[SOLVED!] - Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

[Gael]

Hey guys!
.
I just installed Matlab R2010A in my Kubuntu 10.10.
I did exactly what is described in this tutorial:
.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MATLAB/R2010a
.
Everything seems to go fine, the Matlab icon is in Applications --> Development, but when I click on it, Matlab doesn't start.
.
I tried F2 + Alt, and typed Matlab, but I only get the following message:
.
"Sorry - Run Command Interface
KDEInit could not launch 'matlab'.:
Could not find 'matlab' executable"
.
Any ideas, please?

[suplero]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

I run Matlab 2010 on Kubuntu 10.10 as well.

I created a menu entry, but it doesn't launch the program.

To run Matlab, I have to open a terminal, CD to the Matlab directory, and then launch with ./matlab

I don't think I have ever gotten a menu launcher to work with Matlab.

[Gael]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

Thank you for your reply!

Can you, please, describe exactly how do you do to run matlab?

i guess I did almost everything to run it!

[Gael]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

I did like this:
.
cd /usr/local/matlabR2010a/
.
Then:
.
./matlab
.
But I get the following message:
bash: ./matlab: No such file or directory
(Also tried /matlab, but with the same results)
.
What does that mean

[Gael]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

Guys, please!
I urge you guys to answer me!
.
I need Matlab working here as fast as I can...

[GreyGeek]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

You might find SAGE interesting.

http://www.sagemath.org/help-video.html

It has a fantastic "notebook" page web browser interface, which works and looks similar to Mathematica.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

....
What does that mean

It probably means that you aren't in the directory you think you are, or the install wasn't complete.

Open a Konsole and move to that directory. Do "vdir" and post the output here.

[Gael]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

So, it is like this:

.
# /usr/local/matlabR2010a$ vdir

total 168
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2011-03-05 22:21 bin
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:15 extern
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 2011-03-05 22:12 help
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:17 install
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 20150 2010-01-04 18:10 install_matlab
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5095 2011-03-05 22:26 install_matlab.out
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:15 java
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:28 licenses
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 73937 2010-01-18 16:18 license.txt
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1871 2009-12-31 09:46 patents.txt
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:17 rtw
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:17 runtime
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:17 simulink
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:15 stateflow
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:20 sys
drwxr-xr-x 67 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:27 toolbox
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  248 2007-12-26 12:07 trademarks.txt
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2011-03-05 22:26 update
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 2011-03-05 19:14 X11
.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

IF Suplero supplied the contents of his directory we could compare, but from what you posted it looks like the "install_matlab" executable didn't completely do the job. The "install_matlab.out" file looks like how old Linux executables were named (compile source code "a.c" and get "a.out", which you could rename to anything because it was the binary executable) but in your case it could be a progress report. Open it with Kwrite or Kate (kdesudo kate) and see what's in it. If it is a progress report the last few lines may tell you what went wrong.

What is in the bin directory? (vdir bin)

Did you run "install" as root?

[Gael]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

Well, I didn't understand the first part (I am sorry, but I am very new in thins thing!).
.
About "vdir bin"
.

/# usr/local/matlabR2010a$ vdir bin

total 584
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 21615 2010-01-04 18:11 activate_matlab.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 20450 2010-01-04 18:11 deactivate_matlab.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 18652 2009-12-11 15:23 deploytool
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 10418 2010-01-04 18:09 engopts.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 12101 2010-01-04 18:09 gccopts.sh
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 36864 2011-03-05 22:26 glnxa64
-r--r--r-- 1 root root   19 2009-05-15 16:32 insttype.ini
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 109093 2009-05-15 16:32 lcdata.xml
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  1541 2009-05-15 16:32 lcdata.xsd
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 12651 2010-01-04 18:09 ldd
-r--r--r-- 1 root root  1640 2009-11-13 03:35 license.txt
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2011-03-05 22:22 m3iregistry
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 54915 2010-01-04 18:09 matlab
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 10417 2010-01-04 18:09 matopts.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 81107 2010-01-04 18:09 mbuild
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 10829 2010-01-04 18:09 mbuildopts.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 43736 2010-01-04 18:09 mcc
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 47744 2010-01-04 18:09 mex
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 10594 2010-01-04 18:09 mexext
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 12979 2010-01-04 18:09 mexopts.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  758 2009-05-15 16:32 mw_mpiexec
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  567 2009-05-15 16:32 mw_smpd
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  7217 2010-01-04 18:09 optsetup.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  212 2009-05-15 16:32 ProductRoots
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2011-03-05 22:23 registry
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  4096 2011-03-05 22:11 scripts
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root  4096 2011-03-05 22:11 util
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  531 2009-05-15 16:32 worker
.
.

