Installing Octave on Windows

===========================
Installation

Download the archive file octave-4.0.0_0.zip from
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/ Note: At the time this was written 
the 4.0.0 release was the latest available.

From the Windows File Explorer browse to the download directory and 
right-click on the octave-4.0.0_0.zip file. Select "Extract All..." 
from the pop-up menu.  In the window that appears change the destination 
folder to C:\octave.  (You may use a different drive letter if you wish.)
Click on the "Extract" button.  It may take several minutes to extract 
all files from the archive.

===========================
Test the Octave Installation

Use File Explorer to browse to the C:\octave\octave-4.0.0 folder and then
double-click on the octave.vbs file to start Octave.  Type "peaks"
(and/or "sombrero") at the command prompt to test the installation (a
surface plot should appear in a separate window).

===========================
Create a Shortcut (Optional)

Create a shortcut to the octave.vbs file on your desktop to make it easier
to start Octave. Right-click on the shortcut and change the name (under the
General tab) to "Octave 4.0.0"." Under the Shortcut tab you can configure
the starting directory to something more convenient by changing the path in
the "Start in" field.  (You can use environment variables in this field.
Try setting the path %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH% for a convenient starting
directory.) A nice Octave icon is located in the folder:
C:\octave\octave-4.0.0\share\octave\4.0.0\imagelib

===========================
Install Octave Forge Packages (Recommended)

There are several Octave packages that are in included in the archive.
(Packages are analogous to MATLAB toolboxes.)  To install them, use the 
File Browser in the Octave GUI to browse to the C:\octave\octave-4.0.0\src
directory.  Right-click on the build_packages.m file and select "Run"
from the pop-up menu.  It will take several minutes for all of the
included packages to build (be patient).

Notes:
1) There are errors in the build_packages.m script that prevent the "general"
and "signal" packages from building correctly.  With the GUI File Browser 
still in the C:\octave\octave-4.0.0\src folder, enter the following two lines
at the Octave command prompt to build these two packages manually:

	pkg install general-2.0.0.tar.gz
	pkg install signal-1.3.2.tar.gz

2) There is an error in the io package that is included in the 
octave-4.0.0_0.zip archive.  Install a fixed version from the Octave Forge
web site (this requires that your computer be connected to the Internet):

	pkg install io -forge
	
3) You can update any packages to the latest versions by entering the
following command (recommended - Internet connection required):

	pkg update
	
4) You can list the installed packages by entering:

	pkg list
	
You can list all packages available on Octave Forge by entering:

	pkg list -forge
	
5) Packages are not loaded by default.  To use a particular package (for
example the signal package) you must enter:

	pkg load signal
	
If you now list the packages, you will now see an asterisk ('*') next to the
signal package name (and any other packages on which the signal package
depends).  The '*' indicates the package is loaded.  You can load all
installed packages by typing:

	pkg load all

Due to an error in the current stk package, you must enter this command
TWICE in order to load all packages.

Alternatively, you can auto-load all packages when Octave is started (I
recommend this) by entering the following three lines at the command
prompt (cut and paste them from this file to the command prompt):

	pl = pkg('list'); 
	for index=1:length(pl); pkg('rebuild','-auto',pl{index}.name); end
	pkg rebuild -noauto stk

(Due to an error in the current release of the stk package.
It should not be auto-loaded.  It may be manually loaded if needed.)
If you close and restart Octave and then list the packages, you should see
that they are now all loaded (except for the stk package).

6) You may receive two warnings about "shadowed" functions when loading 
all packages. You can ignore these warnings.  Alternatively you can
eliminate the warnings by doing the following:

	a) Use the Windows File Explorer to rename ellipj.oct in 
	c:\octave\octave-4.0.0\lib\octave\packages\specfun-1.1.0\i686-w64-mingw32-api-v50+
	to ellipj.oct.orig to eliminate shadow function warning when specfun 
	package is loaded.

	b) Rename detrend.m in c:\octave\octave-4.0.0\share\octave\4.0.0\m\signal 
	to detrend.m.orig so that the detrend.m routine from the tsa package is
	used instead.  This gives an improved detrend function.

===========================
Install Symbolic Package (Optional)

Download the file symbolic-win-py-bundle-2.2.2.zip from
https://github.com/cbm755/octsympy/releases

Browse to the folder containing the file in the Octave GUI and enter the
following command:

	pkg install -auto symbolic-win-py-bundle-2.2.2.zip