# Installing GNU Octave, version 3.2.4



## ravi (Jul 21, 2011)

I was installing "octave" on FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE #0 with `# pkg_add -r octave` and the installation stops failing to fetch _pdflib_ package stating that package file related to pdflib does not exist.

After lot of search on the net and FreeBSD form, I gathered that I had no choice but to get PDFLib source from the folowing site. http://www.pdflib.com/binaries/PDFlib/705/PDFlib-Lite-7.0.5.tar.gz. This lite version is free for non-commercial use.

Subsequently it was relatively straightforward to compile the source tar ball and install the libraries. The package installs /usr/local/lib/libpdf.so.6  shared library along with other static versions.

After this installation subsequent `# pkg_add -r octave` completed successfully without the need for _pdflib-7.0.4_ dependency.

Now I have a working  GNU Octave, version 3.2.4 with one niggly problem. Any plot command
from octave was failing (gracefully telling me that it was looking for libpdf.so.8. 

I made a symbolic link  with   `# ln -s /usr/local/lib/libpdf.so.6 /usr/local/lib/libpdf.so.6`. And now I have a working "octave" application. I know this is a kludge.

Perhaps some one can benefit from my work around and others can suggest a more appropriate method.


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