--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2456,7 +2456,6 @@
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([
   Makefile 
   doc/Makefile
-  doc/faq/Makefile
   doc/icons/Makefile
   doc/interpreter/Makefile
   doc/liboctave/Makefile

--- a/doc/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/Makefile.am
@@ -29,5 +29,5 @@
   texinfo.tex \
   texmf.cnf
 
-SUBDIRS = faq icons interpreter liboctave refcard
+SUBDIRS = icons interpreter liboctave refcard
 

deleted file mode 100644
--- a/doc/faq/Makefile.am
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-# Makefile for Octave's doc/faq directory
-#
-# Copyright (C) 1996-2012 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 3 of the License, 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, see
-# <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-include $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/common.mk
-
-TEXINFO_TEX = ../texinfo.tex
-
-info_TEXINFOS = OctaveFAQ.texi
-
-all-local: dvi html pdf ps
-
-## The texi2dvi script (used to create both PDF and DVI output formats)
-## uses some fixed temporary file names.  In order to avoid a race condition
-## the DVI and PDF builds are forced to run serially through a Makefile rule.
-OctaveFAQ.pdf: OctaveFAQ.dvi
-
-EXTRA_DIST = OctaveFAQ.dvi OctaveFAQ.html OctaveFAQ.pdf OctaveFAQ.ps
-
-clean-local:
-	rm -rf t2d_cache
-

deleted file mode 100644
--- a/doc/faq/OctaveFAQ.texi
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,1314 +0,0 @@
-% Copyright (C) 1997-2012 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 3 of the License, 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, see
-% <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-\input texinfo.tex      @c -*-texinfo-*-
-
-@setfilename OctaveFAQ.info
-@settitle Frequently asked questions about Octave (with answers)
-
-@setchapternewpage off
-@direntry
-* OctaveFAQ: (OctaveFAQ).  Frequently asked questions about Octave
-@end direntry
-@titlepage
-@title Octave FAQ
-@subtitle Frequently asked questions about Octave
-@subtitle @today{}
-@sp 1
-@author John W. Eaton and David Bateman
-@page
-@end titlepage
-
-@ifnottex
-@node Top
-@top
-@unnumbered Preface
-@cindex FAQ for Octave, latest version
-@end ifnottex
-
-This is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) for Octave users.
-
-We are always looking for new questions (@emph{with} answers), better
-answers, or both. Please send suggestions to
-@url{http://bugs.octave.org}. If you have general questions about
-Octave, or need help for something that is not covered by the Octave
-manual or the FAQ, please use the @email{help@@octave.org} mailing list.
-
-This FAQ is intended to supplement, not replace, the Octave manual.
-Before posting a question to the @email{help@@octave.org} mailing list,
-you should first check to see if the topic is covered in the manual.
-
-@menu
-* What is Octave?::
-* Licensing Issues::
-* How can I cite Octave?::
-* Series 3.4.N::
-* Octave Features::
-* Learning more about Octave::
-* Getting Octave::
-* Installation::
-* Common problems::
-* Using Octave::
-* @sc{Matlab} compatibility::
-* Index::
-@end menu
-
-@node What is Octave?
-@chapter What is Octave?
-
-Octave is a high-level interactive language, primarily intended for
-numerical computations that is mostly compatible with
-@sc{Matlab}.@footnote{@sc{Matlab} is a registered trademark of The
-MathWorks, Inc.}
-
-Octave can do arithmetic for real, complex or integer-valued scalars
-and matrices, solve sets of nonlinear algebraic equations, integrate
-functions over finite and infinite intervals, and integrate systems of
-ordinary differential and differential-algebraic equations.
-
-Octave uses the GNU readline library to handle reading and editing
-input.  By default, the line editing commands are similar to the
-cursor movement commands used by GNU Emacs, and a vi-style line
-editing interface is also available.  At the end of each session, the
-command history is saved, so that commands entered during previous
-sessions are not lost.
-
-The Octave distribution includes a 650+ page Texinfo manual. Access to
-the complete text of the manual is available via the @code{doc} command
-at the Octave prompt.
-
-@menu
-* Who develops Octave?::
-* Why GNU Octave?::
-* What version should I use?::
-* On what platforms does Octave run?::
-@end menu
-
-@node Who develops Octave?
-@section Who develops Octave?
-
-Discussions about writing the software that would eventually become
-Octave started in about 1988 with James B. Rawlings and John W. Eaton at
-the University of Texas. John W. Eaton was the original author of
-Octave, starting full-time development in February 1992. He is still the
-primary maintainer. The community of users/developers has in addition
-contributed some code and fuels the discussion on the mailing lists
-@email{help@@octave.org} (user forum), @email{maintainers@@octave.org}
-(development issues), and @email{octave-dev@@lists.sourceforge.net} (all
-things related to the Octave Forge repository of user-contributed
-functions).
-
-@node Why GNU Octave?
-@section Why GNU Octave?
-
-The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like
-operating system which is free software: the GNU system.
-
-GNU is a recursive acronym for ``GNU's Not Unix''; it is pronounced
-guh-noo, approximately like canoe.
-
-The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is the principal organizational
-sponsor of the GNU Project.
-
-Octave became GNU Octave in 1997 (beginning with version 2.0.6).  This
-meant agreeing to consider Octave a part of the GNU Project and support
-the efforts of the FSF.  However, Octave is not and has never been
-developed by the FSF.
-
-For more information about the GNU project, see @url{www.gnu.org}.
-
-@cindex FSF [Free Software Foundation]
-@cindex GNU [GNU's not unix]
-
-@node What version should I use?
