new file mode 100755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doinstall.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# doinstall.sh -- install script for binary distributions.
+#
+# John W. Eaton
+# jwe@che.utexas.edu
+# Department of Chemical Engineering
+# The University of Texas at Austin
+
+prefix=/usr/local
+if test $# -eq 1 ; then
+  prefix=$1
+else
+  if test $# -gt 1 ; then
+    echo "usage: doinstall.sh [prefix-directory]"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+
+# ask octave to tell us the version number
+version=`./octave -v 2>/dev/null | sed -e 's/[^0-9.]*\([0-9.]*\).*/\1/' -e q`
+
+if test -z "$version" ; then
+  echo "doinstall.sh: unable to extract version number from Octave!"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# where to install binaries.
+bindir=$prefix/bin
+
+# where to install M-files
+libsubdir=$prefix/lib/octave/$version
+
+# where to install Info files
+infodir=$prefix/info
+
+cat << EOF
+Installing octave in subdirectories of $prefix:
+
+    Binaries: $bindir
+     M-files: $libsubdir
+  Info files: $infodir
+
+EOF
+
+for d in $bindir $libsubdir $infodir ; do
+  if test -d $d ; then
+    true
+  else
+    echo "making $d"
+    ./mkpath $d
+  fi
+done
+
+if test "$prefix" = /usr/local ; then
+  echo "installing ./octave as $bindir/octave"
+  cp ./octave $bindir/octave
+  chmod 755 $bindir/octave
+else
+  echo "installing octave.sh as $bindir/octave"
+  sed "s|@OCTAVE_HOME@|$prefix|" octave.sh > octave.tmp
+  cp octave.tmp $bindir/octave
+  chmod 755 $bindir/octave
+
+  echo "installing ./octave as $bindir/octave.bin"
+  cp ./octave $bindir/octave.bin
+  chmod 755 $bindir/octave.bin
+fi
+
+echo "installing M-files in $libsubdir"
+for f in scripts/*.m ; do
+  file=`basename $f`
+  echo $file
+  cp $f $libsubdir/$file
+  chmod 644 $libsubdir/$file
+done
+
+echo "installing info files in $infodir"
+for f in doc/octave.info* ; do
+  file=`basename $f`
+  echo $file
+  cp $f $infodir/$file
+  chmod 644 $infodir/$file
+done
+
+exit 0