diff --git a/matlab/evaluate_steady_state_file.m b/matlab/evaluate_steady_state_file.m
index 104ae71e5274ce7874e20ac554b062817cd5d424..cecf3ec507da0a94031ad7da80f35a3eb876afd1 100644
--- a/matlab/evaluate_steady_state_file.m
+++ b/matlab/evaluate_steady_state_file.m
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ else
     updated_params_flag = 0;
 end
 
-h_set_auxiliary_variables = str2func([M.fname '_set_auxiliary_variables']);
+if M.set_auxiliary_variables %otherwise Octave may crash, see https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?52568
+    h_set_auxiliary_variables = str2func([M.fname '_set_auxiliary_variables']);
+end
 if  isnan(updated_params_flag) || (updated_params_flag  && any(isnan(params(~isnan(params))-params1(~isnan(params))))) %checks if new NaNs were added
     info(1) = 24;
     info(2) = NaN;