-@section What version should I use?
-
-In general, you will find the latest version on
-@url{http://www.octave.org/download.html}. It is recommended to use the
-``stable'' version of octave for general use, and the ``development''
-version if you want the latest features.
-
-A list of user-visible changes since the last release is available in
-the file @file{NEWS}.  The file @file{ChangeLog} in the source
-distribution contains a more detailed record of changes made since the
-last release.
-
-@node On what platforms does Octave run?
-@section On what platforms does Octave run?
-
-Octave runs on various Unices---at least Linux and Solaris, Mac OS X,
-Windows and anything you can compile it on.  Binary distributions exist
-at least for Debian, Suse, Fedora and RedHat Linuxes (Intel and AMD
-@c Does Vista work? I get the feeling that even Windows users are trying
-@c to forget Vista like a bad nightmare. Tatsuro only confirmed XP and
-@c 7. I am tentatively assuming that Vista also works.
-CPUs, at least), for Mac OS X and Windows' 98, 2000, XP, Vista, and 7.
-
-Two and three dimensional plotting is fully supported using gnuplot and
-an experimental OpenGL backend.
-
-The underlying numerical solvers are currently standard Fortran ones
-like LAPACK, LINPACK, ODEPACK, the BLAS, etc., packaged in a library
-of C++ classes.  If possible, the Fortran subroutines are compiled
-with the system's Fortran compiler, and called directly from the C++
-functions.  If that's not possible, you can still compile Octave if
-you have the free Fortran to C translator f2c.
-
-Octave is also free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
-under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3, as
-published by the Free Software Foundation, or at your option any later
-version.
-
-@node Licensing Issues
-@chapter Licensing Issues
-
-@menu
-* If I write code using Octave do I have to release it under the GPL?: GPL
-* Since the MEX interface allows plugins to be distributed under terms that are incompatible with the GPL, does this mean that you are encouraging people to to write non-free software for Octave?: Licensing MEX Files
-* I wrote a program that links with Octave libraries and I don't want to release it under the terms of the GPL.  Will you change the license of the Octave libraries for me?: Requesting License Changes
-@end menu
-
-@node GPL
-@section If I write code using Octave do I have to release it under the GPL?
-
-The answer depends on precisely how the code is written and how it works.
-
-Code written entirely in the scripting language of Octave
-(interpreted code in .m files) may be released under the terms of
-whatever license you choose.
-
-Code written using Octave's native plug-in interface (also known
-as a .oct file) necessarily links with Octave internals and is
-considered a derivative work of Octave and therefore must be
-released under terms that are compatible with the GPL.
-
-Code written using Octave's implementation of the @sc{Matlab} MEX
-interface may be released under the terms of whatever license you
-choose, provided that the following conditions are met:
-
-@enumerate
-@item
-The plugin should not use any bindings that are specific to Octave.  In
-other words, the MEX file must use the MEX interface only, and not also
-call on other Octave internals.  It should be possible in principle to
-use the MEX file with other programs that implement the MEX interface
-(e.g., @sc{Matlab}).
-
-@item
-The MEX file should not be distributed together with Octave in such a
-way that they effectively create a single work.  For example, you should
-not distribute the MEX file and Octave together in a single package such
-that Octave automatically loads and runs the MEX file when it starts up.
-There are other possible ways that you might effectively create a single
-work; this is just one example.
-@end enumerate
-
-A program that embeds the Octave interpreter (e.g., by calling the
-"octave_main" function), or that calls functions from Octave's
-libraries (e.g., liboctinterp or liboctave) is
-considered a derivative work of Octave and therefore must be
-released under terms that are compatible with the GPL.
-
-@node Licensing MEX Files
-@section Since the MEX interface allows plugins to be distributed under terms that are incompatible with the GPL, does this mean that you are encouraging people to to write non-free software for Octave?
-
-No.  The original reason for implementing the MEX interface for Octave
-was to allow Octave to run free software that uses MEX files (the
-particular goal was to run SundialsTB in Octave).  The intent was to
-liberate that software from @sc{Matlab} and increase the amount of free
-software available to Octave users, not to enable people to write
-proprietary code for Octave.  For the good of the community, we strongly
-encourage users of Octave to release the code they write for Octave
-under terms that are compatible with the GPL.
-
-@node Requesting License Changes
-@section I wrote a program that links with Octave libraries and I don't want to release it under the terms of the GPL.  Will you change the license of the Octave libraries for me?
-
-No.  Instead of asking us to change the licensing terms for Octave, we
-recommend that you release your program under terms that are compatible
-with the GPL so that the free software community can benefit from your
-work the same as you have benefited from the work of all the people who
-have contributed to Octave.
-
-@node How can I cite Octave?
-@chapter How can I cite Octave?
-
-Pointing to @url{http://www.octave.org} is good, because that gives
-people a direct way to find out more.  If citation of a URL is not
-allowed by a publisher, or if you also want to point to a traditional
-reference, then you can cite the Octave manual:
-
-@example
-@group
-@@BOOK@{eaton:2008,
-  author =     "John W. Eaton and David Bateman and Søren Hauberg",
-  title =      "GNU Octave Manual Version 3",
-  publisher =  "Network Theory Limited",
-  year =       "2008",
-  isbn =       "0-9546120-6-X"
-@}
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@node Series 3.4.N
-@chapter What's new in version series 3.4.N and 3.5.N of Octave
-
-The 3.4.N series has enough new features to justify a minor version
-number change. The full details are in the @file{NEWS} file, but in
-brief 3.4.N series brings:
-
-@c This list is distilled from the NEWS file. Does it have enough
-@c things? Does it have too many?
