[Pkg-octave-devel] Bug#522062: octave3.0: can't edit function files from octave session

[Sergey B Kirpichev]

Package: octave3.0
Version: 1:3.0.1-6lenny3
Severity: normal

How to reproduce:
shell> mkdir -p ~/octave
shell> unset DISPLAY
octave> edit home "~/octave"
octave> edit mode "sync"
octave> EDITOR
ans = vim
octave> edit f.m
Vim: Warning: Output is not to a terminal

Workarround:
Use gvim or emacs with X window support.

Problem seems to be related to RETURN_OUTPUT parameter of the system()
function.  Compare, for example,
octave> system("vim test.m")
vs
octave> system("vim test.m",[]) # edit() uses system() like this

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 5.0
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable'), (50, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-1-amd64 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=ru_RU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=ru_RU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages octave3.0 depends on:
ii  libatlas3gf-base [libl 3.6.0-22          Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra
ii  libblas3gf [libblas.so 1.2-2             Basic Linear Algebra Subroutines 3
ii  libc6                  2.7-18            GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libcurl3-gnutls        7.18.2-8lenny2    Multi-protocol file transfer libra
pi  libfftw3-3             3.1.2-3.1         library for computing Fast Fourier
ii  libgcc1                1:4.3.2-1.1       GCC support library
ii  libgfortran3           4.3.2-1.1         Runtime library for GNU Fortran ap
ii  libglpk0               4.29-2            linear programming kit with intege
ii  libhdf5-openmpi-1.6.6- 1.6.6-4           Hierarchical Data Format 5 (HDF5) 
ii  liblapack3gf [liblapac 3.1.1-1           library of linear algebra routines
ii  libncurses5            5.7+20081213-1    shared libraries for terminal hand
ii  libpcre3               7.6-2.1           Perl 5 Compatible Regular Expressi
ii  libqhull5              2003.1-9lenny1    calculate convex hulls and related
ii  libreadline5           5.2-3.1           GNU readline and history libraries
ii  libstdc++6             4.3.2-1.1         The GNU Standard C++ Library v3
ii  libsuitesparse-3.1.0   3.1.0-3           collection of libraries for comput
ii  texinfo                4.11.dfsg.1-4     Documentation system for on-line i
ii  zlib1g                 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-12 compression library - runtime

Versions of packages octave3.0 recommends:
ii  gnuplot                       4.2.2-1.2  A command-line driven interactive 
ii  libatlas3gf-base              3.6.0-22   Automatically Tuned Linear Algebra

Versions of packages octave3.0 suggests:
ii  octave3.0-emacsen        1:3.0.1-6lenny3 Emacs support for the GNU Octave l
ii  octave3.0-headers        1:3.0.1-6lenny3 header files for the GNU Octave la
ii  octave3.0-info           1:3.0.1-6lenny3 GNU Info documentation on the GNU 

-- no debconf information