Bug 2499461

Not really enough info for me to know what happened here...  Please paste in the output of `ver` (at the Octave prompt).

Hi Colin, 

Here you go:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GNU Octave Version: 10.3.0 (hg id: 8ee1afeed21e)
GNU Octave License: GNU General Public License
Operating System: Linux 7.1.3-200.fc44.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat Jul  4 19:20:12 UTC 2026 x86_64
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Package Name    | Version | Installation directory
----------------+---------+-----------------------
    brain2mesh  |     0.5 | /usr/share/octave/packages/brain2mesh-0.5
communications  |   1.2.7 | /usr/share/octave/packages/communications-1.2.7
       control  |   4.2.1 | /usr/share/octave/packages/control-4.2.1
     datatypes  |   1.2.0 | /usr/share/octave/packages/datatypes-1.2.0
         image  |  2.18.1 | /usr/share/octave/packages/image-2.18.1
            io  |   2.7.0 | /usr/share/octave/packages/io-2.7.0
      iso2mesh  |   1.9.8 | /usr/share/octave/packages/iso2mesh-1.9.8
        jnifti  |     0.5 | /usr/share/octave/packages/jnifti-0.5
       jsonlab  |   2.9.8 | /usr/share/octave/packages/jsonlab-2.9.8
        mmclab  |   1.7.9 | /usr/share/octave/packages/mmclab-1.7.9
       ncarray  |   1.0.6 | /usr/share/octave/packages/ncarray-1.0.6
        netcdf  |  1.0.19 | /usr/share/octave/packages/netcdf-1.0.19
         optim  |   1.6.2 | /usr/share/octave/packages/optim-1.6.2
        signal  |   1.4.7 | /usr/share/octave/packages/signal-1.4.7
    statistics  |   1.7.7 | /usr/share/octave/packages/statistics-1.7.7
        struct  |  1.0.18 | /usr/share/octave/packages/struct-1.0.18
          zmat  |   0.9.8 | /usr/share/octave/packages/zmat-0.9.8

Here's the "rpm -qi" output for "octave-symbolic":
Name        : octave-symbolic
Version     : 3.2.2
Release     : 4.fc44
Architecture: noarch
Install Date: Sun 12 Jul 2026 02:54:20 AM
Group       : Unspecified
Size        : 1361461
License     : GPL-3.0-or-later AND FSFAP
Signature   :
              RSA/SHA256, Mon 08 Jun 2026 06:23:18 AM, Key ID dbfcf71c6d9f90a6
Source RPM  : octave-symbolic-3.2.2-4.fc44.src.rpm
Build Date  : Sun 07 Jun 2026 11:05:43 AM
Build Host  : buildvm-ppc64le-08.rdu3.fedoraproject.org
Packager    : Fedora Project
Vendor      : Fedora Project
URL         : https://gnu-octave.github.io/packages/symbolic
Bug URL     : https://bugz.fedoraproject.org/octave-symbolic
Summary     : Symbolic computations for Octave
Description :
Adds symbolic calculation features to GNU Octave.
These include common Computer Algebra System tools such as algebraic
operations, calculus, equation solving, Fourier and Laplace transforms,
variable precision arithmetic and other features.

So it looks like octave-symbolic is installed and yet Octave doesn't see it...

Try reinstalling both?   Quit Octave then `sudo dnf reinstall octave` then `sudo dnf reinstall octave-symbolic`.  Start Octave again.  Sorry if these are basic things but unsure what else to advise.  My best guess is some tool outside of Octave editted files on your disc underneath DNF.  But just guessing.

First reinstall command for octave worked. The reinstall for octave-symbolic returned this:
>>> Running %post scriptlet: octave-symbolic-0:3.2.2-4.fc44.noarch
>>> Non-critical error in %post scriptlet: octave-symbolic-0:3.2.2-4.fc44.noarch
>>> Scriptlet output:
>>> error: description is missing needed field maintainer
>>> error: called from
>>>     get_description at line 81 column 7
>>>     rebuild at line 66 column 7
>>>     pkg at line 707 column 9
>>> 
>>> [RPM] %post(octave-symbolic-3.2.2-4.fc44.noarch) scriptlet failed, exit status 1
[4/4] Removing octave-symbolic-0:3.2.2- 100% |  73.0   B/s | 420.0   B |  00m06s
>>> Running %postun scriptlet: octave-symbolic-0:3.2.2-4.fc44.noarch
>>> Non-critical error in %postun scriptlet: octave-symbolic-0:3.2.2-4.fc44.noarch
>>> Scriptlet output:
>>> error: description is missing needed field maintainer
>>> error: called from
>>>     get_description at line 81 column 7
>>>     rebuild at line 66 column 7
>>>     pkg at line 707 column 9
>>> 
>>> [RPM] %postun(octave-symbolic-3.2.2-4.fc44.noarch) scriptlet failed, exit status 1
Transaction failed: Rpm transaction failed

Ok, now we're getting somewhere!  This looks like 2487343 which I haven't been able to figure out.

But as far as I can tell, its unrelated to octave-symbolic.

Can you try uninstalling any other packages?  If you can figure out how to reproduce this, it would probably help us get 2487343 fixed...   My *guess* is the presense of some other package, either installed from Fedora (or somehow outside of Fedora?) is causing the error...

I tried installing the same packages you have and I still can't make it happen :(

I narrowed it down to `dnf install octave-NLopt` and filed a new issue with that package, thanks for your help so far.

I just popped over to the other referenced bug, about octave-NLopt. I removed that package and now octave-symbolic is installing correctly.