[Pkg-octave-devel] Bug#672651: octave-common: pkg prefix global config breaks local package installation

[Mike Miller]

Package: octave-common
Version: 3.6.1-4
Severity: normal

Setting pkg prefix in /etc/octave.conf breaks the default behavior of allowing
users to install packages into their home directory with "pkg install -local".

Workaround is for the user to execute "pkg prefix ~/octave ~/octave" to restore
the default setting.

Additionally, the default pkg prefix variables seem to be correct with the
latest stable versions of octave so I don't think there is a need to override
the path in the site configuration file.  There may have been a difference in
an older version but the current default looks correct to me.

Here's what I see when I run octave without any configuration, as me and as
root so you can see the two different default settings:

mike at ohm:~$ /usr/bin/octave -qf
octave:1> pkg prefix
Installation prefix:             /home/mike/octave
Architecture dependent prefix:   /home/mike/octave
octave:2> quit
mike at ohm:~$ sudo /usr/bin/octave -qf
octave:1> pkg prefix
Installation prefix:             /usr/share/octave/packages
Architecture dependent prefix:   /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/octave/packages
octave:2> quit

And here's what I get running octave with the Debian /etc/octave.conf but no
extra configuration by me:

mike at ohm:~$ mv .octaverc .octave-backup
mike at ohm:~$ /usr/bin/octave -q
octave:1> pkg prefix
Installation prefix:             /usr/share/octave/packages
Architecture dependent prefix:   /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/octave/packages
octave:2> quit



-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

-- no debconf information