new Octave user on PPC Mac - upgrade (2.9.x.x --> 3.0.0) question

[Thomas Treichl]

Bill Christens-Barry schrieb:
> Hi,
> 
> New here with questions. Some time ago I installed a 2.9.x.x version 
> using MacPorts. I see that there is a new Octave 3.0.0 binary for PPC 
> Macs that is just a drag and drop, but I'd like to upgrade the earlier 
> version that is not a clickable app. How should I go about installing 
> this in place of the earlier version that is under /opt/local ? I'd do a 
> MacPorts upgrade to 3.0.0, but haven't found that they have it available 
> yet.
> 
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Bill C-B

Hi Bill,

meanwhile (until the MacPorts version is available) you can use Octave.app.
Move it into your Applications folder (and also move Gnuplot.app into your 
Applications folder - Gnuplot.app can be found in the Extras directory of the 
octave-3.0.0-*.dmg) and from here Octave.app/Gnuplot.app and the MacPorts 
versions can coexist without damaging each other *if* you start Octave.app by 
double-clicking its icon *but* you can only start your old MacPorts binary 
directly from the command line resp. Terminal.app:

If you want to use the Octave.app binary from the command line too then you 
should rename the following files (don't remove them - maybe you somewhen still 
want to use them again), somehow like

   sudo mv /opt/local/bin/octave-config /opt/local/bin/octave-config.old
   sudo mv /opt/local/bin/octave-bug /opt/local/bin/octave-bug.old
   sudo mv /opt/local/bin/octave /opt/local/bin/octave.old
   sudo mv /opt/local/bin/mkoctfile /opt/local/bin/mkoctfile.old

and create links to 'octave' and 'mkoctfile' instead like it is explained in the 
README.html file in section 'General FAQ' of the octave-3.0.0-*.dmg image.

   Thomas