diff -up octave-3.8.0-rc2/scripts/pkg/private/install.m.pkgbuilddir octave-3.8.0-rc2/scripts/pkg/private/install.m

--- octave-3.8.0-rc2/scripts/pkg/private/install.m.pkgbuilddir	2013-12-21 12:31:40.000000000 -0700

+++ octave-3.8.0-rc2/scripts/pkg/private/install.m	2013-12-28 16:12:03.283207320 -0700

@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ function install (files, handle_deps, au

     for i = 1:length (files)

       tgz = files{i};

-      if (exist (tgz, "file"))

+      ## The filename pointed to an uncompressed package to begin with.

+      if (exist (tgz, "dir"))

+        dirlist = {".", "..", tgz};

+      elseif (exist (tgz, "file"))

         ## Create a temporary directory.

         tmpdir = tmpnam ();

         tmpdirs{end+1} = tmpdir;

@@ -91,17 +94,16 @@ function install (files, handle_deps, au

         endif

       endif

-      ## The filename pointed to an uncompressed package to begin with.

-      if (exist (tgz, "dir"))

-        dirlist = {".", "..", tgz};

-      endif

-

-      if (exist (tgz, "file") || exist (tgz, "dir"))

+      if (exist (tgz, "file"))

         ## The two first entries of dirlist are "." and "..".

-        if (exist (tgz, "file"))

-          packdir = fullfile (tmpdir, dirlist{3});

+        if (exist (tgz, "dir"))

+          if (tgz(1) == '/')

+            packdir = tgz;

+          else

+            packdir = fullfile (pwd (), dirlist{3});

+          endif

         else

-          packdir = fullfile (pwd (), dirlist{3});

+          packdir = fullfile (tmpdir, dirlist{3});

         endif

         packdirs{end+1} = packdir;