I did exactly as it says this tutorial:
.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MATLAB/R2010a
.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

Ah, there is an executable called "matlab" under the bin directory. However, /usr/local/matlabR2010a and everything in it, including the bin directory, are owned by root. One could use
bin/matlab (if that would start it) BUT, the instructions say

/!\ DO NOT START MATLAB AT THE END OF THE INSTALLATION

Starting MATLAB at the end of Product Activation creates a permissions problem for storing MATLAB preferences, since the directory and files inside of ~/.matlab will be created for the root user. However this inconvenience can be easily fixed running the following command:

sudo chown -R ${USER}:${USER} ~/.matlab

Note: For MATLAB 2010b, you can choose NOT to activate at the end of the install and after you run MATLAB again, you will be asked for licensing credentials. You can now activate MATLAB and the preference files will not be created for root, but you instead.

So, it appears to me that if the "sudo sh /media/MATHWORKS_R2010A/install" run from inside the empty "/usr/local/matlabR2010a/" directory worked properly then you should have a hidden directory called ".matlab" under your home account, hence "~/.matlab". It would be impossible to cd into that directory and run anything because it and its contents are owned by root, and you are not root. Hence, the "sudo chown ..." command is to make you (replace USER in the command with your linux home account name) the owner of the ~/.matlab directory and everything under it. I suspect that the two steps which follow the "Create A MATLAB Launcher" enable you to run matlab from within the ~/.matlab directory.

After you have run the "sudo chown ..." command, as shown above, with your account name in place of USER, you should be able to cd into ~/.matlab and find a binary there that you can run to start matlab.

[Gael]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

I didn't started Matlab at the end of the installation.
.
I tried the command
.
sudo chown -R ${USER}:${USER} ~/.matlab
.
but it says:
.
chown: cannot access '/home/gael/.matlab': No such file or directory.
.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

Then it appears that your installation did not run to a successful conclusion. Use

kdesudo kate /usr/local/matlabR2010a/install_matlab.out

and see what is inside of install_matlab.out. It could be the error log of the installation process and the lines near the end could tell you what went wrong, and perhaps what to do to fix it.

You can also use
kdesudo dolphin
to run Dolphin as root and navigate to /usr/local/matlabR2010a/install_matlab.out and right mouse on it and choose the option of opening it with kate.


You might be tempted to run "/usr/local/matlabR2010a/install_matlab" but I suspect that script is run by the initial install command and not intended for human use. But, since this install is hosed anyway, IMO, but if you have the Dolphin root console open (hit F4) you could cd into
/usr/local/matlabR2010a
if that isn't already your PWD (present working directory) and run
./install_matlab
then check to see if ~/.matlab exists. If it does try the "sudo chown .,.." step as root.

If things have truly failed and "install_matlab" didn't work, then while you have Dolphin open as root (using kdesudo) you can delete everything under /usr/local/matlabR2010a and then, while Dolphin is running. from its root console you can issue

sh /media/MATHWORKS_R2010A/install

(since the console is already a root console) and redo the installation. If ~/.matlab doesn't show up then the install failed again. IF it does not fail then proceed to the step that converts ~/.matlab to your ownership and then on the launcher.

Question: How much did you pay for Matlab and what kinds of mathematical work do you plan to do with it? (I used to teach Physics, Calc and DE in college and I used Mathematica, before I switched to SAGE)

[Gael]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

I did what you said:
.
kdesudo kate /usr/local/matlabR2010a/install_matlab.out
.
But the file is **empty**!!!
.
I don't know much a Matlab's license costs... The university bought it.
I need some of Matlab toolboxes and I have many Matlab programs too. (I use sparsa matrix representation, etc... And I don't want to learn a new language right now... I am sorry, but I don't have time.)
.
I tried to reinstall Matlab 4 times! Do I have to switch back to Ubuntu to make things work
It seems to me that Kubuntu is not as "easy" as it is meant to be!

[GreyGeek]

Re: Matlab is installed, but doesn't run

Actually, it is not empty. The vdir listing shows it contains 5095 bytes. It just that they are not ASCI or other visual bytes. What it does mean is that there is nothing in it to help you figure out why the install process is not running to completion. There could be another error log somewhere under the install directory (or some file that ends with the "log" extension).

Kubuntu IS Ubuntu running the KDE desktop. You could switch to Gnome if you wanted to run it, but I doubt it would make a difference. What version of Ubuntu were you running? I ask because a difference in kernel version may be the problem. What versions of Ubuntu have Matlab been successfully installed on? That save version of Kubuntu ould work too.