diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/octave-splines/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/octave-splines/package.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..11c9cc5ba7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/octave-splines/package.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+##############################################################################
+# Copyright (c) 2013-2016, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.
+# Produced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
+#
+# This file is part of Spack.
+# Created by Todd Gamblin, tgamblin@llnl.gov, All rights reserved.
+# LLNL-CODE-647188
+#
+# For details, see https://github.com/llnl/spack
+# Please also see the LICENSE file for our notice and the LGPL.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation) version 2.1, February 1999.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the IMPLIED WARRANTY OF
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the terms and
+# conditions of the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+# License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+##############################################################################
+from spack import *
+
+
+class OctaveSplines(Package):
+    """Additional spline functions."""
+
+    homepage = "http://octave.sourceforge.net/splines/index.html"
+    url      = "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/octave/splines-1.3.1.tar.gz"
+
+    version('1.3.1', 'f9665d780c37aa6a6e17d1f424c49bdeedb89d1192319a4e39c08784122d18f9')
+
+    extends('octave@3.6.0:')
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        octave('--quiet',
+               '--norc',
+               '--built-in-docstrings-file=/dev/null',
+               '--texi-macros-file=/dev/null',
+               '--eval', 'pkg prefix %s; pkg install %s' %
+               (prefix, self.stage.archive_file))
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/octave/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/octave/package.py
index 72ff0ee6fc..f97bfc7d12 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/octave/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/octave/package.py
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ class Octave(Package):
     homepage = "https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/"
     url      = "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/octave/octave-4.0.0.tar.gz"
 
+    extendable = True
+
     version('4.0.2', 'c2a5cacc6e4c52f924739cdf22c2c687')
     version('4.0.0', 'a69f8320a4f20a8480c1b278b1adb799')
 
@@ -212,3 +214,16 @@ def install(self, spec, prefix):
 
         make()
         make("install")
+
+    # ========================================================================
+    # Set up environment to make install easy for Octave extensions.
+    # ========================================================================
+
+    def setup_dependent_package(self, module, ext_spec):
+        """Called before Octave modules' install() methods.
+
+        In most cases, extensions will only need to have one line:
+            octave('--eval', 'pkg install %s' % self.stage.archive_file)
+        """
+        # Octave extension builds can have a global Octave executable function
+        module.octave = Executable(join_path(self.spec.prefix.bin, 'octave'))