view installer-files/README.html @ 5913:fa2337ae8097 release

README.html: Add some general comments wrt Octave on Windows (bug #61207). * installer-files/README.html: Add reference to wiki article "Octave for Microsoft Windows".
author Markus Mützel <markus.muetzel@gmx.de>
date Sun, 03 Oct 2021 13:51:43 +0200
parents 136e7c79d75e
children 05a486e7e873
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<title>GNU Octave</title>
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<h1>Welcome</h1>
<p>
Thank you for installing GNU Octave!
</p>
<p>
Octave 6.3 is a minor release which mainly fixes bugs and regressions found
since the release of version 6.2. Nevertheless, some fixes made it necessary to
break ABI compatibility to Octave 6.2. Re-build any binaries (like .oct or .mex
files) when updating to this version.
</p>
<p>
A full list of changes can be found in the Release Notes from the News menu.
</p>

<h2>Changed default installation location</h2>
<p>Since version 6.1, Octave installs to the system wide default program
installation location (likely inside <code>C:\Program Files\GNU Octave</code>)
by default.<br />
It is a known issue that some operations might fail if Octave is installed in
a location containing spaces if short file names have been disabled for the file
system of the installation folder. Some systems seem to have disabled that
feature for some partitions (e.g., on <code>D:</code>). If you are unsure
whether your file system supports short file names, chose an installation folder
that doesn't contain spaces.</p>
<p>It is now also possible to install Octave without administrative privileges.
<br />In that case (or if an admin choses to install for the "local user" only),
the default installation location is inside
<code>%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\GNU Octave</code>.</p>

<h2>BLAS Library Selection</h2>
<p>During the installation, a default BLAS library was selected. The installer
contains two BLAS implementations,
the <a href="http://www.netlib.org/blas/">NetLib reference BLAS</a>
and <a href="http://www.openblas.net/">OpenBLAS</a>.</p>
<p>The used implementation can be changed after installation with the "BLAS
Switcher" in the Start menu.</p>

<h2>Included Octave Forge Packages</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://wiki.octave.org/Octave_for_Microsoft_Windows#Packages">
number of Octave-Forge packages</a> has been included with Octave for Windows.
However, the packages must be loaded in order to use them.</p>
<p>
<ul>
<li>To list the available installed packages, use the
<code>pkg list</code> command.</li>
<li>To load a package in order to use its functions, use the
<code>pkg load PACKAGENAME</code> command.</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>Other packages are available from
<a href="https://octave.sourceforge.io/">Octave-Forge</a>.</p>

<h2>General information for Octave on Windows</h2>
<p>Octave is developed primarily on GNU/Linux. The programs and wrapper scripts
bundled in this installer make a best effort to provide a seamless experience
of Octave on Windows.<br />
However, there are some (minor) limitations and idiosyncracies on that platform.
Please, read the <a href="https://wiki.octave.org/Octave_for_Microsoft_Windows">
corresponding article</a> for further information and possible work-arounds.</p>

<h2>Contributing to Octave</h2>
<p>Octave has a community that lives from its users. You are welcome to share
with that community.</p>
<p>For help and support, visit the
<a href="https://octave.discourse.group/">Octave Discourse forum</a>.</p>
<p>Please, report any problems with Octave on the
<a href="https://octave.org/bugs.html">Octave website</a>.</p>
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