diff --git a/octave/Makefile b/octave/Makefile
index ab5b002..1b332df 100644
--- a/octave/Makefile
+++ b/octave/Makefile
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 # License GPLv2 or later.  NO WARRANTY.
 #
 # OpenWRT package for the GNU Octave
+#
+# todo: how do we enable octave's internal help system?
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/rules.mk
 
@@ -14,6 +16,7 @@ PKG_SOURCE:=$(PKG_NAME)-$(PKG_VERSION).tar.gz
 PKG_SOURCE_URL:=ftp://ftp.octave.org/pub/octave/
 PKG_MD5SUM:=90c39fa9e241ad2e978bcee4682a2ba9
 PKG_INSTALL:=1
+PKG_BUILD_PARALLEL:=1
 
 PKG_FIXUP:=libtool
 PKG_REMOVE_FILES:=
@@ -72,8 +75,9 @@ endef
 # todo : need -enable-rpath?
 
 OCTAVE_LIB_DIR := /usr/lib
-CONFIGURE_ARGS += --without-x --without-fftw 
-CONFIGURE_VARS += octlibdir=$(OCTAVE_LIB_DIR)
+CONFIGURE_ARGS += --without-x --without-fftw --disable-docs
+CONFIGURE_VARS += octlibdir=$(OCTAVE_LIB_DIR) \
+	FFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS)"
 #MAKE_FLAGS += "LD=$(TARGET_CROSS)gcc -nostdlib" 
 
 define Build/Configure
diff --git a/octave/patches/015-no-docs.patch b/octave/patches/015-no-docs.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a74ac4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/octave/patches/015-no-docs.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+Index: octave-3.2.4/octMakefile.in
+===================================================================
+--- octave-3.2.4.orig/octMakefile.in	2011-06-09 15:22:14.000000000 +0200
++++ octave-3.2.4/octMakefile.in	2011-06-09 15:55:36.000000000 +0200
+@@ -51,10 +51,10 @@
+ 	mkoctfile.in mkoctfile.cc.in run-octave.in ChangeLog ChangeLog.[0-9]
+ 
+ # Subdirectories in which to run `make all'.
+-SUBDIRS = libcruft liboctave src scripts doc examples
++SUBDIRS = libcruft liboctave src scripts # doc examples
+ 
+ # Subdirectories in which to run `make all'.
+-INSTALL_SUBDIRS = libcruft liboctave src scripts doc examples
++INSTALL_SUBDIRS = libcruft liboctave src scripts # doc examples
+ 
+ # Subdirectories in which to run `make conf-dist'.
+ CONF_DISTSUBDIRS = src
+@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
+ 
+ M4_FILES = $(wildcard *.m4)
+ 
+-all: $(SHELL_SCRIPTS) $(filter-out libcruft liboctave, $(SUBDIRS)) dist-info-files
++all: $(SHELL_SCRIPTS) $(filter-out libcruft liboctave, $(SUBDIRS)) # dist-info-files
+ 	@echo ""
+ 	@echo "Octave successfully built.  Now choose from the following:"
+ 	@echo ""