I am trying to install Octave on my x86_64 using the source package process. When I run ./configure it gets hung on the BLAS prerequsite (Both Octave 3.6 and 3.8).
I had previously installed BLAS and LAPACK ( i thought) but I was told that I needed x86_64 versions so I snagged some rpm files and got the lib...so and dropped them in /usr/lib64 but still no help. I'm wondering if BLAS and LAPACK are just nightmares meant to torment people. Can anyone provide advice?

BTW: The complaint of configure for Octave 3.8.0 is "found but incompatible with fortran 77 settings" and for Octave 3.6.4, "not found."

You could try the BLAS, LAPACK, and Octave SlackBuilds at slackbuilds.org. They should all work together. If you'd like to build Octave from source, you will likely need to pass the --with-blas and --with-lapack options to the Octave configure script.

I have four implementations of BLAS and three of LAPACK on my machine. Octave builds against all of them in any combination.

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I tried using the files from SlackBuild but I found them to be odd in that they didn't contain any data files. There were install.sh files which failed to find the appropriate .tgz. The only thing I've been able to do so far is create a blas_LINUX.a from the fortran sources.

Maybe its just me but dependencies have proved really troublesome. Is it possible that something is wrong with the compiler under Slackware64 14.0? Cmake made some vague complaint that makes me wonder.

What data files are you expecting? Where were these install.sh files? The three SlackBuilds in question don't come with any install.sh files. Neither do any of the three packages you're trying to install, IIRC.

blas_LINUX.a is correct if you make no changes to the BLAS make.inc file. The BLAS SlackBuild contains commands for building a shared library if you need or want that.

What dependencies are you having problems with? For which of the three packages are these dependencies causing you problems? What are the exact problems you're having with each of these dependencies?

It's more likely your installation of Slackware is borked than there is something wrong with the compiler collection. Of course, if you posted cmake's "vague complaint" it might be easier to figure out what's going on.

At this point, it sounds like user error more than anything else.

lol, you're probably right, maybe my expectations are too high. After all I have Octave running under Window 8 and silly me, I expect Linux to do better. Let me see if I can capture some real errors and I'll edit them into this message.

Okay, running Octave 3-6-4 ./configure generates lots of output ending with the following.

checking if sgemm_ is being linked in already... no
checking for ATL_xerbla in -latlas... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lblas... yes
checking for dgemm_ in -ldgemm... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lmkl... no
checking for sgemm_ in -framework vecLib... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lcxml... no
checking for sgemm_ in -ldxml... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lscs... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lcomplib.sgimath... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lblas... (cached) yes
checking for sgemm_ in -lessl... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lblas... (cached) yes
checking whether LSAME is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether ISAMAX is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether SDOT is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether DDOT is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether CDOTU is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether ZDOTU is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether the integer size is correct... no
checking if sgemm_ is being linked in already... no
checking for ATL_xerbla in -latlas... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -lblas... (cached) yes
checking for dgemm_ in -ldgemm... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -lmkl... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -framework vecLib... no
checking for sgemm_ in -lcxml... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -ldxml... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -lscs... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -lcomplib.sgimath... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -lblas... (cached) yes
checking for sgemm_ in -lessl... (cached) no
checking for sgemm_ in -lblas... (cached) yes
checking whether LSAME is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether ISAMAX is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether SDOT is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether DDOT is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether CDOTU is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether ZDOTU is called correctly from Fortran... no
checking whether the integer size is correct... no
configure: error: A BLAS library was detected but found incompatible with your Fortran 77 compiler settings.

I was able to modify the makefile to generate a .so library. The command looks like:

gcc -march=x86-64 -shared -O2 *.f -o libblas.so -fPIC

I don't use Windows, so I don't know what it takes to get Octave working on that platform. Whether Linux is "better" depends on the definition of "better."

So, does the Octave configure script find your shared library and does the shared library still cause the same error message? You did clean your build directory (or delete and untar Octave) before you tried again with the new BLAS library? I can't tell if you've solved your problem, have the same problem, a new problem.....

Doesn't look like you've read the SlackBuild HOWTO page.

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SlackBuild? My, my, how things have changed. Okay, another bunch of stuff to read. Thanks, and fingers crossed.

No, I haven't solved the problem, still the same complaint that fortran 77 is incompatible. One problem is I'm taking courses that keep me pretty busy so I can't devote the time to solve this immediately. I will post if I make progress or if the error messages change.

Better, wrt Windows means it installs and runs, dependencies are managed within the package. I hate Windows, esp. Win 8 so I really hate it when it is easier. Running Octave from Windows is a sub-optimal solution but the course I'm taking requires it.

configure: error: A BLAS library was detected but found incompatible with your Fortran 77 compiler settings.

In other words, after using the SlackBuild procedure I get exactly the same result. The one caveat is that I dont have LAPACK installed yet because www.netlib.org/lapack seems to be offline. But I did get and install BLAS using SlackBuild and tried Octave to see wut happened.

I finally gave up on Slackware64 14.0 and installed 14.1 instead. With this change I was able to use SlackBuilds to compile Octave. In fact 14.1 uses the newer Octave 3.8 compared to the 3.6 that 14.0 specified. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and comments.