*** README is automatically generated from admin/template.readme ***

The octave-forge project contains functions for Octave which are not in
the main distribution.  While the main Octave distribution is
conservative about accepting new functions and changes, octave-forge is
very open.  As a result, be prepared for some lower quality code and
more rapidly changing interfaces to the functions in octave-forge.

The collection is in the public domain, but the individual functions
vary.  See COPYING for details.  See INSTALL for installation
instructions.

Octave needs your support!  Please donate to the University of
Wisconsin Foundation:

    http://www.uwfoundation.wisc.edu/index.html

designated as follows:

   I/we wish to support ongoing development of the Octave modelling
   language, under the supervision of Professor James B. Rawlings and
   Dr. John W. Eaton of the Department of Chemical and Biological 
   Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Donations are tax deductible in the United States.  A donation of $10/user
per year at current estimates of the user base would support two developers.
Adjust as appropriate for the percentage of users that you think will donate.


=====================================================================
Project organization

admin/
	Contains files and scripts used to administer the octave-forge
	website and build the release files.  Nothing in here is needed
	by octave-forge users.

doc/
	Documentation for octave in general.  Documentation for specific
	packages goes into the doc/ subdirectory of the individual package 
	directories. This directory also contains the automatically built
	html code for the website.
	

extra/
	Packages which:
	   * are too narrow in scope for main/, or
	   * act as alternatives for functions in main/, or
	   * do not follow octave conventions (because they want
	     to retain compatibility with matlab for example), or
	   * are primarily developed elsewhere, or
	   * require patches to Octave, or
	   * are designed for older versions of Octave, or
	   * haven't been tested enough.

language/
	Packages that supply translations of core Octave functions and 
	Octave-Forge packages. The directory base/template/ contains example
	code to and the directory base/help the original text of the functions
	to translate.
	

main/
	Packages which may eventually be included in the main octave 
	distribution.  As such, they should follow Octave conventions.  
	The octave-forge SVN tree should be the primary development/release 
	site.  All functions should work with the latest Octave 
	interpreter without any special compilation switches or patches
	applied.

nonfree/
	Packages which are not freely modifiable and redistributable 
	with modifications, or which depend on code which is not 
	free.  This includes functions which only permit non-commercial 
	use and functions which must be kept together as a package.  
	Functions in all other directories must be freely redistributable 
	with modifications.  Functions in non-free must be freely 
	redistributable for non-commercial use.  Functions of unknown
	license should not be included anywhere, since no license implies
	default license implies no rights to redistribute.

packages/
	This is the target directory, where the source packages are placed. It
	is also the directory where the test code is run for each of the
	packages and where the source RPMs are automatically built. There
	should be no reason for the user to add files to this directory

======================================================================
Package organization

package/NOINSTALL
	This is an optional file, whose presence tells octave-forge
	that this package should be ignored. This is typically for
	packages that are kept for historical reasons.
package/DESCRIPTION
	This is a required file containing information about the
	package.
package/COPYING
	This is a required containing the license of the package.
package/INDEX
	This is an optional file describing the functions provided by
	the package.
package/PKG_ADD
	An optional file that includes commands that are run when the
        package is added to the users path.
package/PKG_DEL
	An optional file that includes commands that are run when the
        package is removed from the users path.
package/Makefile
	This is an optional file that is for the use of Octave-Forge
        only.
package/pre_install.m
	This is an optional script that is run prior to the
        installation of a package.
package/post_install.m
	This is an optional script that is run after the
        installation of a package.
package/on_uninstall.m
	This is an optional script that is run prior to the
        de-installation of a package.
package/doc
	An optional directory containing documentation for the
	package.
package/inst
	An optional directory containing any files that are directly
	installed by package.
package/bin
	An optional directory containing files that will be added to
	the Octave EXEC_PATH when the package is loaded.
package/src
	An optional directory containing code that must be 'built' prior
	to the packages installation.

==========================================================================
Administrative files

autogen.sh
	Generates ./configure and Makeconf.in

configure.base
Makeconf.base
	Basic configuration checks, such as locating the install paths,
	and the associated variables to be put into Makeconf.

COPYING
	License for the collection

COPYING.GPL
	The text of the GPL license

README
	This file

TODO
	Things that could/should be done

INSTALL
	Installation instructions

Makefile
	Top level makefile

release.sh
	Generates release tarball

==========================================================================
Compatibility Issues

Issue the following command:
	$ grep -d skip "XXX COMPATIBILITY XXX" */* */*/*
for a list of compatibility issues in various functions.  As of this
writing, mu2lin is a likely cause of problems when porting audio
packages.


==========================================================================
Paul Kienzle
pkienzle@users.sf.net
March 17, 2002