Ok, so currently we know that the dev version f the package can be built with GSL 1.13 (with some missing functions, but it's ok).

Does anybody has any clue about the oldest GSL version that can be used?

Ok, I added the missing quotes and it seems to work fine now.

So, I can report a successful build + test (test_gsl_sf) on Debian Wheezy (Octave 3.6.2 and GSL 1.15).

Now gsl package can be installed octave-4.0.3 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS amd64 with gsl-1.16 and gsl-2.1.

Thanks!

It also builds fine on Debian Wheezy (old stable) which has Octave 3.6.2 and GSL 1.15, with a few missing functions (mathieu_a, mathieu_b, mathieu_ce, mathieu_se, mathieu_Mc and mathieu_Ms).

And with just a tiny problem in configure, that I haven't seen on more recent distributions:

./configure: line 10369: test: too many arguments

Line 10369 corresponds to

if test -z $GSL_MISSING; then

I think it's just missing quotes around $GSL_MISSING.

@Tatsuro: thank you for this.

The remaining errors concern a limited number of functions, that were recently added by Susi.

If these are the only function impacted bu the 1.x/2.x transition, perhaps can we do something about it to maintain support for 1.x ...

I have cloned the recent  gsl repo. and execute make dist
then gsl-1.1.0.tar.gz is generated.

I have used gsl library from ubuntu repo. (gsl-1.6)
and tried pkg install.
The number of errors is reduced but I still have met an error

g++ -c -I/usr/include -fPIC -I/opt/octave/4.0.3/include/octave-4.0.3/octave/.. -I/opt/octave/4.0.3/include/octave-4.0.3/octave -I/opt/octave/4.0.3/include -pthread -fopenmp -g -O2    -DHAVE_OCTAVE_40 gsl_sf.cc -o gsl_sf.o
g++ -I/opt/octave/4.0.3/include/octave-4.0.3/octave/.. -I/opt/octave/4.0.3/include/octave-4.0.3/octave -I/opt/octave/4.0.3/include -pthread -fopenmp -g -O2 -shared -Wl,-Bsymbolic  -o legendre_sphPlm_array.oct  legendre_sphPlm_array.o   -lgsl -L/opt/octave/4.0.3/lib/octave/4.0.3 -L/opt/octave/4.0.3/lib -loctinterp -loctave
gsl_sf.cc: In function 'octave_value_list Fmathieu_a(const octave_value_list&, int)':
gsl_sf.cc:5227:32: error: 'gsl_sf_mathieu_a_e' was not declared in this scope
                      &result[i]);
                                ^
gsl_sf.cc: In function 'octave_value_list Fmathieu_b(const octave_value_list&, int)':
gsl_sf.cc:5311:32: error: 'gsl_sf_mathieu_b_e' was not declared in this scope
                      &result[i]);
                                ^
gsl_sf.cc: In function 'octave_value_list Fmathieu_ce(const octave_value_list&, int)':
gsl_sf.cc:10483:32: error: 'gsl_sf_mathieu_ce_e' was not declared in this scope
                      &result[i]);
                                ^
gsl_sf.cc: In function 'octave_value_list Fmathieu_se(const octave_value_list&, int)':
gsl_sf.cc:10578:32: error: 'gsl_sf_mathieu_se_e' was not declared in this scope
                      &result[i]);
                                ^
gsl_sf.cc: In function 'octave_value_list Fmathieu_Mc(const octave_value_list&, int)':
gsl_sf.cc:11196:32: error: 'gsl_sf_mathieu_Mc_e' was not declared in this scope
                      &result[i]);
                                ^
gsl_sf.cc: In function 'octave_value_list Fmathieu_Ms(const octave_value_list&, int)':
gsl_sf.cc:11308:32: error: 'gsl_sf_mathieu_Ms_e' was not declared in this scope
                      &result[i]);
                                ^
make: *** [gsl_sf.oct] Error 1

The situation is improved but seem not to be complete yet.

I have reported I failed build gsl package with gsl-1.16 on ubuntu.

http://octave.1599824.n4.nabble.com/GSL-in-octave-td4678376.html#a4678584

Then I have built gsl-2.1 and errors disappeared.

The gsl package is currently marked as unmaintained, but there is some ongoing work to produce a new release, started on this thread of the mailing list:

http://octave.1599824.n4.nabble.com/GSL-in-octave-tp4678376p4678513.html

This bug report should be used for all discussions concerning the dependency on the gsl library.

a) Which version of the GSL library should we indicate as a minimal requirement in the BuildRequires field of DESCRIPTION?  None is indicated in the current (hg repo) DESCRIPTION.

b) How do we check in configure that this minimal requirement is met?  Do we simply check for each individual function?  Do we include a hard test on the GSL version number?

c) GSL 2.0 was released in 2015/10 and brings a number of API-breaking changes.  Can we support both 1.x and 2.x, or is it too much work?