Re: Uninstall Octave 4.4 & Run Octave 5.2

[Andrew Janke]

On 6/1/20 11:31 AM, John Williams via Help-octave wrote:
> To whomever may be able to help,
> 
> My Version(s) of Octave:
> 1. 4.4
> 2. 5.2
> 
> My Issues(s):
> 1. I recently downloaded Octave on my Mac (circa April 2020).  I have barely 
> used it.  I’m now taking an online course in Matlab.  I tried to increase the 
> font size in the Command Window - it didn’t work, but now my program file 
> header options bar (“octave” “file” “edit” “window” “help”) is frozen and 
> won’t work.  Works fine with all other programs.  Just got locked out of the 
> program file header options bar thingy (what the heck is that called).  
> 
> I do not recall how I downloaded the 4.4 version (GitHub?  Home Brew?  Other?)
> 
> 2. Tried to download new version of Octave using Home Brew following GNU wiki 
> instructions.  Seems to have downloaded just fine, I just can’t figure out 
> how to actually run it…?  No instructions for that, and my Icon under the 
> applications folder just runs Octave 4.4 (which has the frozen header options)
> 
> My Question:  
> 1. Can someone help me get Octave 5.2 running?  How do I launch the darn 
> thing?  How do I add it to my applications folder?
> 2. Can someone help me uninstall / remove Octave 4.4.  This is a large file 
> and I do not want two versions on my computer.
> 
> 
> My Computer:
> Apple Mac Mini 2012
> Quad Core i7
> 16GB RAM
> MacOS 10.15.5 Catalina (was recently 10.15.5)
> 
> My Abilities:
> I am not a sophisticated computer user.  I am somewhere between 
> unsophisticated intermediate or advanced beginner.  I am stumbling my way to 
> becoming a better MacOS/computer user.  However, for now I will need very 
> explicit instructions in as plain English as possible.
> 
> Thank you in advanced!
> williamsjdjr

Hi, williamsjdjr,

If you have an icon for Octave 4.4 in your /Applications directory, that
probably means that you downloaded Octave.app from
http://octave-app.org/ or its predecessor. That's where the Octaves that
are packaged as native Mac apps come from.

The Homebrew installation for Octave does not install an icon in the
/Applications folder, and there's no way to add one for it.

1. To run a brewed Octave, you need to open a Terminal session and run
`octave` or `octave --gui` from the command line.
2. To remove an Octave.app Octave 4.4, just open /Applications in the
Finder and delete the Octave application there.

Note that the Octave GUI in 5.x does not work on Macs.

>  I am not a sophisticated computer user.

That means you're Octave.app's target audience! Hopefully we can be helpful.

Do you actually need Octave 5.x for your work? And do you want to run
the GUI? There's a newer Octave.app 4.4.1 out, where the GUI works (in
most cases), which may fix your freezing issue. Download the latest
"4.4.1 u1" release from http://octave-app.org/Download.html and try that
one. If it still freezes for you, drop by
https://github.com/octave-app/octave-app/issues and report it as a bug,
and we may be able to help you out.

Cheers,
Andrew