--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2005-11-28  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
+
+	* configure.in: Check for uname.
+
 2005-11-21  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
 
 	* examples/Makefile.in (DISTFILES): Don't include octave.desktop here.

--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 EXTERN_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
 
 AC_INIT
-AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.492 $)
+AC_REVISION($Revision: 1.493 $)
 AC_PREREQ(2.57)
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/octave.cc])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
@@ -1224,8 +1224,8 @@
   readlink rename resolvepath rindex rmdir round select setgrent \
   setpwent setvbuf sigaction siglongjmp sigpending sigprocmask \
   sigsuspend stat strcasecmp strdup strerror strftime stricmp \
-  strncasecmp strnicmp strptime symlink tempnam umask unlink usleep \
-  vfprintf vsprintf vsnprintf waitpid)
+  strncasecmp strnicmp strptime symlink tempnam umask uname unlink \
+  usleep vfprintf vsprintf vsnprintf waitpid)
 
 OCTAVE_SMART_PUTENV
 

--- a/liboctave/ChangeLog
+++ b/liboctave/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2005-11-29  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
+
+	* oct-uname.h, oct-uname.cc: New files.
+	* Makefile.in: Add them to the appropriate lists.
+
 2005-11-11  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
 
 	* Array.cc (Array<T>::indexN): Simplify.

--- a/liboctave/Makefile.in
+++ b/liboctave/Makefile.in
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@
 	oct-env.h oct-fftw.h oct-getopt.h oct-group.h oct-inttypes.h \
 	oct-passwd.h oct-rand.h oct-rl-edit.h oct-rl-hist.h \
 	oct-shlib.h oct-sort.h oct-spparms.h oct-syscalls.h \
-	oct-sparse.h oct-time.h oct-types.h pathlen.h pathsearch.h \
+	oct-sparse.h oct-time.h oct-types.h oct-uname.h \
+	pathlen.h pathsearch.h \
 	prog-args.h so-array.h sparse-sort.h statdefs.h str-vec.h \
 	sparse-util.h sun-utils.h sysdir.h systime.h syswait.h \
 	$(OPTS_INC) \
@@ -113,8 +114,8 @@
 	lo-ieee.cc lo-mappers.cc lo-specfun.cc lo-sysdep.cc \
 	lo-utils.cc mach-info.cc oct-alloc.cc oct-env.cc \
 	oct-fftw.cc oct-group.cc oct-passwd.cc oct-rand.cc oct-shlib.cc \
-	oct-spparms.cc oct-syscalls.cc oct-time.cc prog-args.cc \
-	so-array.cc sparse-sort.cc sparse-util.cc str-vec.cc \
+	oct-spparms.cc oct-syscalls.cc oct-time.cc oct-uname.cc \
+	prog-args.cc so-array.cc sparse-sort.cc sparse-util.cc str-vec.cc \
 	$(TEMPLATE_SRC) \
 	$(TI_SRC) \
 	$(MATRIX_SRC) \

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/liboctave/oct-uname.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2005 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, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+02110-1301, USA.
+
+*/
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <cerrno>
+
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_UTSNAME_H
+#include <sys/utsname.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "oct-uname.h"
+
+void
+octave_uname::init (void)
+{
+#if defined (HAVE_UNAME) && defined (HAVE_SYS_UTSNAME_H)
+  struct utsname unm;
+
+  err = ::uname (&unm);
+
+  if (err < 0)
+    {
+      using namespace std;
+      msg = ::strerror (errno);
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      utsname_sysname = unm.sysname;
+      utsname_nodename = unm.nodename;
+      utsname_release = unm.release;
+      utsname_version = unm.version;
+      utsname_machine = unm.machine;
+    }
+#endif
+}
+
+/*
+;;; Local Variables: ***
+;;; mode: C++ ***
+;;; End: ***
+*/