-@itemize @bullet
-
-@item ARPACK now distributed with Octave
-
-@item Indexing optimisations
-
-@item FTP object using @file{libcurl}
-
-@item Better consistency with ismatrix, issquare, and issymetric
-
-@item Function handles aware of overloaded functions
-
-@item More efficient matrix division by making a single LAPACK call
-
-@item Other optimisations in matrix operations
-
-@item @code{bsxfun} optimised for basic arithmetic functions
-
-@item @sc{Matlab}-style ignoring of output arguments using @samp{~}
-
-@item Many optimisations of the @code{accumarray} function
-
-@item Sparse matrix indexing has been rewritten for speed
-
-@item Configuration pseudo-variables like @code{page_screen_output}
-accept a ``local'' option argument to limit their scope to function
-scope
-
-@item The @code{pkg} command now accepts a @code{-forge} option to pull
-packages directly from Octave-forge
-
-@item Several @code{dlmread} improvements
-
-@item Octave now uses gnulib for better cross-platform compatibility
-
-@end itemize
-
-Here are some features that have been around since 3.2.N
-
-@itemize @bullet
-
-@item integer types
-
-@item fixed point arithmetic
-
-@item sparse matrices
-
-@item Linear programming code based on GLPK
-
-@item 64-bit compilation support
-
-@item gzipped files and stream and consequently support of @sc{Matlab} v7 files
-
-@item better support for both msvc and mingw
-
-@item a fully compatible MEX interface
-
-@item many many other minor features and compatibility changes
-
-@item OpenGL graphics toolkit
-
-An experimental OpenGL graphics toolkit to replace gnuplot.
-
-@item Object Orient Programming
-
-@item Block comments
-
-@item imwrite and imread
-
-The functions are based on the GraphicsMagick library.
-
-@item Lazy transpose
-
-Special treatment in the parser of things like "a' * b", where the
-transpose is never explicitly formed but a flag is rather passed to the
-underlying LAPACK code.
-
-@item Single precision type
-
-@item Improved array indexing
-The underlying code used for indexing of arrays has been completely
-rewritten and so the indexing of arrays is now significantly faster.
-
-@end itemize
-
-Here are some older features that have been around since 2.1.N:
-
-@itemize @bullet
-
-@item NDarrays
-
-@item cells
-
-@end itemize
-
-The 3.5.N series is the current development release and will become a
-3.6.N release in the future. This series brings the following new
-features:
-
-@itemize
-@item Perl-compatible regular expressions are now part of Octave
-@end itemize
-
-
-@node Octave Features
-@chapter What features are unique to Octave?
-
-@menu
-* Functions defined on the command-line::
-* Comments with #::
-* Strings delimited by double quotes "::
-* Line continuation by backslash::
-* Informative block closing::
-* Coherent syntax::
-* Exclamation mark as not operator::
-* Increment and decrement operators::
-* Unwind-protect::
-* Built-in ODE and DAE solvers::
-@end menu
-
-This section refers to @sc{Matlab} R2010b and Octave 3.4.0.
-
-@node Functions defined on the command-line
-@section Functions defined on the command-line
-
-Functions can be defined by entering code on the command line, a feature
-not supported by @sc{Matlab}. For example, you may type:
-
-@example
-@group
-octave:1> function s = hello_string (to_who)
-> ## Say hello
-> if nargin<1, to_who = "World"; end
-> s = ["Hello ",\
->      to_who];
-> endfunction
-octave:2> hello_string ("Moon")
-ans = Hello Moon
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@node Comments with #
-@section Comments with #
-
-The pound character, @samp{#}, may be used to start comments, in
-addition to @samp{%}. See the previous example. The major advantage of
-this is that as @samp{#} is also a comment character for unix script
-files, any file that starts with a string like @samp{#! /usr/bin/octave
--q} will be treated as an octave script and be executed by octave.
-
-@node Strings delimited by double quotes "
-@section Strings delimited by double quotes "
-The double quote, @samp{"}, may be used to delimit strings, in addition
-to the single quote @samp{'}. See the previous example. Also,
-double-quoted strings include backslash interpretation (like C++, C, and
-Perl) while single quoted are uninterpreted (like @sc{Matlab} and Perl).
-
-@node Line continuation by backslash
-@section Line continuation by backslash
-
-Lines can be continued with a backslash, @samp{\}, in addition to three
-points @samp{@dots{}}.  See the previous example.
-
-@node Informative block closing
-@section Informative block closing
-
-You may close @code{function}, @code{for}, @code{while}, @code{if},
-@dots{} blocks with @code{endfunction}, @code{endfor}, @code{endwhile},
-@dots{} keywords in addition to using @code{end}.  As with @sc{Matlab}, the
-@code{end} (or @code{endfunction}) keyword that marks the end of a
-function defined in a @file{.m} file is optional.
-
-@node Coherent syntax
-@section Coherent syntax
-
-Indexing other things than variables is possible, as in:
-@example
-@group
-octave:1> [3 1 4 1 5 9](3)
-ans = 4
-octave:2> cos ([0 pi pi/4 7])(3)
-ans = 0.70711
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@node Exclamation mark as not operator
-@section Exclamation mark as not operator
-
-The exclamation mark @samp{!} (aka ``Bang!'') is a negation operator, just
-like the tilde @samp{~}:
-
-@example
-@group
-octave:1> if ! strcmp (program_name, "octave"),
->   "It's an error"
-> else
->   "It works!"
