I am starting a new thread on this issue.
Quoting from
http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2005-12/msg00319.html :
I often use octave and do no plotting at all. Octave starts and runs
fine if gnuplot isn't installed. (It complains about not being able
to find gnuplot when the plot command is used.) Should there really
be a dependency if only a subset of features requires a package?
I'd prefer to see gnuplot removed from the octave dependency list.
Of course then you'd have to deal with all the posts saying that
the plot command in octave is broken. So I don't know what the best
approach would be. How do others feel?
Tony Richardson
As the OP notes, having a gnuplot dependency pulls in X when installing octave,
which is not what some users need or want. And octave will load and run just
fine without gnuplot - it just won't plot. However, most users want to plot,
and will need gnuplot.
So, my current view is that a gnuplot dependency is optimal for most users, and
that those who don't want it can work around the issue by using known
solutions, such as hacking the /etc/setup/installed.db file to fool setup into
thinking gnuplot is installed.
On the other side is how Debian does it: gnuplot is "suggested" for octave, not
"required". Also, Debian has a gnuplot-nox package, which I suppose omits the
gnuplot X11 drivers, and actually allows installing gnuplot without requiring
X.
I think that gnuplot-nox is kind of a neat solution, but even if such a package
were available in cygwin, we don't have a way to express OR dependencies. So
it would be difficult to use this approach. Also we don't have a way to
express "suggested" rather than required.
On balance, I favor retaining the current dependency on gnuplot. I would ask
that those with alternative views post to this thread.
Thanks,
jrp