Notes on Windows installation

Note: the main Octave Symbolic package developer (Colin) has no direct Windows access so this is likely to be a bit rough! Help much appreciated: please be bold, edit and improve this documentation.

Installing from packages

First get Octave! The latest version can be downloaded from https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/windows/. Install with default options.
Octave should be started from the "Octave (GUI)" or "Octave (CLI)" launchers - or from the octave.bat file in the Octave binaries directory. This will ensure that the system path is correctly set for Octave.

Self-contained "bundle" package

Probably the easiest way to get started. No dependencies, includes a Python interpreter and SymPy.

1. download the symbolic-win-py-bundle-x.y.z.zip file at our github releases page.
2. start Octave, change folder to where your downloads are.
3. type pkg install symbolic-win-py-bundle-x.y.z.zip
4. type pkg load symbolic
5. type syms x

Windows installers, Symbolic from Octave-Forge

1. Download the Python .msi installer from https://www.python.org/downloads/.
   • In 2016, tested with version 2.7.10 version and it works fine.
   • Install with the following option 'Add python.exe to path' set to 'Will be installed on local hard drive' in the Customize Python dialog.
   • When installing on Windows 10, I had to leave the box "[ ] install for all users" *unchecked. I filed [Issue #371 (https://github.com/cbm755/octsympy/issues/371) about this.
2. Download the Sympy .exe installer from https://github.com/sympy/sympy/releases. Run the installer 'as administrator' (right click on the installer and choose 'Run as administrator').
   • as of early 2019: there doesn't seem to be a .exe installer for newer versions of SymPy. Can someone update these instructions?
3. Start Octave from the Octave(GUI) or Octave(CLI) launchers - or from the octave.bat.
4. Run the Octave command: pkg install -forge symbolic. This automatically downloads the latest version. Some people have reported some (harmless?) warnings about directory creation.
5. The symbolic package is loaded with the Octave command: pkg load symbolic
6. Try the command syms x and then factor(x^2-x-6)

Installing Python and SymPy with Anaconda

It seems that Anaconda is a popular way to install Python and friends on Windows. It comes with SymPy reinstalled. We need to make Symbolic use the Python interpreter that Anaconda installed. Type the following in Octave:

1. setenv PYTHON /anaconda3/bin/python

To test your setup, type:

2. pkg load symbolic
3. sympref reset
4. sympref diagnose

The last sentence of the diagnosis should be: "Your kit looks good for running the Symbolic package. Happy hacking!"

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Issues and workarounds

Please add them here. I've added a couple things I don't understand very well. You can/should also file issues.

"ut8_heavy.pl" Perl warnings

Many people are see lots of warnings during install:

Use of uninitialized value in lc at /usr/lib/perl5/5.8/utf8_heavy.pl

See https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?49839 and https://github.com/cbm755/octsympy/issues/610. I don't think this blocks the install and Symbolic seems functional. This has been fixed upstream and should be fixed in Octave 5.0.

Windows XP

As of 2.3.0, no particular action should be necessary.

Paths

How paths are supposed to work on modern Windows? Do Python installers take care of this for you? If you open a "cmd.exe" command line, does "python" work? If so, how about "import sympy"?

SymPy

Does it matter where SymPy is installed? My experimenting with the self-contained package suggests it does.

32 vs 64 bit windows?

Does the self-contained package work on both? MXE Octave seems to support both.