Dynare for Octave

Porting of Dynare to Octave is under progress. Development is done using Octave version 3.0.1.

About Octave

Octave is a free clone of Matlab, running under Linux, Windows and MacOS.

It normally runs in a command window, and displays graphics in separate windows (using Gnuplot).

Some ressources:

Note that a graphical frontend for Octave is available (see [http://www.unige.ch/math/folks/loisel/www.math.mcgill.ca/loisel/octave-workshop/ Octave workshop]), but it is not at all necessary for running Dynare.

Development of Dynare for Octave

A specific subversion branch has been created under branches/dynare_v4_octave. Note that this branch is supposed to work on both Matlab and Octave (using tests to differentiate between the two when necessary). Please report any failure to run under Matlab.

It is possible to view the differences between Matlab and Octave versions of Dynare by issuing:

svn diff http://www.cepremap.cnrs.fr/svn/dynare_v4 http://www.cepremap.cnrs.fr/svn/branches/dynare_v4_octave

Note: be aware that recent changes to Matlab version of Dynare may not have been yet merged into the Octave branch, and may thus appear as spurious differences.

Installing Dynare for Octave

Octave

Under Debian "Lenny", install packages octave3.0 and octave-miscellaneous (for waitbar())

For Windows, the Cygwin package is quite outdated. You should rather download [http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2888&package_id=40078 precompiled binaries from Octave Forge].

[http://wiki.octave.org/wiki.pl?CategoryInstall More installation instructions] can be found on Octave Wiki.

Dynare for Octave

If you don't already have a subversion copy of the whole Dynare tree, you should type (under Linux or Cygwin prompt, assuming you have installed the subversion package):

svn checkout http://www.cepremap.cnrs.fr/svn/branches/dynare_v4_octave

Under Linux, you also need to compile the preprocessor by going into the preprocessor/ subdirectory and typing make.

Don't forget to update regularly your working copy, using svn update.

Running Dynare for Octave

First, you should run Octave.

Under Linux, at the prompt, just type:

octave

Under Windows, you should have a shortcut already installed in your Start menu.

It is also possible to run [http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/doc/interpreter/Emacs.html Octave under Emacs].

Then, from Octave, add the path to dynare_v4_octave using the addpath command, as you would under Matlab:

addpath REPLACE_WITH_RIGHT_PATH/dynare_v4_octave/matlab

It is possible to autoexecute this command at each Octave start by adding it to the .octaverc startup file (under Linux, this file should be put in the home directory; under Windows, it should be put at the root of the user home under Documents and Settings).

Unless you tell it to do otherwise, Octave won't accept the short syntax when typing dynare command. In other words, to run Dynare on ramst.mod, you need to type:

dynare('ramst')

rather than:

dynare ramst

However, you can force Octave to accept the short syntax by typing the following (or by adding it to your .octaverc):

mark_as_command dynare

Current status of development

Main changes between Matlab and Octave versions of Dynare