Comment 2 for bug 178424

The octave3.0 package is a new package, superseding the old octave2.9 package. The octave2.9 package has been asked for removal in Debian (Debian bug #457675). So this bug is filed against the wrong package.

Also, octave2.9 used to build the octave binary meta package which depends on octave2.9. Now octave3.0 no longer builds octave binary package (there may be other plans by Debian's Octave maintainers), so upgrade path is currently broken.

Any MOTU who plans to ACK this sync please consider the above two points carefully, and preferablly speaking with Debian Octave maintainers first.