-> end
-ans = It works!
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-Note however that @sc{Matlab} uses the @samp{!} operator for shell
-escapes, for which Octave requires using the @code{system} command.
-
-@node Increment and decrement operators
-@section Increment and decrement operators
-
-@cindex Increment operators
-@cindex Decrement operators
-@cindex Operators, increment
-@cindex Operators, decrement
-
-If you like the @samp{++}, @samp{+=} etc operators, rejoice!
-Octave includes the C-like increment and decrement operators @samp{++}
-and @samp{--} in both their prefix and postfix forms, in addition to
-@samp{+=}, @samp{-=}, @samp{*=}, @samp{/=}, @samp{^=}, @samp{.*=},
-@samp{./=}, and @samp{.^=}.
-
-For example, to pre-increment the variable @var{x}, you would write
-@code{++@var{x}}.  This would add one to @var{x} and then return the new
-value of @var{x} as the result of the expression.  It is exactly the
-same as the expression @code{@var{x} = @var{x} + 1}.
-
-To post-increment a variable @var{x}, you would write @code{x++}.
-This adds one to the variable @var{x}, but returns the value that
-@var{x} had prior to incrementing it.  For example, if @var{x} is equal
-to 2, the result of the expression @code{x++} is 2, and the new
-value of @var{x} is 3.
-
-For matrix and vector arguments, the increment and decrement operators
-work on each element of the operand.
-
-@node Unwind-protect
-@section Unwind-protect
-
-@cindex Unwind-protect
-
-Octave supports a limited form of exception handling modeled after the
-unwind-protect form of Lisp.  The general form of an
-@code{unwind_protect} block looks like this:
-
-@example
-@group
-unwind_protect
-  @var{body}
-unwind_protect_cleanup
-  @var{cleanup}
-end_unwind_protect
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-Where @var{body} and @var{cleanup} are both optional and may contain any
-Octave expressions or commands.  The statements in @var{cleanup} are
-guaranteed to be executed regardless of how control exits @var{body}.
-
-The @code{unwind_protect} statement is often used to reliably restore
-the values of global variables that need to be temporarily changed.
-
-@sc{Matlab} can be made to do something similar with their
-@code{OnCleanUp} function that was introduced in 2008a. Octave also has
-@code{onCleanup} since version 3.4.0.
-
-@node Built-in ODE and DAE solvers
-@section Built-in ODE and DAE solvers
-
-@cindex DASSL
-@cindex LSODE
-
-Octave includes LSODE and DASSL for solving systems of stiff ordinary
-differential and differential-algebraic equations.  These functions are
-built in to the interpreter.
-
-@node Learning more about Octave
-@chapter What documentation exists for Octave?
-
-@menu
-* Documentation::
-* Getting additional help::
-* User community::
-* Bug reports::
-@end menu
-
-@node Documentation
-@section What documentation exists for Octave?
-
-@cindex Octave, documentation
-
-The Octave distribution includes a 650+ page manual that is also
-distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL.
-It is available on the web at
-@url{http://www.octave.org/docs.html} and you will also
-find there instructions on how to order a paper version.
-
-The complete text of the Octave manual is also available using the GNU
-Info system via the GNU Emacs, info, or xinfo programs, or by using
-the @samp{doc} command to start the GNU info browser directly from
-the Octave prompt.
-
-If you have problems using this documentation, or find that some topic
-is not adequately explained, indexed, or cross-referenced, please report
-it on @url{http://bugs.octave.org}.
-
-@node Getting additional help
-@section Getting additional help
-
-@cindex Additional help
-@cindex Mailing lists, help-octave
-
-If you can't find an answer to your question, the
-@email{help@@octave.org} mailing list is available for questions related
-to using, installing, and porting Octave that are not adequately
-answered by the Octave manual or by this document.
-
-@node User community
-@section User community
-
-To subscribe to the list, go to @url{http://www.octave.org/archive.html}
-and follow the link to the subscription page for the list.
-
-@strong{Please do not} send requests to be added or removed from the
-mailing list, or other administrative trivia to the list itself.
-
-An archive of old postings to the help-octave mailing list is maintained
-on @url{http://www.octave.org/archive.html}.
-
-You will also find some user advice and code spread over the web.  Good
-starting points are the Octave Wiki @url{http://wiki.octave.org} and
-Octave-Forge @url{http://octave.sourceforge.net}
-
-@node Bug reports
-@section I think I have found a bug in Octave.
-
-@cindex Bug in Octave, newly found
-
-``I think I have found a bug in Octave, but I'm not sure.  How do I know,
-and who should I tell?''
-
-@cindex Manual, for Octave
-
-First, see the section on bugs and bug reports in the Octave manual.
-When you report a bug, make sure to describe the type of computer you
-are using, the version of the operating system it is running, and the
-version of Octave that you are using. Also provide enough code and
-configuration details of your operating system so that the Octave
-maintainers can duplicate your bug.
-
-@node Getting Octave
-@chapter Getting Octave
-
-@menu
-* Source code::
-* Pre-compiled binary packages::
-* Octave for other platforms::
-@end menu
-
-@node Source code
-@section Source code
-@cindex Source code
-
-Source code is available on the Octave development site, where you are
-sure to get the latest version.
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item @url{http://www.octave.org/download.html}
-@item @url{ftp://ftp.octave.org/pub/octave/}
-@end itemize
-
-Since Octave is distributed under the terms of the GPL, you can get
-Octave from a friend who has a copy, or from the Octave website.
