Unix help: running Octave

frawgzfrawgz
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I'm taking a numerical computation class that will require us to use Matlab or its free, open source alternative, Octave. There apparently isn't a binary for Mac OS X.. is there an easy way to get this running on my OS X machine?



Update: Ok, I've done some research myself and discovered that others have put in the effort to port Octave over. I guess I need to install Fink and X11 now?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    You don't have to install Fink, but it's usually helpful. There's some discussion here.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    frawgzfrawgz Posts: 547member
    I need some help again.. Octave requires gnuplot, which isn't available as a binary through Fink. I tried fink install gnuplot, but the download failed (broken link I guess). I went to the SourceForge site and downloaded the latest version myself.



    Now I'm trying to compile it myself. I downloaded and installed Apple's X11 Public Beta 3. I really have no idea what I'm doing, but I figure I need to have this installed before I get Octave up and running anyway.



    To install gnuplot..?

    ./configure

    make



    Is that right? I think the installation is getting choked on make. Does anyone know if I need to install some other libraries first? Need a lot of hand holding here.. thanks in advance.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    thinkingdifferentthinkingdifferent Posts: 1,604member
    Here's where you can find a binary version of GNUPlot:



    GNUPLOT
  • Reply 4 of 12
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Be sure to install the X11 SDK for X windows from Apple's site. A lot of Fink X11 installs will die without it.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    frawgzfrawgz Posts: 547member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ThinkingDifferent

    Here's where you can find a binary version of GNUPlot:



    GNUPLOT



    Thanks, but I think I actually need the X11 version if I want Octave to be able to recognize it / make use of it.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    frawgzfrawgz Posts: 547member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Scott

    Be sure to install the X11 SDK for X windows from Apple's site. A lot of Fink X11 installs will die without it.



    Thanks for the tip. I installed the SDK, but make is still choking. Can anyone offer a diagnosis?



    make all-recursive

    Making all in config

    make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.

    Making all in m4

    make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.

    Making all in term

    make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.

    Making all in src

    source='plot3d.c' object='plot3d.o' libtool=no \\

    depfile='.deps/plot3d.Po' tmpdepfile='.deps/plot3d.TPo' \\

    depmode=gcc /bin/sh ../depcomp \\

    gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I.. -I../term -I../term -DBINDIR=\\"/usr/local/bin\\" -DX11_DRIVER_DIR=\\"/usr/local/lib/gnuplot/3.8i\\" -DCONTACT=\\"bug-gnuplot@dartmouth.edu\\" -DHELPFILE=\\"/usr/local/share/gnuplot.gih\\" -I/usr/X11R6/include -g -O2 -ObjC -c `test -f plot3d.c || echo './'`plot3d.c

    plot3d.c:1026: only 5 args to macro 'STORE_WITH_LOG_AND_UPDATE_RANGE' (6 expected)

    cpp-precomp: warning: errors during smart preprocessing, retrying in basic mode

    make[3]: *** [plot3d.o] Error 1

    make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

    make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1

    make: *** [all] Error 2
  • Reply 7 of 12
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    shouldn't you just type 'make' instead of 'make all-recursive'?
  • Reply 8 of 12
    frawgzfrawgz Posts: 547member
    Yeah, that's what I did. I only pasted the output.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    you know, because it said that:



    Quote:

    make[2]: Nothing to be done for `all'.



    so it somehow took 'all' as a command or something.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    frawgzfrawgz Posts: 547member
    Ok, I finally just got fink to install it itself. The URL was previously broken, so I used fink selfupdate -cvs, and then used fink install gnuplot.



    That finished smoothly, so I got to installing Octave. Thanks for your help, everyone.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by frawgz

    Ok, I finally just got fink to install it itself. The URL was previously broken, so I used fink selfupdate -cvs, and then used fink install gnuplot.



    That finished smoothly, so I got to installing Octave. Thanks for your help, everyone.



    in the future, if you download the source archive, then put it in /sw/src, fink will use the source archive as if it downloaded it itself. the only caveat on that is, it has to match the version fink is expecting, because fink checks the file name of the archive, and the folder name of the extracted folder.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Defiant

    so it somehow took 'all' as a command or something.



    many makefiles spawn off sub-make commands. `make all` often initiates `all-this` and `all-that`which then derive into the particular relevant make commands. when it said nothing to be done for `all` (several times) it was actually referring to a spawned `make all` that occurred within some of the subfolders. in those subfolders it had already made everything, or had nothing to make.
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