new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/liboctave/oct-uname.h
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2005 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, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
+02110-1301, USA.
+
+*/
+
+#if !defined (octave_uame_h)
+#define octave_uname_h 1
+
+#include <string>
+
+class
+octave_uname
+{
+public:
+
+  octave_uname (void)
+    : utsname_sysname ("unknown"), utsname_nodename ("unknown"),
+      utsname_release ("unknown"), utsname_version ("unknown"),
+      utsname_machine ("unknown"),
+      msg ("uname not supported on this system"), err (-1)
+  { init (); }
+
+  octave_uname (const octave_uname& unm)
+    : utsname_sysname (unm.utsname_sysname),
+      utsname_nodename (unm.utsname_nodename),
+      utsname_release (unm.utsname_release),
+      utsname_version (unm.utsname_version),
+      utsname_machine (unm.utsname_machine),
+      msg (unm.msg), err (unm.err)
+  { }
+
+  octave_uname& operator = (const octave_uname& unm)
+  {
+    if (this != &unm)
+      {
+	utsname_sysname = unm.utsname_sysname;
+	utsname_nodename = unm.utsname_nodename;
+	utsname_release = unm.utsname_release;
+	utsname_version = unm.utsname_version;
+	utsname_machine = unm.utsname_machine;
+
+	msg = unm.msg;
+	err = unm.err;
+      }
+
+    return *this;
+  }
+
+  ~octave_uname (void) { }
+
+  std::string sysname (void) const { return utsname_sysname; }
+  std::string nodename (void) const { return utsname_nodename; }
+  std::string release (void) const { return utsname_release; }
+  std::string version (void) const { return utsname_version; }
+  std::string machine (void) const { return utsname_machine; }
+
+  std::string message (void) const { return msg; }
+  int error (void) const { return err; }
+
+private:
+
+  std::string utsname_sysname;
+  std::string utsname_nodename;
+  std::string utsname_release;
+  std::string utsname_version;
+  std::string utsname_machine;
+
+  std::string msg;
+  int err;
+
+  void init (void);
+};
+
+#endif
+
+/*
+;;; Local Variables: ***
+;;; mode: C++ ***
+;;; End: ***
+*/

--- a/src/ChangeLog
+++ b/src/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2005-11-28  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
+
+	* syscalls.cc (Funame): New function.
+
 2005-11-21  John W. Eaton  <jwe@octave.org>
 
 	* pr-output.cc (pr_int): Fix thinko in byte-swapping for bit format.

--- a/src/syscalls.cc
+++ b/src/syscalls.cc
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 #include "file-ops.h"
 #include "file-stat.h"
 #include "oct-syscalls.h"
+#include "oct-uname.h"
 
 #include "defun.h"
 #include "error.h"
@@ -996,6 +997,53 @@
   return retval;
 }
 
+DEFUN (uname, args, ,
+  "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
+@deftypefn {Built-in Function} {[@var{uts}, @var{err}, @var{msg}] =} uname ()\n\
+Return system information in the structure.  For example,\n\
+\n\
+@example\n\
+@group\n\
+uname ()\n\
+     @result{} @{\n\
+           sysname = \n\
+           nodename = \n\
+           release = \n\
+           version = \n\
+           machine = \n\
+         @}\n\
+@end group\n\
+@end example\n\
+\n\
+If successful, @var{err} is 0 and @var{msg} is an empty string.\n\
+Otherwise, @var{err} is nonzero and @var{msg} contains a\n\
+system-dependent error message.\n\
+@end deftypefn")
+{
+  octave_value_list retval;
+
+  if (args.length () == 0)
+    {
+      octave_uname sysinfo;
+
+      Octave_map m;
+
+      m.assign ("sysname", sysinfo.sysname ());
+      m.assign ("nodename", sysinfo.nodename ());
+      m.assign ("release", sysinfo.release ());
+      m.assign ("version", sysinfo.version ());
+      m.assign ("machine", sysinfo.machine ());
+
+      retval(2) = sysinfo.message ();
+      retval(1) = sysinfo.error ();
+      retval(0) = m;
+    }
+  else
+    print_usage ("uname");
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
 DEFUN (unlink, args, ,
   "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
 @deftypefn {Built-in Function} {[@var{err}, @var{msg}] =} unlink (@var{file})\n\