On both boxes with/without the problem /usr/lib/liboctave.so or /usr/lib/libcruft.so does not exist. They are not found in liboctinterp.so or liboctinterp.so.3.0.1 either: /usr/lib/octave-3.0.1/liboctinterp.so: linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000) liboctave.so => not found libcruft.so => not found ... /usr/lib/octave-3.0.1/liboctinterp.so.3.0.1: linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000) liboctave.so => not found libcruft.so => not found ...