new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui/src/OctaveMainThread.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#include "OctaveMainThread.h"
+
+OctaveMainThread::OctaveMainThread (QObject * parent):QThread (parent)
+{
+}
+
+void
+OctaveMainThread::run ()
+{
+  int argc = 3;
+  const char *argv[] = { "octave", "--interactive", "--line-editing" };
+  octave_main (argc, (char **) argv, 1);
+  emit ready();
+  main_loop ();
+  clean_up_and_exit (0);
+}