[Octave Forge] binary packages - was Octave 4.0 call for packages

[JohnD]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: address@hidden [mailto:address@hidden On Behalf Of
> Carnë Draug
> Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 7:13 AM
> To: John Donoghue
> Cc: octave-maintainers; Mike Miller
> Subject: Re: [Octave Forge] Octave 4.0 call for packages
> 
> On 6 April 2015 at 23:31, John Donoghue <address@hidden>
> wrote:
> > On 04/06/2015 06:16 PM, address@hidden wrote:
> >>
> >> Message: 4
> >> Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2015 21:17:38 +0100
> >> From: Carn? Draug<address@hidden>
> >> To: Mike Miller<address@hidden>
> >> Cc: Octave Maintainers<address@hidden>
> >> Subject: Re: [Octave Forge] Octave 4.0 call for packages
> >> Message-ID:
> >>
> >> <CAPOrs_1RNATmWYF9unM6NW7QDUxtJT24G-
> address@hidden>
> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> >>
> >> On 15 March 2015 at 15:04, Mike Miller<address@hidden>  wrote:
> >>>
> >>> >[...]
> >>> >
> >>> >The imminent Octave 4.0.0 release will be the first to supply an
> >>> >official binary distribution of Octave for Windows operating systems.
> >>> >This distribution will include a set of Octave Forge packages that
> >>> >may be installed at the user's option. This is why we would like to
> >>> >have compatible packages ready to incorporate into the next release
> >>> >candidate for further testing.
> >>> >
> >>
> >> Can users that have installed Octave with such installer then install
> >> more packages and other versions of those packages?
> >>
> >> If we are starting to distribute binaries of Octave core, would be
> >> nice if we can also distribute binaries for the packages, specially
> >> since the release cycle of core and OF is quite different.
> >>
> >> Carn?
> >>
> >
> > Currently I think cross compiled binaries for mxe-octave is still a
> > work in progress so may not make the initial 4.0 release.
> 
> I thought that was one of the main targets for the 4.0.0 release.
> 
> > Currently, all it does at the moment is compile the sources in the src
> > directory and tars it all back up for pkg install to then run in the
> > native machine.
> >
> > So would/should pkg install somehow look on octave forge for a binary
> > package and fall back to sources if it couldnt find it?
> 
> Yes, that would be nice, kinda like python wheels. But we don't really have 
> the
> infrastucture to setup something like that.
> 
> Carnë

I have submitted a few bugs to the bug tracker, mostly with patches in order to 
cross compile some packages, and a few windows specific issues.
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?44651    nurbs
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?44640    strings
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?44624    dicom
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?44606    sockets
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?44594    odepkg
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?44593    fits
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?41214    fl-core


Would the plan then be to be able to pre install the compiled binaries into the 
mxe-package so that on installation of 'octave' all the current packages are 
already installed?