geting matlab installer to start on linux

i am trying to install matlab on my new ubuntu 20.04 pc, but i cant even get the installer to show up

i am following the instructions from here, but when i enter the 'sudo ./install' command on the terminal nothing seems to be happening (whereas i ender the './install' command, without sudo, the window shows up instantly). the terminal just seems to get busy but doesn't produce any results

i also tried to change the access permisions on the directory where the installer is with chmod but that doesn't seem to change anything

do i just have to wait for it to load? shouldn't it open in less than a minute? thanks.

[Rik]

There seems to be a bug in the installer for Linux. You can run it without sudo, but you will have to chown the installation directory to the current user (and back to root).

Answer 1

[Chris]

From a comment deep in the thread (here), and from reading your symptoms, what typically works with this version of Ubuntu is:

xhost +SI:localuser:root
sudo ./install

[Vasilios Kormas]

this worked!! thank you very much.

[Vasilios Kormas]

uh oh. installation finished, but i cant find where matlab is?! there is no icon on the applications list, i can see the installed files on /usr/local/MATLAB but i cant open the actual program!

[Chris]

Okay, you need a symbolic link to the binary. Replace RXXXXx with your matlab version (if you start typing and hit [TAB], you can take advantage of name autocompletion in bash)

cd /usr/local/bin
ln -s /usr/local/MATLAB/RXXXXx/bin/matlab matlab

That should allow you to start it from a terminal.

Making a desktop launcher for Gnome is slightly more involved:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/20-how-do-i-make-a-desktop-launcher-for-matlab-in-linux#answer_283262

Then, you'll probably want to start Matlab in the same folder each time. The easiest way I've found to do this is to put a startup.m file in the Matlab userpath. Type cd(userpath) in the command window, then save startup.m there, containing the same line: cd(userpath)

[Chris]

Having Matlab in /usr/local comes with additional issues--namely, Matlab can't modify itself (e.g., installing Add-ons) without permissions changes. Should you need additional Add-ons, the safest method I'm aware of would be to re-run the installer.

[Vasilios Kormas]

alright, after reading the thread you linked and messing around a bit i finally managed to figure it out. thanks again for your help!!

(if anyone needs to know, i made the file ~/.local/share/applications/matlab_r2021b.desktop with the following contents:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=R2021b
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/bin/matlab -desktop
Name=matlab
Comment=R2021b
Icon=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2021b/bin/glnxa64/cef_resources/matlab_icon.png

and then made it executable with chmod +x ~/.local/share/applications/matlab_r2021b.desktop

then i searched for 'matlab' in my apps and it showed up)