new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/liboctave/lo-sysdep.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 John W. Eaton
+
+This file is part of Octave.
+
+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 2, or (at your option) any
+later version.
+
+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, write to the Free
+Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+
+*/
+
+/*
+
+The function gethostname was adapted from a similar function from GNU
+Bash, the Bourne Again SHell, copyright (C) 1987, 1989, 1991 Free
+Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+*/
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <string>
+
+#include <iostream.h>
+
+#ifdef HAVE_UNISTD_H
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#endif
+#include <unistd.h>
+#endif
+
+#if ! defined (HAVE_GETHOSTNAME) && defined (HAVE_SYS_UTSNAME_H)
+#include <sys/utsname.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "pathlen.h"
+
+string
+octave_getcwd (void)
+{
+  string retval;
+  char buf[MAXPATHLEN];
+
+#if defined (__EMX__)
+  char *tmp = _getcwd2 (buf, MAXPATHLEN);
+#else
+  char *tmp = getcwd (buf, MAXPATHLEN);
+#endif
+
+  if (tmp)
+    retval = tmp;
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
+int
+octave_chdir (const string& path)
+{
+#if defined (__EMX__)
+  int retval = -1;
+
+  char *tmp_path = strsave (path.c_str ());
+
+  if (path.length () == 2 && path[1] == ':')
+    {
+      char *upper_case_dir_name = strupr (tmp_path);
+      _chdrive (upper_case_dir_name[0]);
+      if (_getdrive () == upper_case_dir_name[0])
+	retval = _chdir2 ("/");
+    }
+  else
+    retval = _chdir2 (tmp_path);
+
+  delete [] tmp_path;
+
+  return retval;
+#else
+  return chdir (path.c_str ());
+#endif
+}
+
+#if ! defined (HAVE_GETHOSTNAME) && defined (HAVE_SYS_UTSNAME_H)
+
+int
+gethostname (char *name, int namelen)
+{
+  int i;
+  struct utsname ut;
+
+  --namelen;
+
+  uname (&ut);
+  i = strlen (ut.nodename) + 1;
+  strncpy (name, ut.nodename, i < namelen ? i : namelen);
+  name[namelen] = '\0';
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+#endif
+
+/*
+;;; Local Variables: ***
+;;; mode: C++ ***
+;;; End: ***
+*/