial 
archive.  Mercurial (http://mercurial.selenic.com/) is a distributed 
source control program that allows a community of developers to track 
software modifications and is also often easily accessible in Unix-like 
distributions.  Building the development sources requires additional 
steps as described in <Building the Development Sources>. Further 
information on building Octave can be found in the readme files supplied 
with the source code."