copy from scripts/miscellaneous/dump_prefs.m
copy to scripts/deprecated/dump_prefs.m
--- a/scripts/miscellaneous/dump_prefs.m
+++ b/scripts/deprecated/dump_prefs.m
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-## Copyright (C) 1994-2013 John W. Eaton
+## Copyright (C) 1994-2015 John W. Eaton
 ##
 ## This file is part of Octave.
 ##
@@ -19,81 +19,104 @@
 ## -*- texinfo -*-
 ## @deftypefn  {Function File} {} dump_prefs ()
 ## @deftypefnx {Function File} {} dump_prefs (@var{fid})
-## Dump all of the current user preference variables in a format that can be
-## parsed by Octave later.  @var{fid} is a file descriptor as returned by
-## @code{fopen}.  If @var{file} is omitted, the listing is printed to stdout.
+##
+## @code{dump_prefs} is deprecated and will be removed in Octave version 4.4.
+## Please use individual preference get/set routines in all new code.
+##
+## Dump the current settings of all user preferences to stdout in a format that
+## can be parsed by Octave later.
+##
+## If the optional argument @var{fid} is given then the results are written to
+## the file specified by file descriptor @var{fid}.
+## @seealso{octave_config_info}
 ## @end deftypefn
 
 ## Author: jwe
 
-function dump_prefs (file)
+## Deprecated in 4.0
+
+function dump_prefs (fid)
+
+  persistent warned = false;
+  if (! warned)
+    warned = true;
+    warning ("Octave:deprecated-function",
+             "dump_prefs is obsolete and will be removed from a future version of Octave, recode using individual preference get/set routines");
+  endif
+
+  if (nargin > 1)
+    print_usage ();
+  endif
 
   if (nargin == 0)
-    file = stdout;
+    fid = stdout;
   endif
 
-  ## FIXME -- it would be nice to be able to get the list of
-  ## built-in variables directly from Octave so that we wouldn't have to
-  ## remember to update it each time the list of preference variables
-  ## changes
+  ## FIXME: It would be nice to be able to get the list of built-in variables
+  ## directly from Octave so that we wouldn't have to remember to update it
+  ## each time the list of preference variables changes
 
-  ## Note that these are no longer variables.
+  ## FIXME: Update this list for 4.2.0 release
+  ##        Example, 'gnuplot_command_end' is no longer valid.
 
-  sym_list = ["EDITOR";
-              "EXEC_PATH";
-              "IMAGE_PATH";
-              "PAGER";
-              "PS1";
-              "PS2";
-              "PS4";
-              "beep_on_error";
-              "completion_append_char";
-              "crash_dumps_octave_core";
-              "echo_executing_commands";
-              "fixed_point_format";
-              "gnuplot_binary";
-              "gnuplot_command_end";
-              "gnuplot_command_plot";
-              "gnuplot_command_replot";
-              "gnuplot_command_splot";
-              "gnuplot_command_title";
-              "gnuplot_command_using";
-              "gnuplot_command_with";
-              "history_file";
-              "history_size";
-              "ignore_function_time_stamp";
-              "info_file";
-              "info_program";
-              "makeinfo_program";
-              "max_recursion_depth";
-              "output_max_field_width";
-              "output_precision";
-              "page_output_immediately";
-              "page_screen_output";
-              "print_answer_id_name";
-              "print_empty_dimensions";
-              "save_precision";
-              "saving_history";
-              "sighup_dumps_octave_core";
-              "sigterm_dumps_octave_core";
-              "silent_functions";
-              "split_long_rows";
-              "string_fill_char";
-              "struct_levels_to_print";
-              "suppress_verbose_help_message"];
+  pref_list = {"EDITOR"
+              "EXEC_PATH"
+              "IMAGE_PATH"
+              "PAGER"
+              "PS1"
+              "PS2"
+              "PS4"
+              "beep_on_error"
+              "completion_append_char"
+              "crash_dumps_octave_core"
+              "echo_executing_commands"
+              "fixed_point_format"
+              "gnuplot_binary"
+              "gnuplot_command_end"
+              "gnuplot_command_plot"
+              "gnuplot_command_replot"
+              "gnuplot_command_splot"
+              "gnuplot_command_title"
+              "gnuplot_command_using"
+              "gnuplot_command_with"
+              "history_file"
+              "history_size"
+              "ignore_function_time_stamp"
+              "info_file"
+              "info_program"
+              "makeinfo_program"
+              "max_recursion_depth"
+              "output_max_field_width"
+              "output_precision"
+              "page_output_immediately"
+              "page_screen_output"
+              "print_answer_id_name"
+              "print_empty_dimensions"
+              "save_precision"
+              "saving_history"
+              "sighup_dumps_octave_core"
+              "sigterm_dumps_octave_core"
+              "silent_functions"
+              "split_long_rows"
+              "string_fill_char"
+              "struct_levels_to_print"
+              "suppress_verbose_help_message"};
 
-  for i = 1:rows (sym_list)
-    sym = deblank (sym_list(i,:));
+  for i = 1:rows (pref_list)
+    pref = pref_list{i};
     try
-      val = feval (sym);
+      val = feval (pref);
       if (isnumeric (val))
         val = sprintf ("%g", val);
       endif
-      fprintf (file, "  %s = %s\n", sym, val);
+      fprintf (fid, "  %s = %s\n", pref, val);
     catch
-      fprintf (file, "# %s = <no value or error in displaying it>\n", sym);
+      fprintf (fid, "# %s = <no value or error in displaying it>\n", pref);
     end_try_catch
   endfor
 
 endfunction
 
+
+%!error dump_prefs (1,2)
+