Info: (octave) Creating Packages

octave: Creating Packages

 
 37.4 Creating Packages
 ======================
 
 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/CITATION’
      This is am optional file describing instructions on how to cite the
      package for publication.  It will be displayed verbatim by the
      function ‘citation’.
 
 ‘package/COPYING’
      This 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/DESCRIPTION’
      This is a required file containing information about the package.
      The DESCRIPTION File, for details on this file.
 
 ‘package/ChangeLog’
      This is an optional file describing all the changes made to the
      package source files.
 
 ‘package/INDEX’
      This 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.  The INDEX
      File, for details on this file.
 
 ‘package/NEWS’
      This 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/ONEWS’
      This is an optional file describing old entries from the ‘NEWS’
      file.
 
 ‘package/PKG_ADD’
      An 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'));
 
      PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives, for details on ‘PKG_ADD’
      directives.
 
 ‘package/PKG_DEL’
      An 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.  PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL
      Directives, for details on ‘PKG_DEL’ directives.
 
 ‘package/pre_install.m’
      This 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.m’
      This 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.m’
      This 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/inst’
      An optional directory containing any files that are directly
      installed by the package.  Typically this will include any
      ‘m’-files.
 
 ‘package/src’
      An 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/doc’
      An 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/bin’
      An 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.
octave: Creating Packages

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