Internally a package is simply a gzipped tar file that contains a
top level directory of any given name. This directory will in the
following be referred to as package and may contain the
following files:
package/CITATIONThis is am optional file describing instructions on how to cite
the package for publication. It will be displayed verbatim by the
function citation.
package/COPYINGThis is a required file containing the license of the package. No restrictions is made on the license in general. If however the package contains dynamically linked functions the license must be compatible with the GNU General Public License.
package/DESCRIPTIONThis is a required file containing information about the package. See The DESCRIPTION File, for details on this file.
package/ChangeLogThis is an optional file describing all the changes made to the package source files.
package/INDEXThis is an optional file describing the functions provided by the
package. If this file is not given then one with be created
automatically from the functions in the package and the
Categories keyword in the DESCRIPTION file.
See The INDEX File, for details on this file.
package/NEWSThis is an optional file describing all user-visible changes worth mentioning. As this file increases on size, old entries can be moved into package/ONEWS.
package/ONEWSThis is an optional file describing old entries from the NEWS file.
package/PKG_ADDAn optional file that includes commands that are run when the package
is added to the users path. Note that PKG_ADD directives in the
source code of the package will also be added to this file by the
Octave package manager. Note that symbolic links are to be avoided in
packages, as symbolic links do not exist on some file systems, and so
a typical use for this file is the replacement of the symbolic link
ln -s foo.oct bar.oct
with an autoload directive like
autoload ('bar', which ('foo'));
See PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives, for details on PKG_ADD
directives.
package/PKG_DELAn optional file that includes commands that are run when the package
is removed from the users path. Note that PKG_DEL directives in
the source code of the package will also be added to this file by the
Octave package manager.
See PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives, for details on PKG_DEL
directives.
package/pre_install.mThis is an optional function that is run prior to the installation of a package. This function is called with a single argument, a struct with fields names after the data in the DESCRIPTION, and the paths where the package functions will be installed.
package/post_install.mThis is an optional function that is run after the installation of a package. This function is called with a single argument, a struct with fields names after the data in the DESCRIPTION, and the paths where the package functions were installed.
package/on_uninstall.mThis is an optional function that is run prior to the removal of a package. This function is called with a single argument, a struct with fields names after the data in the DESCRIPTION, the paths where the package functions are installed, and whether the package is currently loaded.
Besides the above mentioned files, a package can also contain one or more of the following directories:
package/instAn optional directory containing any files that are directly installed
by the package. Typically this will include any m-files.
package/srcAn optional directory containing code that must be built prior to the
packages installation. The Octave package manager will execute
./configure in this directory if this script exists, and will
then call make if a file Makefile exists in this
directory. make install will however not be called. The
environment variables MKOCTFILE, OCTAVE_CONFIG, and
OCTAVE will be set to the full paths of the programs
mkoctfile, octave-config, and octave, respectively,
of the correct version when configure and make are
called. If a file called FILES exists all files listed there
will be copied to the inst directory, so they also will be
installed. If the FILES file doesn’t exist, src/*.m and
src/*.oct will be copied to the inst directory.
package/docAn optional directory containing documentation for the package. The files in this directory will be directly installed in a sub-directory of the installed package for future reference.
package/binAn optional directory containing files that will be added to the
Octave EXEC_PATH when the package is loaded. This might contain
external scripts, etc., called by functions within the package.