notitle {#mainpage}
=======

Copyright (C) 1996-2026 The Octave Project Developers

See the file COPYRIGHT.md in the top-level directory of this
distribution or <https://octave.org/copyright/>.

Overview
--------

GNU Octave is a high-level interpreted language, primarily intended
for numerical computations.  It provides capabilities for the
numerical solution of linear and nonlinear problems, and for
performing other numerical experiments.  It also provides extensive
graphics capabilities for data visualization and manipulation.  GNU
Octave is normally used through its interactive interface (CLI and
GUI), but it can also be used to write non-interactive programs.
The GNU Octave language is quite similar to Matlab so that most
programs are easily portable.

GNU Octave is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

GNU Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Availability
------------

The latest released version of Octave is always available from
<https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/> and many mirror sites around the
world.  You may also find links to binary distributions at
<https://www.octave.org/download.html>.  The current development
sources may be found under the Source Code tab on
[Savannah](https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/octave/).

You are encouraged to verify the Octave installation file you download
(such as `octave-11.1.0.tar.xz`) as follows:
* First, ensure that you are downloading from the official Octave website, or
from a GNU mirror linked from the official Octave website.
* Next, download the corresponding signature file for the installation file
you downloaded, for example `octave-11.1.0.tar.xz.sig`.
* Next, run the command
```
  gpg --keyserver hkps://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys B05F05B75D36644B
```
to import John W. Eaton's public key (this needs to be done only once).
* Verify the integrity of the file you downloaded with a command like
```
  gpg --verify octave-11.1.0.tar.xz.sig
```
* If all is well, then the output should say
```
  gpg: Good signature from "John W. Eaton <jwe@gnu.org>
```
* If the file you downloaded was corrupted or changed by anyone else, then
the output will say
```
  gpg: BAD signature from "John W. Eaton <jwe@gnu.org>"
```
If so, you should not install Octave from that file, but should start over.

Installation
------------

Building Octave from source requires approximately 475 MB of disk space (or
approximately 3.8 GB with debugging symbols).  Once installed, Octave uses
approximately 75 MB of disk space (or approximately 415 MB if shared libraries
are not built or binaries include debugging symbols).

To compile Octave, you will need a recent version of:

- [GNU Make](https://www.gnu.org/software/make/)
- [GNU G++](https://gcc.gnu.org/) or a different C++17 compiler
- [GNU Fortran](https://gcc.gnu.org/fortran/), a different Fortran 77 compiler,
  or [f2c](http://www.netlib.org/f2c/)

Octave's Makefiles use features of GNU Make that are not present in
other versions of make.  If you use `f2c`, you will need a script
like `fort77` that works like a normal Fortran compiler by combining
`f2c` with your C compiler in a single script.

See the file `INSTALL.OCTAVE` or the wiki at <https://wiki.octave.org/Building>
for more detailed installation instructions.

Bugs and Patches
----------------

The files `BUGS` and `doc/interpreter/bugs.txi` explain the recommended
procedure for reporting bugs on the [bug tracker](https://bugs.octave.org)
or contributing patches; online resources are also available
[here](https://octave.org/support).

Documentation
-------------

* [Octave's manual](https://docs.octave.org/interpreter/) is a
  comprehensive user guide covering introductive and more advanced
  topics.
* [Octave's wiki](https://wiki.octave.org) is a user community page,
  covering various topics and answering [FAQ](https://wiki.octave.org/FAQ).
* [Octave's Doxygen](https://docs.octave.org/doxygen/) documentation
  explains the C++ class libraries.

If you notice omissions or inconsistencies in the documentation, please
report them at our bug tracker.  Specific suggestions for ways to improve
Octave and its documentation are always welcome.  Reports with patches are
even more welcome.

Additional Information
----------------------

The Octave website is <https://www.octave.org>, and there is a forum
at <https://octave.discourse.group/>.