-
-@node Pre-compiled binary packages
-@section Pre-compiled binary packages
-@cindex  Pre-compiled binary packages
-@cindex  Binaries
-
-The Octave project does not distribute binary packages, but other
-projects do.  For an up-to-date listing of packagers, see:
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item @url{http://www.octave.org/download.html}
-@item @url{http://wiki.octave.org/wiki.pl?CategoryInstall}
-@end itemize
-
-As of today, Octave binaries are available at least on Debian, Ubuntu,
-RedHat, Suse and Fedora GNU/Linuxen, Mac OS X, Windows' 98, 2000 and XP,
-Vista, and 7.
-
-@node Octave for other platforms
-@section How do I get a copy of Octave for (some other platform)?
-
-@cindex VMS support
-@cindex VAX
-@cindex MS-DOS support
-@cindex Windows support
-@cindex DJGPP
-@cindex EMX
-@cindex OS/2 support
-
-Octave currently runs on Unix-like systems, Mac OS X, and Windows.
-It should be possible to make Octave work on other systems as well.
-If you are interested in porting Octave to other systems, please contact
-@email{maintainers@@octave.org}.
-
-@c @menu
-@c * Octave for Unix::
-@c * Octave for other platforms::
-@c * latest versions::
-@c @end menu
-
-@c @cindex Octave, ordering
-@c @cindex Octave, getting a copy
-
-@node Installation
-@chapter Installation Issues and Problems
-
-@cindex Octave, building
-
-Octave 3.4 require approximately 1.3 GB of disk storage to unpack and
-compile from source (considerably less if you don't compile with
-debugging symbols). Once installed, Octave requires approximately 355 MB
-of disk space (again, considerably less if you don't compile with
-debugging symbols, approximately 50 MB).
-
-@menu
-* What else do I need?::
-* Other C++ compilers?::
-@end menu
-
-@node What else do I need?
-@section What else do I need?
-
-@cindex GNU gcc
-@cindex GNU g++
-@cindex libg++
-@cindex GNU Make
-@cindex Flex
-@cindex GNU Bison
-
-To compile Octave, you will need a recent version of GNU Make.  You
-will also need GCC 4.3  or later, although GCC 4.4 or later is
-recommended.
-
-@strong{You must have GNU Make to compile octave}.  Octave's Makefiles
-use features of GNU Make that are not present in other versions of make.
-GNU Make is very portable and easy to install.
-
-@node Other C++ compilers?
-@section Can I compile Octave with another C++ compiler?
-
-Yes, but development is done primarily with GCC, so you may hit some
-incompatibilities. Octave is intended to be portable to any standard
-conforming compiler. If you have difficulties that you think are bugs,
-please report them to the @url{http://bugs.octave.org} bug tracker, or
-ask for help on the @email{help@@octave.org} mailing list.
-
-@node Common problems
-@chapter Common problems
-
-This list is probably far too short.  Feel free to suggest additional
-questions (preferably with answers!)
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item
-Octave takes a long time to find symbols.
-
-Octave uses the @code{genpath} function to recursively add directories
-to the list of directories searched for function files.  Check the list
-of directories with the @code{path} command. If the path list is very
-long check your use of the @code{genpath} function.
-
-@item
-When plotting Octave occasionally gives me errors like @samp{gnuplot> 9
-0.735604 line 26317: invalid command}.
-
-There is a known bug in gnuplot 4.2 that can cause an off by one error
-while piping data to gnuplot. It has been fixed in gnuplot 4.4.
-
-If you have obtained your copy of Octave from a distribution please file
-a bug report requesting that the fix reported in the above bug report be
-included.
-
-@item
-I cannot install a package. Octave complains about a missing
-@code{mkoctfile}.
-
-Most distributions split Octave into several packages. The script
-@code{mkoctfile} is then part of a separate package:
-@itemize @minus
-@item
-Debian/Ubuntu
-
-@c This will work once we upload the Octave packages without a version
-@c in their name to Debian.
-@code{aptitude install octave-headers}
-
-@item
-Fedora
-
-@code{yum install octave-devel}
-
-@end itemize
-@end itemize
-
-@node Using Octave
-@chapter  Using Octave
-
-@menu
-* How do I set the number of displayed decimals?::
-* How does Octave solve linear systems?::
-@end menu
-
-@cindex Tips and tricks
-@cindex Using Octave
-
-@node How do I set the number of displayed decimals?
-@section How do I set the number of displayed decimals?
-
-@example
-@group
-octave:1> format long
-octave:2> pi
-pi = 3.14159265358979
-octave:3> format short
-octave:4> pi
-pi = 3.1416
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@node How does Octave solve linear systems?
-@section How does Octave solve linear systems?
-
-@cindex backslash operator
-
-In addition to consulting Octave's source for the precise details, the
-Octave manual contains a complete high-level description of the
-algorithm that Octave uses to decide how to solve a particular linear
-system, e.g. how the backslash operator @code{A\x} will be interpreted.
-Sections ``Techniques Used for Linear Algebra'' and ``Linear Algebra on
-Sparse Matrices'' from the manual describe this procedure.
-
-@node @sc{Matlab} compatibility
-@chapter Porting programs from @sc{Matlab} to Octave
-
-@cindex @sc{Matlab} compatibility
-@cindex Compatibility with @sc{Matlab}
-
-People often ask
-
-@quotation
-I wrote some code for @sc{Matlab}, and I want to get it running under
-Octave.  Is there anything I should watch out for?
-@end quotation
-
-@noindent
-or alternatively
-
-@quotation
-I wrote some code in Octave, and want to share it with @sc{Matlab}
-users.  Is there anything I should watch out for?
