Octave Forge packages

1
votes

I'm running the Window's port of Octave on Windows 10.

I have installed 3 packages; Control, Signal and Communications.

I am wondering if there is a procedure to run to update the Help on disk?

Or should I just use the online help at Octave Forge online documentation

T.I.A.

1
windowsoctave
If you mean, e.g. help medfilt1, then you need to pkg load signal first otherwise the help isn't accessible when the function isn't accessible. If you mean "documentation", as in the documentation tab next to the console and editor tabs, then no, I don't think packages install any documentation, so yes, check this online. However, it might be easier to go straight to the package page for the function references, rather than the general index, e.g. octave.sourceforge.net/signal/index.html - Tasos Papastylianou
@TasosPapastylianou Ah, yes. I was thinking help rather than doc. - beaker
Thanks Tasos, yes, I did mean 'Docs'. - alib_15
The command to update the packages: pkg update also updates the "Help on disk" for packages - Andy
@Andy do packages actually install html documentation separate to their help headers then? I wasn't aware of that (nor can I find any such documentation on my installation). I have a feeling you're just referring to the help headers. Having said that, the online "documentation" is literally just an html version of the help headers, so I guess the answer to OP's question is "There's no separate documentation, just use the help headers; these are identical to the documentation online and can be updated via the pkg command if one has an older version". Maybe this is worth a proper answer. - Tasos Papastylianou

1 Answers

2
votes

Just to give a more rounded answer to the question for future readers.

Core Octave documentation comes in two forms:

  • A manual, which is available in pdf and html form here: http://www.octave.org/doc
    This is the same document that is displayed in the octave GUI when you click on the "Documentation" tab.

  • Help headers. These are defined inside each function, and can be summoned via the help <functionname> command.

For Packages there is no distinct html and "help header" versions. There is only help headers. However, these help headers are also available to read online in slightly nicer-looking html format at the octave forge website, listed under their function reference. If your package installation is up-to-date, then the two should be identical.

You can get some information about the package itself on your terminal (such as a short description and list of functions it provides) by typing pkg describe -verbose <packagename>, and you can see a changelog via news <packagename>. Again, this is the same information that can be found on octave forge, just formatted in nicer html.