diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
index 3233baea8f4..ab1dc4b5fe1 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/default.nix
@@ -41,9 +41,15 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ (stdenv.lib.optionals (!stdenv.isDarwin) [ mesa libX11 ])
     ;
 
+  # makeinfo is required by Octave at runtime to display help
+  prePatch = ''
+    substituteInPlace libinterp/corefcn/help.cc \
+      --replace 'Vmakeinfo_program = "makeinfo"' \
+                'Vmakeinfo_program = "${texinfo}/bin/makeinfo"'
+  ''
   # REMOVE ON VERSION BUMP
   # Needed for Octave-4.2.1 on darwin. See https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?50234
-  prePatch = stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
+  + stdenv.lib.optionalString stdenv.isDarwin ''
     sed 's/inline file_stat::~file_stat () { }/file_stat::~file_stat () { }/' -i ./liboctave/system/file-stat.cc
   '';
 
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/hg.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/hg.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a34834af48c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/octave/hg.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+args@{ stdenv, openblas, ghostscript ? null, texinfo
+
+     , # These are arguments that shouldn't be passed to the
+       # octave package.
+       texlive, tex ? texlive.combined.scheme-small
+     , epstool, pstoedit, transfig
+     , lib, fetchhg, callPackage
+     , autoconf, automake, libtool
+     , bison, librsvg, icoutils, gperf
+
+     , # These are options that can be passed in addition to the ones
+       # octave usually takes.
+       # - rev is the HG revision.  Use "tip" for the bleeding edge.
+       # - docs can be set to false to skip building documentation.
+       rev ? "23269", docs ? true
+
+     , # All remaining arguments will be passed to the octave package.
+       ...
+     }:
+
+with stdenv.lib;
+let
+  octaveArgs = removeAttrs args
+    [ "texlive" "tex"
+      "epstool" "pstoedit" "transfig"
+      "lib" "fetchhg" "callPackage"
+      "autoconf" "automake" "libtool"
+      "bison" "librsvg" "icoutils" "gperf"
+      "rev" "docs"
+    ];
+  octave = callPackage ./default.nix octaveArgs;
+
+  # List of hashes for known HG revisions.
+  sha256s = {
+    "23269" = "87f560e873ad1454fdbcdd8aca65f9f0b1e605bdc00aebbdc4f9d862ca72ff1d";
+  };
+
+in lib.overrideDerivation octave (attrs: rec {
+  version = "4.3.0pre${rev}";
+  name = "octave-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchhg {
+    url = http://www.octave.org/hg/octave;
+    inherit rev;
+
+    sha256 =
+      if builtins.hasAttr rev sha256s
+      then builtins.getAttr rev sha256s
+      else null;
+
+    fetchSubrepos = true;
+  };
+
+  # Octave's test for including this flag seems to be broken in 4.3.
+  F77_INTEGER_8_FLAG = optional openblas.blas64 "-fdefault-integer-8";
+
+  # This enables texinfo to find the files it needs.
+  TEXINPUTS = ".:build-aux:${texinfo}/texmf-dist/tex/generic/epsf:";
+
+  disableDocs = !docs || ghostscript == null;
+
+  nativeBuildInputs = attrs.nativeBuildInputs
+    ++ [ autoconf automake libtool bison librsvg icoutils gperf ]
+    ++ optionals (!disableDocs) [ tex epstool pstoedit transfig ];
+
+  # Run bootstrap before any other patches, as other patches may refer
+  # to files that are generated by the bootstrap.
+  prePatch = ''
+    patchShebangs bootstrap
+    ./bootstrap
+  '' + attrs.prePatch;
+
+  configureFlags = attrs.configureFlags ++
+    optional disableDocs "--disable-docs";
+})
diff --git a/pkgs/development/pure-modules/octave/default.nix b/pkgs/development/pure-modules/octave/default.nix
index 61bc7a4d5c1..f1a54eb50ae 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/pure-modules/octave/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/pure-modules/octave/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     description = "An Octave module for the Pure programming language";
     homepage = http://puredocs.bitbucket.org/pure-octave.html;
     license = stdenv.lib.licenses.gpl3Plus;
-    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
+    # This is set to none for now because it does not work with the
+    # current stable version of Octave.
+    platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.none;
     maintainers = with stdenv.lib.maintainers; [ asppsa ];
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/graphics/epstool/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/graphics/epstool/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9735adca53d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/graphics/epstool/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+{ stdenv, fetchurl }:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
+  version = "3.08";
+  name = "epstool-${version}";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = "http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/e/epstool/epstool_${version}+repack.orig.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "1pfgqbipwk36clhma2k365jkpvyy75ahswn8jczzys382jalpwgk";
+  };
+
+  installPhase = ''
+    make EPSTOOL_ROOT=$out install
+  '';
+
+  patches = [ ./gcc43.patch ];
+
+  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+    description = "A utility to create or extract preview images in EPS files, fix bounding boxes and convert to bitmaps";
+    homepage = http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/epstool.htm;
+    license = licenses.gpl2;
+    maintainers = [ maintainers.asppsa ];
+    platforms = platforms.linux;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/graphics/epstool/gcc43.patch b/pkgs/tools/graphics/epstool/gcc43.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..398ce08c518
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/graphics/epstool/gcc43.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+--- epstool-3.08.orig/src/epstool.c	2005-06-10 04:41:00.000000000 -0500
++++ epstool-3.08/src/epstool.c	2009-02-16 20:55:43.186140029 -0600
+@@ -2824,7 +2824,7 @@
+ 		code = -1;
+ 	}
+ 	if ((code==0) && stdout_name && (hChildStdoutWr == -1)) {
+-	    handle = open(stdout_name, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT);
++	    handle = open(stdout_name, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0644);
+ 	    hChildStdoutWr = dup2(handle, 1);
+ 	    if (handle != -1)
+ 		close(handle);
+@@ -2832,7 +2832,7 @@
+ 		code = -1;
+ 	}
+ 	if ((code==0) && stderr_name && (hChildStderrWr == -1)) {
+-	    handle = open(stderr_name, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT);
++	    handle = open(stderr_name, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0644);
+ 	    hChildStderrWr = dup2(handle, 2);
+ 	    if (handle != -1)
+ 		close(handle);
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 7b888a7d06d..cffdc0addc5 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1674,6 +1674,8 @@ with pkgs;
 