-@end quotation
-
-@noindent
-which is not quite the same thing.  There are still a number of
-differences between Octave and @sc{Matlab}, however in general
-differences between the two are considered as bugs.  Octave might
-consider that the bug is in @sc{Matlab} and do nothing about it, but
-generally functionality is almost identical.  If you find a difference
-between Octave behavior and @sc{Matlab}, then you should send a
-description of this difference (with code illustrating the difference,
-if possible) to @url{http://bugs.octave.org}.
-
-Furthermore, Octave adds a few syntactical extensions to @sc{Matlab}
-that might cause some issues when exchanging files between @sc{Matlab}
-and Octave users. As both Octave and @sc{Matlab} are under constant
-development the information in this section is subject to change at
-anytime.
-
-You should also look at the page
-@url{http://octave.sourceforge.net/packages.html} and
-@url{http://octave.sourceforge.net/doc/} that has a function reference
-that is up to date. You can use this function reference to see the
-number of octave function that are available and their @sc{Matlab}
-compatibility.
-
-The major differences between Octave 3.4.N and  @sc{Matlab} R2010b are:
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item Nested Functions
-
-Octave has limited support for nested functions. That is
-
-@example
-@group
-function y = foo (x)
-  y = bar (x)
-  function y = bar (x)
-    y = @dots{};
-  end
-end
-@end group
-@end example
-
-is equivalent to
-
-@example
-@group
-function y = foo (x)
-   y = bar (x)
-end
-function y = bar (x)
-   y = @dots{};
-end
-@end group
-@end example
-
-The main difference with @sc{Matlab} is a matter of scope. While nested
-functions have access to the parent function's scope in @sc{Matlab}, no
-such thing is available in Octave, due to how Octave essentially
-``un-nests'' nested functions.
-
-The authors of Octave consider the nested function scoping rules of
-@sc{Matlab} to be more problems than they are worth as they introduce
-difficult to find bugs as inadvertently modifying a variable in a
-nested function that is also used in the parent is particularly easy.
-
-@item Differences in core syntax
-There a few core @sc{Matlab} syntaxes that are not accepted by Octave,
-these being
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item
-Some limitations on the use of function handles. The major difference is
-related to nested function scoping rules (as above) and their use with
-function handles.
-
-@item
-Some limitations of variable argument lists on the LHS of an expression,
-though the most common types are accepted.
-
-@item
-@sc{Matlab} classdef object oriented programming is not yet supported,
-though work is underway and when development more on to Octave 3.5 this
-will be included in the development tree.
-@end itemize
-
-@item Differences in core functions
-A large number of the @sc{Matlab} core functions (ie those that are in
-the core and not a toolbox) are implemented, and certainly all of the
-commonly used ones. There are a few functions that aren't implemented,
-usually to do with specific missing Octave functionality (GUI, DLL,
-Java, ActiveX, DDE, web, and serial functions). Some of the core
-functions have limitations that aren't in the @sc{Matlab} version. For
-example the @code{sprandn} function can not force a particular condition
-number for the matrix like @sc{Matlab} can.
-
-@item Just-In-Time compiler
-@sc{Matlab} includes a "Just-In-Time" compiler. This compiler allows the
-acceleration of for-loops in @sc{Matlab} to almost native performance
-with certain restrictions. The JIT must know the return type of all
-functions called in the loops and so you can't include user functions in
-the loop of JIT optimized loops. Octave doesn't have a JIT and so to
-some might seem slower than @sc{Matlab}. For this reason you must
-vectorize your code as much as possible. The MathWorks themselves have a
-good document discussing vectorization at
-@c It would be nice if we had our own guide for this instead of relying
-@c on Matlab documentation.
-@url{http://www.mathworks.com/support/tech-notes/1100/1109.html}.
-
-@item Compiler
-On a related point, there is no Octave compiler, and so you can't
-convert your Octave code into a binary for additional speed or
-distribution. There have been several aborted attempts at creating an
-Octave compiler. Should the JIT compiler above ever be implemented, an
-Octave compiler should be more feasible.
-@c Should we mention here any of the efforts to create a compiler? There
-@c used to be a dead link here to http://www.stud.tu-ilmenau.de/~rueckn/
-
-@item Graphic Handles
-Up to Octave 2.9.9 there was no support for graphic handles in Octave
-itself. In the 3.2.N versions of Octave and beyond the support for
-graphics handles is converging towards full compatibility. The
-@code{patch} function is currently limited to 2-D patches, due to an
-underlying limitation in gnuplot, but the experimental OpenGL backend is
-starting to see an implementation of 3-D patches.
-
-@item GUI
-There are no @sc{Matlab} compatible GUI functions. There are a number of
-bindings from Octave to Tcl/Tk, VTK and Zenity included in the Octave
-@c Is it too early to mention here the nascent fltk UI buttons?
-Forge project (@url{http://octave.sourceforge.net}) for example that can
-be used for a GUI, but these are not @sc{Matlab} compatible. Work on a
-@sc{Matlab} compatible GUI is in an alpha stage in the JHandles package
-@c Is Jhandles still usable? I thought Michael Goffioul had more or less
-@c already disowned it.
-(@url{http://octave.sourceforge.net/jhandles/index.html}). This might be
-an issue if you intend to exchange Octave code with @sc{Matlab} users.
-
-@item Simulink
-Octave itself includes no Simulink support. Typically the simulink
-models lag research and are less flexible, so shouldn't really be used
-in a research environment.  However, some @sc{Matlab} users that try to
-use Octave complain about this lack.  There is a similar package to
-simulink for the Octave and R projects available at
-@c is this project in any state of usability?
