Re: Precompiled 3.4.0 for Mac lacks gnuplot

[Ben Abbott]

On Jul 16, 2011, at 6:17 AM, Ardillas del Monte wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I'm new to Octave, but I've used Matlab and I'd like to try Octave.
> 
> I'm on a Mac with 10.6.x, so I downloaded the precompiled 3.4.0 package, 
> which says that it's ready to run and comes with all necessary stuff.
> 
> When mounting the DMG image, I see that both the Documentation and Extras 
> dirs are empty (zero bytes). I dragged the Octave.app file into my 
> applications directory.
> 
> When I try to plot something, I get the error stating "gnuplot: command not 
> found".
> 
> What do I have to do in order to get 3.4.0 working on my Mac? Must I install 
> other packages?
> 
> Thanks!

You have 4 options to allow for plotting. The simple options is to use the fltk 
backend. For that just start your octave session with the command below.

        graphics_toolkit fltk

The remaining three options require that gnuplot be installed. You can do this 
using the MacPorts package manager, the Fink package manager, or by building 
and installing gnuplot yourself.

        http://www.macports.org/

        http://www.finkproject.org/

        
http://www.miscdebris.net/blog/2010/03/25/install-gnuplot-4-4-0-on-mac-os-x/

If you're unfamiliar with these options, and want to install gnuplot, I 
recommend using MacPorts. Both the MacPorts and Fink package managers handle 
downloading sources, building and installing applications like gnuplot and 
octave. Unfortunately the latest version of Octave, supported by Fink, is 
3.0.5. MacPorts has a package available for 3.4.2

        
https://trac.macports.org/browser/trunk/dports/math/octave-devel/Portfile

If these gnuplot options don't look attractive to you it is possible that other 
Mac users on the helo-list may have additional suggestions.

Ben