   eplot = callPackage ../tools/graphics/eplot { };
 
+  epstool = callPackage ../tools/graphics/epstool { };
+
   ethtool = callPackage ../tools/misc/ethtool { };
 
   ettercap = callPackage ../applications/networking/sniffers/ettercap { };
@@ -5941,17 +5943,29 @@ with pkgs;
     git = gitMinimal;
   };
 
-  octave = callPackage ../development/interpreters/octave {
-    qt = null;
-    ghostscript = null;
-    graphicsmagick = null;
-    llvm = null;
-    hdf5 = null;
-    glpk = null;
-    suitesparse = null;
-    jdk = null;
-    openblas = if stdenv.isDarwin then openblasCompat else openblas;
-  };
+  inherit (
+    let
+      defaultOctaveOptions = {
+        qt = null;
+        ghostscript = null;
+        graphicsmagick = null;
+        llvm = null;
+        hdf5 = null;
+        glpk = null;
+        suitesparse = null;
+        jdk = null;
+        openblas = if stdenv.isDarwin then openblasCompat else openblas;
+      };
+
+      hgOctaveOptions =
+        (removeAttrs defaultOctaveOptions ["ghostscript"]) // {
+          overridePlatforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.none;
+        };
+    in {
+      octave = callPackage ../development/interpreters/octave defaultOctaveOptions;
+      octaveHg = lowPrio (callPackage ../development/interpreters/octave/hg.nix hgOctaveOptions);
+  }) octave octaveHg;
+
   octaveFull = (lowPrio (callPackage ../development/interpreters/octave {
     qt = qt4;
     overridePlatforms = ["x86_64-linux" "x86_64-darwin"];
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/pure-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/pure-packages.nix
index 005e09cc003..a1600888032 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/pure-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/pure-packages.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ callPackage }:
+{ callPackage, octaveHg }:
 
 rec {
   audio = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/audio { };
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ rec {
   lv2 = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/lv2 { };
   midi = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/midi { };
   mpfr = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/mpfr { };
-  octave = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/octave { };
+  octave = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/octave { octave = octaveHg; };
   odbc = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/odbc { };
   pandoc = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/pandoc { };
   rational = callPackage ../development/pure-modules/rational { };