-@url{http://www.scicraft.org/}
-
-@item Mex-Files
-Octave includes an API to the @sc{Matlab} MEX interface. However, as MEX
-is an API to the internals of @sc{Matlab} and the internals of Octave
-differ from @sc{Matlab}, there is necessarily a manipulation of the data
-to convert from a MEX interface to the Octave equivalent. This is
-notable for all complex matrices, where @sc{Matlab} stores complex
-arrays as real and imaginary parts, whereas Octave respects the C99/C++
-standards of co-locating the real/imag parts in memory. Also due to the
-way @sc{Matlab} allows access to the arrays passed through a pointer,
-the MEX interface might require copies of arrays (even non complex
-ones).
-
-@item Block comments
-Block comments denoted by "%@{" and "%@}" markers are supported by
-Octave with some limitations. The major limitation is that block
-comments are not supported within [] or @{@}.
-
-@item Mat-File format
-There are some differences in the mat v5 file format accepted by Octave.
-@sc{Matlab} recently introduced the "-V7.3" save option which is an HDF5
-format which is particularly useful for 64-bit platforms where the
-standard @sc{Matlab} format can not correctly save variables. Octave
-accepts HDF5 files, but is not yet compatible with the "-v7.3" versions
-produced by @sc{Matlab}.
-
-Although Octave can load inline function handles saved by @sc{Matlab},
-it can not yet save them.
-
-Finally, Some multi-byte Unicode characters aren't yet treated in
-mat-files.
-
-@item Profiler
-Octave doesn't have a profiler. Though there is a patch for a flat
-profiler, that might become a real profiler sometime in the future. See
-the thread
-
-@c Did this idea go anywhere? Should it be mentioned?
-@url{http://octave.1599824.n4.nabble.com/Octave-profiler-td1641945.html#a1641947}
-
-for more details.
-
-@item Toolboxes
-Octave is a community project and so the toolboxes that exist are
-donated by those interested in them through the Octave Forge website
-(@url{http://octave.sourceforge.net}). These might be lacking in certain
-functionality relative to the @sc{Matlab} toolboxes, and might not
-exactly duplicate the @sc{Matlab} functionality or interface.
-
-@item Short-circuit & and | operators
-The @code{&} and @code{|} operators in @sc{Matlab} short-circuit when
-included in an if statement and not otherwise.  In Octave only the
-@code{&&} and @code{||} short circuit.  Note that this means that
-
-@example
-@group
-  if (a | b)
-    @dots{}
-  end
-@end group
-@end example
-
-and
-
-@example
-@group
-  t = a | b;
-  if t
-    @dots{}
-  end
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-are different in @sc{Matlab}. This is really a @sc{Matlab} bug, but
-there is too much code out there that relies on this behaviour to change
-it. Prefer the || and && operators in if statements if possible. If you
-need to use code written for @sc{Matlab} that depends on this buggy
-behaviour, you can enable it since Octave 3.4.0 with the following
-command:
-
-@example
-@group
-  do_braindead_shortcircuit_evaluation (1)
-@end group
-@end example
-
-Note that the difference with @sc{Matlab} is also significant when
-either argument is a function with side effects or if the first argument
-is a scalar and the second argument is an empty matrix. For example,
-note the difference between
-
-@example
-@group
-  t = 1 | [];          ## results in [], so...
-  if (t) 1, end        ## in if ([]), this is false.
-@end group
-@end example
-
-and
-
-@example
-  if (1 | []) 1, end   ## short circuits so condition is true.
-@end example
-
-Another case that is documented in the @sc{Matlab} manuals is that
-
-@example
-@group
-  t = [1, 1] | [1, 2, 3];          ## error
-  if ([1, 1] | [1, 2, 3]) 1, end   ## OK
-@end group
-@end example
-
-Also @sc{Matlab} requires the operands of && and || to be scalar values
-but Octave does not (it just applies the rule that for an operand to be
-considered true, every element of the object must be nonzero or
-logically true).
-
-Finally, note the inconsistence of thinking of the condition of an if
-statement as being equivalent to @code{all (X(:))} when @var{X} is a
-matrix.  This is true for all cases EXCEPT empty matrices:
-
-@example
-@group
-  if ([0, 1]) == if (all ([0, 1]))   ==>  i.e., condition is false.
-  if ([1, 1]) == if (all ([1, 1]))   ==>  i.e., condition is true.
-@end group
-@end example
-
-However,
-
-@example
-  if ([]) != if (all ([]))
-@end example
-
-because @code{samp ([]) == 1} because, despite the name, it is really
-returning true if none of the elements of the matrix are zero, and since
-there are no elements, well, none of them are zero. This is an example
-of vacuous truth. But, somewhere along the line, someone decided that if
-@code{([])} should be false. Mathworks probably thought it just looks
-wrong to have @code{[]} be true in this context even if you can use
-logical gymnastics to convince yourself that "all" the elements of a
-matrix that doesn't actually have any elements are nonzero. Octave
-however duplicates this behavior for if statements containing empty
-matrices.
-
-@item Solvers for singular, under- and over-determined matrices
-
-@sc{Matlab}'s solvers as used by the operators mldivide (\) and mrdivide
-(/), use a different approach than Octave's in the case of singular,
-under-, or over-determined matrices. In the case of a singular matrix,
-@sc{Matlab} returns the result given by the LU decomposition, even
-though the underlying solver has flagged the result as erroneous. Octave
-has made the choice of falling back to a minimum norm solution of
-matrices that have been flagged as singular which arguably is a better
-result for these cases.
