I’m not sure if this is the correct place to put this, but the copy of GNU Octave installed from the default repositories is corrupted, or has a major bug. Specifically, the strcmp function, which normally compares strings and returns a 1 or a 0 if the two compared strings match or not, is behaving unpredictably, returning matricies, incorrect returns, and sometimes boundary errors instead of a simple boolean value.
Here is a thread on the main Octave forums I made about the issue. Their conclusion was that there is something wrong with the file in the repository.
I’m a novice programmer, so any talk about the specific programs is liable to be over my head, but if its an issue with the repository, I figure this is the place to post it.
Am 22.10.2012 20:54, schrieb Martin Helm:
> Same question as on the octave mailing list:
> Which exact version of openSUSE are you running?
>
For testing purposes I switched now my octave version from the one from
science to the one from the standard repo and cannot reproduce the error
you reported - this is on 12.2 64 bit in my case, switching now back to
the science version.
–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.5 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.9.2 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 11.4 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | lamp server
openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64)
VERSION = 12.2
CODENAME = Mantis
Name : octave
Version : 3.6.2
Release : 2.1.2
Architecture: x86_64
Install Date: ven. 21 sept. 2012 11:55:41 CEST
Group : Productivity/Scientific/Math
Size : 46087899
License : GPL-3.0+
Signature : RSA/SHA256, mar. 17 juil. 2012 04:50:40 CEST, Key ID b88b2fd43dbdc284
Source RPM : octave-3.6.2-2.1.2.src.rpm
Build Date : mar. 17 juil. 2012 04:41:57 CEST
Build Host : build21
Relocations : (not relocatable)
Packager : openSUSE:Submitting bug reports - openSUSE
Vendor : openSUSE
URL : GNU Octave
Summary : A High Level Programming Language
Description :
Octave is a high level programming language. It is designed for the
solution of numeric problems. There is a command line interface
supplied.
Distribution: openSUSE 12.2
This is exactly what I posted to the other thread. Should I uninstall octave and re-install it from the science repository? Was this installed from the correct location?
EDIT: Huh. I just went back and tried strcmp in the command line again, and the problem appears to have dissapeared. Since then, I’ve restarted octave, as well as the terminal instance. Could it have been something wonky in the terminal? I could have sworn I restarted octave several times. Now I’m more curious than anything. And it’s too late for my poor code, I’ve already hacked it to bits to just run the data files individually.
Look at the mailing list there are some answers, to repeat here the
possible reason for this effect was probably that you did at some point
a “strcmp = something” and redefined the function to be a variable which
results in the error you have seen.
–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.5 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.9.2 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 11.4 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | lamp server