-
-In the case of under- or over-determined matrices, Octave continues to
-use a minimum norm solution, whereas @sc{Matlab} uses an approach that
-is equivalent to
-
-@example
-@group
-function x = mldivide (A, b)
-  [Q, R, E] = qr (A);
-  x = [A \ b, E(:, 1:m) * (R(:, 1:m) \ (Q' * b))]
-end
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-While this approach is certainly faster and uses less memory than
-Octave's minimum norm approach, this approach seems to be inferior in
-other ways.
-
-A numerical question arises: how big can the null space component
-become, relative to the minimum-norm solution? Can it be nicely bounded,
-or can it be arbitrarily big? Consider this example:
-OctaveFAQ.texi
-@example
-@group
-m = 10;
-n = 10000;
-A = ones (m, n) + 1e-6 * randn (m,n);
-b = ones (m, 1) + 1e-6 * randn (m,1);
-norm (A \ b)
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-while Octave's minimum-norm values are around 3e-2, @sc{Matlab}'s
-results are 50-times larger. For another issue, try this code:
-
-@example
-@group
-m = 5;
-n = 100;
-j = floor (m * rand (1, n)) + 1;
-b = ones (m, 1);
-A = zeros (m, n);
-A(sub2ind (size (A),j,1:n)) = 1;
-x = A \ b;
-[dummy,p] = sort (rand (1,n));
-y = A(:,p) \ b;
-norm (x(p)-y)
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-It shows that unlike in Octave, mldivide in @sc{Matlab} is not invariant
-with respect to column permutations. If there are multiple columns of
-the same norm, permuting columns of the matrix gets you different
-result than permuting the solution vector. This will surprise many
-users.
-
-Since the mldivide (\) and mrdivide (/) operators are often part of a
-more complex expression, where there is no room to react to warnings or
-flags, it should prefer intelligence (robustness) to speed, and so the
-Octave developers are firmly of the opinion that Octave's approach for
-singular, under- and over-determined matrices is a better choice that
-@sc{Matlab}'s
-
-@item Octave extensions
-The extensions in Octave over @sc{Matlab} syntax are
-very useful, but might cause issues when sharing with @sc{Matlab} users.
-A list of the major extensions that should be avoided to be compatible
-with @sc{Matlab} are
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item
-Comments in octave can be marked with @samp{#}. This allows POSIX
-systems to have the first line as @samp{#! octave -q} and mark the
-script itself executable. @sc{Matlab} doesn't have this feature due to
-the absence of comments starting with @samp{#}".
-
-@item
-Code blocks like @code{if}, @code{for}, @code{while}, etc can be
-terminated with block specific terminations like @code{endif}.
-@sc{Matlab} doesn't have this and all blocks must be terminated with
-@code{end}.
-
-@item
-Octave has a lisp like @code{unwind_protect} block that allows blocks of
-code that terminate in an error to ensure that the variables that are
-touched are restored. You can do something similar with
-@code{try}/@code{catch} combined with @samp{rethrow (lasterror ())} in
-@sc{Matlab}, however rethrow and lasterror are only available in Octave
-2.9.10 and later. @sc{Matlab} 2008a also introduced @code{OnCleanUp}
-that is similar to @code{unwind_protect}, except that the object created
-by this function has to be explicitly cleared in order for the cleanup
-code to run.
-
-Note that using @code{try}/@code{catch} combined with @samp{rethrow
-(lasterror ())} can not guarantee that global variables will be
-correctly reset, as it won't catch user interrupts with Ctrl-C. For
-example
-
-@example
-@group
-  global a
-  a = 1;
-  try
-    _a = a;
-    a = 2
-    while true
-    end
-  catch
-    fprintf ('caught interrupt\n');
-    a = _a;
-    rethrow (lasterror());
-  end
-@end group
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-compared to
-
-@example
-@group
-  global a
-  a = 1;
-  unwind_protect
-    _a = a;
-    a = 2
-    while true
-    end
-  unwind_protect_cleanup
-    fprintf ('caught interrupt\n');
-    a = _a;
-  end
-@end group
-@end example
-
-Typing Ctrl-C in the first case returns the user directly to the
-prompt, and the variable "a" is not reset to the saved value. In the
-second case the variable "a" is reset correctly.  Therefore @sc{Matlab}
-gives no safe way of temporarily changing global variables.
-
-@item
-Indexing can be applied to all objects in Octave and not just a
-variable. Therefore @code{sin(x)(1:10);} for example is perfectly valid
-in Octave but not @sc{Matlab}. To do the same in @sc{Matlab} you must do
-@code{y = sin (x); y = y([1:10]);}
-
-@item
-Octave has the operators "++", "--", "-=", "+=", "*=", etc.  As
-@sc{Matlab} doesn't, if you are sharing code these should be avoided.
-
-@item
-Character strings in Octave can be denoted with double or single
-quotes. There is a subtle difference between the two in that escaped
-characters like @code{\n} (newline), @code{\t} (tab), etc are
-interpreted in double quoted strings but not single quoted strings. This
-difference is important on Windows platforms where the "\" character is
-used in path names, and so single quoted strings should be used in
-paths. @sc{Matlab} doesn't have double quoted strings and so they should
-be avoided if the code will be transferred to a @sc{Matlab} user.
-@end itemize
-
-@end itemize
-
-@node Index
-@appendix Concept Index
-
-@printindex cp
-
-@page
-@contents
-@bye